John Carpenter's First Movie Is A Project Quentin Tarantino Calls A 'Sci-Fi Masterpiece'

When it comes to '70s John Carpenter movies, everyone talks about "Assault on Precinct 13" and "Halloween" — as they should, given that both films are bona fide classics. However, less is said about his debut feature, "Dark Star," a sci-fi comedy that Carpenter directed from a script he co-wrote with "Alien" scribe Dan O'Bannon. Quentin Tarantino is a fan of the flick, and he believes it's among the '70s sci-fi movies everyone should watch at least once.

"I want the m-word to mean something; I don't want to throw it around. And I don't want to use the m-word on the very first movie we talk about," he said on the first episode of "The Video Archives Podcast". "I actually think it applies to Dark Star. It's a science fiction masterpiece."

"Dark Star" tells the story of a space crew that travels around destroying planets that threaten humanity's colonization efforts. However, their ship is on the decline and starts to malfunction, destroying the team's toilet paper supply and creating other setbacks. Elsewhere, the crew members must deal with alien beach balls and sentient bombs.

Carpenter's film seemingly set out to parody "2001: A Space Odyssey" and other great sci-fi movies from yesteryear. However, Tarantino believes that "Dark Star" is so much more than a hilarious spoof, noting, "It's a counterculture, anti-establishment, hippie filmmaking masterpiece." With that in mind, what did other folks have to say about Carpenter's first feature?

"Dark Star" fared well with critics. The film boasts a 74% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with reviewers praising its eccentric and off-kilter qualities. Some critics noted that the movie is essentially a student film, albeit one that ranks among John Carpenter's most interesting flicks.

"Although the movie is positively Das Bootian in its pacing, hats off nonetheless to young whippersnapper John Carpenter, whose studenty tale of space tedium, aliens and molasses-black humour remains approximately a thousand times better than the director's last 15 years [...]," Adam Smith wrote in a review for Empire.

Roger Ebert was also a fan, noting that the film overcomes its low-budget limitations through its entertainment factor and ideas. "This is a fun movie, and a bright and intelligent one," he wrote. "It bears few signs of having been made on a low budget, and the special effects are reasonably slick."

Quentin Tarantino also credited "Dark Star" for inspiring the technology in "Star Wars." The filmmaker claimed that it featured lightspeed travel before George Lucas brought it into the galaxy far, far away. If that's the case, Carpenter's film is more influential than it gets credit for.