Dark Star: HR Gigers Welt

A great documentary that premiered a few months after HR Giger died. Unfortunately, it started shooting when HR Giger's health was already clearly deteriorating. The personal one on one interviews with him are quite short, many interviews in the documentary are with his personal and professional entourage.

The storytelling is not very linear, some old footage from Giger's youth and from his various movie/Hollywood assignments are mixed in. You will see more interview clips with Giger himself in these segments.

As an introduction and indicator if this movie is interesting to you, watch the short movie 'HR GIGER HOME MADE' (available for free on YouTube), which uses the same setting in Giger's house and garden in Zurich, Switzerland.

I would recommend this movie to all (surreal) art lovers, especially those who might have prejudices and only know his body of work (Giger also was quite often reduced to his work on the Alien creature, which doesn't do him justice at all) but not the real and unique person/artist behind it.

PS: In case of further interest in the artist and his body of work. The official HR Giger Museum (in the picturesque Gruyeres region in Switzerland, Giger's home country) showcases the largest collection of the artist's work from the 1960s until the present day. The top floor of the museum houses Giger's own art collection.

Not unlike CRUMB, DARK STAR: H.R. GIGER'S WORLD gives us a glimpse into the day-to-day life of a singular talent- and in what turned out to be his "final days," as it were. I've always wondered why filmmakers didn't make greater use of Giger. Imagine a train, designed by Giger, entering a tunnel also designed by him. Or cave sets connected by tunnels on an alien world that lead to... Gigerland Underground- the bowels of the planet itself. Of all the possibilities, the most intriguing to me would have been to see Room 101 from George Orwell's NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR designed by Giger: imagine the long walk down the corridor to THAT room, every step of the way looking like a hallway in his home. Brrr...

IMO - "Dark Star" was a pretty bleak and grim look at artist, H.R. Giger's life who (at the time of this production) was clearly approaching his death with both his physical and mental health deteriorating at a rapid pace.

When "Dark Star" wasn't focusing in on Giger's overall declining state of health, it, at least, did invite the viewer to take a brief glimpse at some examples of his more notable artistic accomplishments.

Well, as I sat down in 2021 to watch the 2014 documentary / biography about HR Giger for the first time, I must admit that I was expecting a bit more than what this documentary actually managed to deliver.

Now, it should be said that the words documentary and biography should be taken very lightly when you sit down to watch the 2014 "Dark Star: HR Gigers Welt".

It felt more of a reality TV episode of some kind where you follow a famous person around for a day, than it did as an enlightening and informational documentary.

This 2014 documentary offers some insight into the early life of the artist and a bit into whom he was, but it was hardly a fulfilling documentary for me, and I must admit that I was not particularly thrilled or entertained by what was being shown and told.

While I definitely enjoyed the artwork of HR Giger, then this documentary hardly does the man much of any justice. Especially not if you are interested in knowing more about his work, the man himself, and such. But hey, if you want to follow a former artist around for a day or two, then this is the stuff for you.

I am rating "Dark Star: HR Gigers Welt" a three out of ten stars, as the documentary failed to deliver something wholesome for me.

Don't bother watching this crap, there's no subs for the people speaking in ENGLISH, when others who spoke different languages got English Subs, totally unfair for us deafs who wants to understand this fricking documentary, thanks a lot for wasting our time! Sick of this Audistry biases!