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Dark Star [1974] [DVD]
 
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Dark Star [1974] [DVD]

DVD ~ Dan O'Bannon
3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Dark Star [1974] [DVD]
39% buy the item featured on this page:
Dark Star [1974] [DVD] 3.9 out of 5 stars (24)
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Product details

  • Actors: Dan O'Bannon, Dre Pahich, Brian Narelle, Cal Kuniholm, Adam Beckenbaugh
  • Directors: John Carpenter
  • Writers: Dan O'Bannon, John Carpenter
  • Producers: John Carpenter, J. Stein Kaplan, Jack H. Harris
  • Format: PAL, Widescreen
  • Language English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: PG
  • Studio: Fabulous Films Ltd.
  • DVD Release Date: 17 Jan 2000
  • Run Time: 79 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00004RCLH
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 20,662 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
The crew of the spaceship Dark Star are on a 20-year mission to destroy unstable planets and make way for future colonisation by using smart bombs which zoom off cheerfully to do their duty. But unlike the orderly inhabitants of Star Trek's Enterprise, the nerves of this crew are becoming frayed to the point of psychosis. Their captain has been killed by a radiation leak that also destroyed their toilet paper. "Don't give me any of that 'Intelligent Life' stuff", says Commander Doolittle when presented with the possibility of alien life, "Find me something I can blow up". When an asteroid storm causes a malfunction, Bomb Number 20 (the most cheerful character in the film) has to be repeatedly talked out of exploding prematurely, each time becoming more and more peevish, until they have to teach him phenomenology to make him doubt his existence. And the film's apocalyptic ending, lifted almost wholly from Ray Bradbury's short story "Kaleidoscope" has the remaining crew drifting away from each other in space, each to a suitably absurd end. Absurd, surreal and very funny. John Carpenter once described Dark Star as "Waiting for Godot in space". Made at a cost of practically nothing, the film's effects are nevertheless impressive and, along with the number of ideas crammed into its 83 minutes, ought to shame makers of science fiction films costing hundreds of times more. --Jim Gay

Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
English
Region 2
Interactive Menu
Theatrical Trailer


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Customer Reviews

24 Reviews
5 star:
 (12)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (24 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Great little film let down by careless DVD mastering, 9 May 2000
By A Customer
I'm fond of this film, which shows just how much can be done with how little, but I really can't recommend this region 2 pressing: the sound is very distorted, and the picture is soft and murky. Unless you're a die-hard fan, hang on until somebody finds a better print and makes a new master from it.
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27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Not Anamorphic, 14 Jun 2007
By Mr. M. S. Mckinnon "MM" (London, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Dark Star -- 30th Anniversary Special Edition [DVD] [1974] (DVD)
Having been waiting for a decent edition of this movie on DVD since the format was launched, I was pleased to see this package with "anamorphic widescreen' plastered across the front, so I picked it up straight off.
Unfortunately, it's a port of the original US edition. Pretty good in and of itself - 2 versions of the film, a handful of extras - but NOT anamorphic/enhanced for 16x9 format.

The film itself is terrific. Funny, touching, tense, imaginative, beautifully designed, raw, bleak. And surprisingly sad coming from Howard Hawks-worshipping man's man John Carpenter. Dan O'Bannon's so funny, you wonder why he didn't really act again.

So... best available edition, but not what it claims.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Very Disappointing, 26 Nov 2008
By The Supercargo (Gothenburg, Sweden) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dark Star -- 30th Anniversary Special Edition [DVD] [1974] (DVD)
Have just tried to watch my newly received copy of the Dark Star 30th Anniversary Special Edition. What a disapointment. In what sense is this edition "Special"? No digital remastering, dreadful sound, and not even subtitles for the hard of hearing (and believe me, you need them to follow what the actors are saying). The "extras" are simply short biographies of some of the actors. There's nothing "Special" about this, the use of the word is just a con to get you to pay for something substandard. This is NOT a "Collector's Edition" unless you go out of your way to collect bad film-to-DVD conversions. My advice: don't waste you money.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars I bought both DVDs, Anniversary edition and DVD on its own
Dark Star [DVD] [1974]
Dark Star -- 30th Anniversary Special Edition [DVD] [1974]
Having bought the straight DVD I was immediately disappointed at the poor visual and... Read more
Published 7 days ago by M. G ROLLASON

4.0 out of 5 stars A must have for every John Carpenter fans.
Dark Star is a must have for every John Carpenter fans. The DVD is presented in a nice carton package, with DD5.1 and enchanted for 16/9 with very nice menus for navigation. Read more
Published 12 days ago by C. Filipe

2.0 out of 5 stars Light years behind 2001...
Unfortunately, this movie has not worn well. It was originally a 45-minute student film on 16mm film, which was later transferred to 35mm film and expanded to feature length. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Kenneth F. Mcara

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark Star is a low budget, cult Si-Fi classic!
John Capenter made Dark Star for less the 30,000 dollars which is pretty amazing. What a wacky story it is about a group of men who are destroying unstable planets around the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Dragonlord

2.0 out of 5 stars WARNING: For fans of arthouse, student films and Sci Fi geeks only
I first saw this film late night after coming home from the pub. I was unable to sleep and it's the type of rubbish they put on at 3am in the morning. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Zoltan Dai

4.0 out of 5 stars Really funny
What makes this film so funny for me is the fact that everyone in it is so bloody miserable all the time. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Matt

5.0 out of 5 stars there won't be another press
Hilarious and incredibly creative, made me a huge O'bannon fan. This was supposed to be funny and it flopped miserably, so O'bannon came back with "Alien" to make every one... Read more
Published 14 months ago by ethereel

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't bother
Where others see "cult classic" I see "poor student project". Everything about this film is amateurish. If I didn't love Alien so much I would have given this one star.
Published 18 months ago by C. Wade

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't give me any of that intelligent life crap, just give me something I can blow up
For the first 20-25 minutes of Dark Star, I sat here thinking this could well be one of the most awful science fiction movies of all time. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Daniel Jolley

5.0 out of 5 stars Still up there with the best
I watched this when it first came out, age 12. It had me in kinks. So I was rather apprehensive when I rented it recently to show my kids - would it be as funny as I remembered... Read more
Published 24 months ago by EmmaH

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