What this movie has that most low budget sci fi efforts don't is a decent effort in nearly every department of film making.On a budget of just $750,000,you get a movie with a plot that isn't necessarily anything special,but it's clear to see so much has been done with the money.The plot has a group of youngsters hiring a shuttle to a certain planet for a bit of fun,but end up crash landing on an uncharted planet in a restricted system,where everything from the planets creatures to human soldiers who shouldn't be there,are out to get them.Time and effort was clearly put in to the above average special effects.The indigenous creature effects are actually rather good,and the armour the human soldiers wear actually looks like some thought and imagination was put into it.As far as the acting is concerned,nobody comes across as particularly wooden and they give it a good shot so kudos to them.let's be clear though,there will be scenes where you will look at the screen in amazement thinking "No way would THAT happen",or "No sane person would do that" The soldiers come across as not being able to hit a barn door from 20 paces despite possessing weapons seemingly capable of destroying entire forests in minutes.There are more than a few flaws to be seen.But you know what?.Look past it's failings and at the budget and what we have here is a movie worth watching far more than a lot of the crap churned out by the Sci Fy channel and Asylum.There will be a lot of haters of this one,but it deserves a lot more praise than it has been given.

It's frustrating to watch this film because it had so much potential and with a tiny re-write it could have been really special. In its present form, however, it's a bit tough to love.A few months ago, I reviewed a low budget sci-fi film that surprised me. While "Starship Rising" had many faults, I was extremely impressed by the look of the movie. Despite having almost nothing to spend to make the film, the special effects looked so very professional. It's too bad that the film wasn't particularly good when it came to what is important--the plot. Well, when I watched "Dark Space" a few days ago, I felt like it was a case of deja vu! Once again, here was a sci-fi film with a minuscule budget yet had exquisite special effects that made the film look very professional. Yet, as in "Starship Rising", the writing left a lot to be desired. If the makers of either film could improve the writing and characters significantly, I would sure to love to see more of their work."Dark Space", unfortunately, starts off very, very poorly. My youngest daughter was watching the film with me and she kept remarking how dumb the characters were--and she was right. Believe it or not, although the film is set in the distant future where space travel is commonplace, the characters seem like they were lifted out of an old "Friday the 13th" or "Halloween" movie! I half expected them to land on a planet where they'd find themselves at an abandoned summer camp or roller disco and the characters lacked depth--they were just there to be killed by some unseen menace. Many of the characters (particularly Devin) were irritating and completely ridiculous...and seemed more like clichés than people. At this point, you might wonder why we continued watching since we hated the characters so much (and we REALLY hated them). Well, we assumed it was just a really, really bad film and we were actually having a good time laughing at the writing and characters since they were so bad. However, through the course of the film something strange happened--we both found we had to finish the movie and we actually were enjoying what we were seeing. However, I wonder how many people would bother sticking with this one.On the plus side, the outer space scenes are extremely professional and look like something out of Hollywood as are the aliens. Additionally, although the plot is quite simple (sort of like combining Friday 13th with Predator), it works well and gets better as the film progresses. Plus, the explanation as to what is occurring and why is really very creative. The bottom line is that the film has a lot of merits...along with some god-awful characters that seemed more like caricatures than people. By the way, if you are looking for an ultra low-budget sci-fi film which has a bit more to offer, try "Hunter Prey". Despite a simple plot, the film is rock solid from start to finish and is a great example of what can be done by clever filmmakers even if they are hampered with a micro-budget.

What first looked like it was going to be a camp slasher movie in space became much worse. Only the stereotypical characters were ripped from the slasher movie. The "assertive" chick, her torch-holding boy "friend", the hippie/stoner, the nerd, the chick with the boobs, and the narcissistic a-hole that everyone wants to see bite it.The writing and acting were total crap, the physics were of the Star Wars variety. Laws of physics? We don't need no stinking laws of physics! We just fly like airplanes! I can enter a planet's atmosphere and land by hand, after the nerd does his figures on his iPad, I've played vidgames! See? They even use my joystick controller). The terrain kept switching from tall pine forest to rocky desert over just a few steps (seems they may have had only 2 exterior locations to use, and said screw continuity).Did anyone actually think the actors looked like "college students"??? They looked old enough to be driving their kids to soccer practice in the mini-van (they could have been a backup cast for "Grownups"). I've seen better student films (at least the cast would be age-appropriate).I got to watch it as part of my Netflix subscription, and even then I'm tempted to ask for a refund.

*****Might contain spoilers******First off, I gave this movie two stars because A, the plot was actually had potential and B, because some actors actually TRIED to do their best. I won't name names but it's only a couple out of the whole cast!This movie should not have been made the way it is. The script, whoever this Emmett guy is, has no idea about dialogue, character development or anything else, really. Not a single technical term was used, only pre-school talk onboard the ship. ("Lower the nose of the ship" etc. of course they wrote it in a way that that's what they would need, Yoohoo! no one will notice!) They also have no idea about relationships or real people. Every character was a cliché, went nowhere and didn't have any substance.The director didn't see the holes in the script and the bad writing? He just said, OK, great plot, let's get a production company involved? Is he insane? Oh, no! He's not! He wrote it! Yaaaay, he's a genius! Everything he does must be purrrfect. Maybe I should end this review right here and blame the whole thing on him? Seems like it kind of is because he must've done the casting as well because there is no casting director listed. No wonder! All the pieces of the puzzle fall into place!The casting was sooo horrible, I really cannot believe it! Give good actors a bad script and they might make it work, give a badly written script to bad actors and what do you get? DARK SPACE! Some acting students could've done better than this cast. So many great talents lost to these folk?? Give me a break. What were the auditions like?? Hey! read your favorite fairytale for us. Yes, the actors didn't have much to go on, since the dialogue ducked lumpers! But that doesn't necessitate not doing what you're supposed to do with what you got, i.e. always do your best! Most of them didn't even try.The CGI, the cheap effects, all that stuff would've been totally OK if the first three things were in place. If the script was well-written, it was well-directed and there would've been a good casting director attached who knows what real acting is and knows when he/she sees it!This is why indie films get a bad rep. Movies like this, $750, 000 wasted on something like this! I don't believe it. When they could've gone and made a much better movie with much less money! Does the name of Robert Rodriguez's first film, El Mariachi say anything to anyone anymore? Or Christopher Nolan's first film, Following??? With just a few thousand bucks, these people actually made watchable movies!!!!This is why good indie actors don't get a chance in a movie like this with high potential exposure ("Oh, we don't need a casting director, I'm sooo good with spotting good actors!!"), this is why most indie films go nowhere. And this is why people don't want to see any more 'indie films'. And all of this was OK'd by the Production Company. I'm sure he's the president of that production company too, Geez, I give up...As an actor/writer, I feel really sad about the fact that this movie was ever made and it's a shame to the whole industry.