Dark City (1998)

See all photos

User Reviews

Metacritic Reviews

Critic Reviews

Parents Guide

Trivia

(at around 10 mins) The music which Inspector Bumstead is playing on his accordion in his very first scene in the movie is a song written in 1939 by a Polish-Jewish composer Jerzy Petersburski which was originally called "Mala blekitna chusteczka" ("Little Blue Handkerchief"). The lyrics were later translated (with slight differences) to many languages and it became especially popular in Soviet WWII era under the title "Siniy Platochek" ("Blue scarf"). The song lyrics tell about an unhappy, lonely man who wanders aimlessly around the world thinking about his lost love which is gone forever. His only memento of his beloved one is the blue handkerchief from the title. As the movie is about our memories, the song actually fits the movie mood quite well.

Quotes

Dr. Schreber: First there was darkness. Then came the strangers. They were a race as old as time itself. They had mastered the ultimate technology. The ability to alter physical reality by will alone. They called this ability "Tuning". But they were dying. Their ...

Goofs

(at around 59 mins) When on the fire escape, one of the Strangers opens the window and enters the building. In the next shot, all three Strangers are still on the fire escape.

Alternate Versions

Here's most of the differences between the 1998 theatrical version and the 2008 director's cut:

• The opening narration with Dr. Schreber's voice has been omitted in the director's cut
• A bunch of the shots with John tuning have been altered/replaced
• A new subplot is added with John's unusual spiral-shaped fingerprints and how he's "evolved"
• Some of the effects with the Strangers "true form" have been tweaked with
• The color timing was altered to a more green and yellow tint, compared to the blue and gray tinting from the theatrical version
• During all of Emma's singing scene's, you can now hear Jennifer Connelly's voice instead of Anita Kelsey's voice from the theatrical version
• The shots in the opening where it shows the city about to fall asleep have been moved to a later part of the film
• The opening scene in the bathtub has been extended
• Some of the shots showing the dead hooker are alternative shots
• The scene in the lobby has been extended with entirely new shots, including a shot where a lady falls from a phone booth due to her unconsciousness
• The shot with John leaving the hotel has been extended
• The shots with the scene when the hotel owner enters John's room and encounters the Strangers have been extended and re-arranged
• The scene when Emma is in Schreber's office contain alternative shots and alternate dialogue
• The shots of when we first see Bumstead playing the accordion have been re-arranged and extended
• Dialogue was added when Bumstead investigates the victim and contain alternative shots
• Extra dialogue between Emma and Bumstead
• It's revealed that the hooker John goes to also has a daughter, thereby giving a different motive for his departure
• Extra shots of when John goes up to the billboard
• When John is up on the billboard, in the theatrical version he goes through some of the newspaper clippings and continues to stand up while doing so. However, in the director's cut, he sits down after examining some of them looking a lot more shocked.
• Some dialogue was added at when Mr. Book is speaking to all the other Strangers in their lair
• Extra dialogue between Emma and Bumstead while in his car
• Alternative shots and extra/alternative dialogue of when we see Emma get out of the shower and sees John sitting down
• Extra dialogue between Schreber and Bumstead
• Extra dialogue between Mr. Hand and Screber plus the addition of shots with John watching the conversation going on between them and John checking out Schreber's bag
• Extra dialogue between Mann and Frau while having dinner
• Extra dialogue between Schreber and Mr. Hand
• When the Strangers have another meeting in their lair, extra dialogue was added and also contain alternative shots
• Alternative shot of when John sees the newspaper salesmen and remembers that he was also the hotel owner
• When Walenski confronts John about there being no way out, Walenski has an extra line of dialogue in the theatrical version, "You're not a killer. They set you up with a fake identity, Iike everyone else here."
• Extra dialogue between Emma and Mr. Hand
• The scene of when John is looking through photos of his "past" contain longer shots
• Extra dialogue between Emma and Bumstead
• A new scene was added showing the dead hooker's daughter hiding under the bed
• The scene when Bumstead confronts John contains alternate shots
• Extra dialogue between John and Emma
• Extra dialogue between John and Schreber along with alternative shots
• The entire scene with John, Bumstead, and Schreber in the car has been extended with extra dialogue, contain alternative shots, and add a scene where John uses his tuning against Schreber to force him to help John and Bumstead find Shell Beach
• Schreber gives extra dialogue when explaining why they're in the city
• A bunch of the shots during the duel between John and Mr. Book have been tweaked with
• In the theatrical version after the fight, John says to Schreber, "I'm gonna fix things"

Soundtracks

Release Date:

Filming Locations

25 June 2020 | MovieWeb
Why Ron Perlman Walked Away from Appearing in the Hellboy Reboot

03 June 2020 | Flickeringmyth
Shades, Leather and New Messiahs in Late 90s Sci-Fi

01 June 2020 | We Got This Covered
Star Wars Comic Reveals How Boba Fett ‘Survived’ The Sarlacc

See all news

Search on Amazon.com