Ain't It Scary Reviews - Dark Star 

Dark Star is hilariously funny on so many levels. A must view in my opinion.

It was at USC not UCLA. It was shot at USC. Carpenter dropped out of USC which is/was one of the best film schools in the world. UCLA was where all the 90210 charachters went.

Dark Star doesn't get near enough credit. Its one of my favorite Carpenter films and O'Bannon is brilliant in it. I wish he performed in more roles. He's one of the highlights of the film. I always felt like it was kind of a response to 2001, like a very different version of the HAL and the astronauts story. The wonderful boredom/tedium feels especially funny because it's more realistic seeing how sick of each other they are after decades in space. It's completely believable. And it's the perfect student film story. As artists I'm sure they had real experience with being stuck with roommates you dislike, and had a fascination with the "mind blowing" phenomenology concepts which I think evolved from the HAL conversations in 2001. [MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD] Also they kill all the main characters and somehow still achieve a satisfying ending. Take that Rogue One! Ok I'm rambling. I love this movie.

This currently ranks as my third favorite all time film. The Third Man recently upset Casablanca for #1. Maybe it is the soundtrack by Anton Karas. Watch him play the zither on RU-vid. Seriously.