The movie Quentin Tarantino calls “a counter-culture masterpiece”
Quentin Tarantino has forged a career around marrying the popular and the cult. His stylised filmmaking combines huge names, excessive violence and expletives, and killer soundtracks, producing movies that attract cinephiles and casual cinema-goers alike. From the cult classic Pulp Fiction to the star-studded Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Tarantino has a secure niche in Hollywood.
Though he’s now one of the most successful and popular directors in modern cinema, Tarantino also has an appreciation for films that don’t adhere to Hollywood standards. In particular, he once shared his love for John Carpenter’s initially unsuccessful sci-fi comedy, Dark Star, released in 1974, which he considers a “cult film classic”.
Originally intended to be a student film, Dark Star became a full-length feature with a limited release in cinemas. Carpenter co-wrote the film with Dan O’Bannon, which told the story of the crew on board the Dark Star, a starship intended to destroy other potentially threatening planets.
Speaking about his love for Carpenter and Dark Star specifically, in a clip taken from The Video Archives Podcast, Tarantino suggests that the failure of Carpenter’s early works put him in an unfavourable position when he eventually took on Halloween in 1978. He explains: “When Carpenter does Halloween, he’s gonna be written about in every genre magazine in the world, and they’re all gonna have a section at the beginning of the piece that goes through the history of Dark Star and then goes on to Assault on Precinct 13 before it gets to Halloween.”
Despite the initial poor reactions of audiences, Dark Star went on to become a cult, counter-culture classic. Tarantino recalled that Carpenter was more critical of the film than audiences and critics: “He’s the one talking it down more than anything else. He even said recently, to the effect, ‘Well, I don’t really respond to it because I see its student film origins’. I see very little student film origins, to me, it just looks like a good science fiction movie.”
Carpenter wasn’t always critical of the film, however. Originally, he expected it to propel him into Hollywood stardom: “Carpenter gave a quote about Dark Star, about after making the movie and releasing it: ‘I thought that once it was out’, meaning Dark Star, ‘the film industry would come rushing at my door and carry me off on their shoulders to another film. So, I was somewhat shocked and depressed that no one paid attention.’”
Tarantino continued to explain: “Carpenter kind of repeats his spiel about Dark Star: ‘It’s difficult, I made a film with my own money, about $60,000, and I fought my way with it, and once it was released I thought all the studio heads were gonna come over to my house in limousines, knock on the door and say, ‘We’ve seen your film, we know you’re great, come on, there’s a crew waiting on the street.’”
Though there was no crew waiting on the street, there was a future cult audience to be discovered. A cult audience which included Tarantino. To him, Dark Star was more than just good sci-fi. He describes it both as “a science fiction masterpiece” as well as “a counter-culture, anti-establishment, hippie filmmaking masterpiece”.
He concludes: “It’s an early ’70s masterpiece, so that is my take on Dark Star. I actually think it is a classic now. I revisited it.”
Never Miss A Take
The Far Out Quentin Tarantino Newsletter
All the latest Quentin Tarantino content from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.