{"id":3379,"date":"2013-08-02T11:26:07","date_gmt":"2013-08-02T10:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=3379"},"modified":"2013-08-06T14:06:05","modified_gmt":"2013-08-06T13:06:05","slug":"dark-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2013\/08\/02\/dark-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark Star"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dark<\/a>
Dark Star<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\nFormat:<\/B> Blu-ray

\nRelease date:<\/B> 23 January 2012

\nDistributor:<\/B> Fabulous Films

\nDirector:<\/B> John Carpenter

\nWriters:<\/B> John Carpenter, Dan O\u2019Bannon

\nCast:<\/B> Dan O’Bannon, Brian Narelle, Cal Kuniholm, Dre Pahich

\nUSA 1974

\n83 mins\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Dark Star<\/i> began as a student film. It was expanded following an initial success on the festival circuit and released theatrically to fairly dismal results. Later, it was destined to become something of a cult classic, introducing as it had done the career of John Carpenter, as well as screenwriter Dan O\u2019Bannon, who would then go off to modify his claustrophobic cult comedy into a darker horror story for his screenplay that would become Alien<\/i>. That film was marketed with the brilliant tag line \u2018In Space No One Can Hear You Scream\u2019, and Dark Star<\/i> has that same sense of lonely isolation. <\/p>\n

The B-movie score by John Carpenter contrasts with the lonesome, bluesy-ness Country and Western song \u2018Benson, Arizona\u2019. The beepy-clunk sound design has to work hard to breathe into convincing life the improvised and visibly cheap effects, but it is also inventive in turning some sequences involving the beach-ball alien and the elevator shaft escapades into a Wile E. Coyote cartoon. The ADR on much of the dialogue has the effect of creating a kind of goldfish bowl ambience, as the characters bicker and muse.<\/p>\n

The crew of the titular star ship \u2013 the spaced-out space ship, according to the poster \u2013 are a bunch of disaffected hippies, sporting the kind of facial topiary that would make them honorary members of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers; the anti-Star Trek. The post-Catch 22<\/i> humour sees the crew at a loss to produce any enthusiasm for their mission. Commander Powell is dead and kept frozen, in case the crew needs advice. His stand in, Lieutenant Doolittle (Brian Narelle) \u2013 an inspiration for the BBC\u2019s Red Dwarf<\/i> series \u2013 is only interested in one thing: \u2018Don’t give me any of that intelligent life crap, just give me something I can blow up!\u2019 His bored nihilism is contrasted with Talby (Dre Pahich), who spends his whole time communing with the universe from the ship\u2019s observation port. Some of the main slapstick comedy is provided by the whinging Sergeant Pinback, played by O\u2019Bannon himself. Each of the crewmembers have difficulty remembering not only each other\u2019s first names, but also their own. Pinback himself turns out not to be Pinback. Despite Talby\u2019s enthusiasm for the stars \u2013 the part incidentally was (according to legend\/Wikipedia) voiced entirely by director John Carpenter \u2013 the only real life is shown by the HAL-like talking bombs. The philosophical discussions are a highlight of the film and also have the benefit of wrapping up a meandering narrative that otherwise might drift along eternally.<\/p>\n

John Bleasdale<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

Watch the original trailer:<\/B><\/p>\n