Dark Star

The first film from John Carpenter is a hilarious romp in a not-so-glamourous spaceship into the outer reaches of space. A team of astronauts manning the beat-up spaceship Dark Star are on a mission across the universe to seek out and destroy unstable planets. The journey is wrought with mishaps and danger seems to come from the most unexpected places. There are misbehaving pet aliens, suicidal bombs that see no reason to live and want to blow themselves up, frozen crewmates dispensing advice from beyond the grave and a surly, unhelpful main computer that holds the men it serves in total contempt. Despite all these problems, the crew is still bored to the brink of madness. Co-written by Dan O'Bannon, who would go on to write the script for ALIEN, the film is brimming with jabs at the science fiction genre. John Carpenter cut his directing teeth on this film, which he also co-wrote. Made while Carpenter was a college student and produced for very little money, DARK STAR is considered to be the most successful student film ever made.