This nugget of science fiction is still very little known, and it’s about time that changed

In 1998, Dark City was released, and if Alex Proyas’ sci-fi film, which preceded The Matrix by a year, was anything to go by, another film destroyed everything at the box office, leaving little chance for other projects to be released: a certain Titanic. .

four years before Alex Proyas The world was introduced to The Crow. If James O’Barry’s comic book adaptation was a success (and a real success at the box office), the project was mourned by the accidental death of Brandon Lee on set due to a gun that was allegedly loaded. empty

After that, he started a project dear to him. But this time there was no success. The film, starring William Hurt, Richard O’Brien, Jennifer Connelly, Rufus Sewell and Kiefer Sutherland, was indeed a true commercial failure in the face of the mighty. Titanic.

As a reminder, the film tells the story of John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) who wakes up next to a dead woman in a hotel room with no memories. He does not remember last night, nor the previous nights: he has completely lost his memory. He soon finds himself wanted for a series of sadistic murders, now hunted by the police and pursued by mysterious creatures of terrifying power. After that, he has no choice: at any cost, he must find his memories and find out who he is. But in a city where reality is just an illusion, the truth lies beyond imagination…

Visually stunning and depicting a neo-noir fantasy world, dark citywhich referred to many masterpieces released before it, earned its moment of glory. Even before that matrixHe was already questioning the free will of mankind.

However, over the years, the feature film has found its audience and achieved cult status. And he even had a sequel coming out in 2021 that he wrote and directed Alex Proyas and named Evil ghost maskA short film made exclusively for Vidiverse that had extremely limited distribution – and thus didn’t help the original film build up an even more loyal following. Available on the given streaming platform, this project is only 20 minutes long and takes place in the same world.

But of course he isAlex ProyasHe was never completely satisfied with himself dark city The original – and remembered when he could. After all, he had to make changes to the theatrical version and only then was he able to fix it as he wanted in his director’s cut. He also mentioned the potential arrival of a series in 2021 to continue the realization of his vision: unfortunately, there is no news since then.

Unfortunately, to (re)discover Dark City, the original, and especially its director’s work, which we highly recommend, you’ll have to turn to the Blu-ray and DVD editions if you can.