Dark City (1998) – Filmsack Show Notes

INTRO

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Oh hi,

This week on Filmsack, we can’t remember the last time we watched something that wasn’t a DARK CITY,  lacking Sunshine and Lost In Space with William Hurt flipping BumStead over confused FaceStead and leaving us with more questions than answers. So get tuned in and tuned out for this neo-noir sci-fi thriller from 1998 now injecting a stammering Keifer Sutherland and false memories directly into your brain lobes with a Sky Dancer looking Syringe over on Amazon Prime. If you know you know. Thanks Energy Being Bezos, ya big bald creep occupying a corpse. 

Anywho, As a space stranger morlock that lives under the dark city…we mostly just stand around being creepy… do we eat? shit? pray? I don’t think so…. oh… we like to build stuff with our collective brain… that is fun. and make shit on an assembly line to screw with the humans above. I know it ain’t much but at least we get to chatter our teeth 3 times a day.  

Randy, You feeling any urges I should know about. Wait… that ain’t even my kid… come back I need the money!

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BRIEF

Dark City (1998) is a neo-noir sci-fi film set in a timeless, ever-shifting metropolis where John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) discovers he’s suspected of murder but can’t recall his past. Pursued by both the police (led by William Hurt) and sinister beings called Strangers, John unravels the city’s reality-bending secrets with the help of Dr. Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland). Directed by Alex Proyas, the film blends noir aesthetics, philosophical themes about identity and memory, and visually remarkable set-pieces to create a mind-bending cult masterpiece.

Rated: R
1998 ‧ Sci-Fi/Thriller ‧ 1h 40m

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Dark City (1998) – I am a doctor. You must listen to me. Moisture #ShutItDown

SHOW NOTES

• Someone forgot to pay the bill.
• This might be too dark. 
• Almost midnight… and that is all she wrote… no more time.
• So dramatic…
• Just a drop of blood on your head and the only bath where you were cleaner before you got  in.
• And right to the man butt.
• … and you killed the fish. no worries.. he can live in your dirty tub water.
• Those soles on those shoes are brand new.
• I am a doctor and you must listen to me.
• There are people coming for you. You must leave now. Don’t answer the phone.
• KH initials. To Shell Beach John Murdoch
• Jigsaw boobies… room 514
• Tall Pale and Taller Paler… and a kid for some reason… also tall and pale for his age.
• These people are all asleep… until time starts again… 
• 3 weeks and they was up 10 minutes ago.
• We make our books like we make our beds… neat and tidy? Slept in?
• House rules… 3 weeks is 3 weeks… no days off for good behavior.
• Fancy Death Pimps.
• Sleep Now.
• Gonna fly high with the fairy dancer syringe.
• Dance with me. Make me sway.
• Hey Sweetie. He said he was your husbands doctor.
• Where your husband is. He is searching for himself… RAT IN A ONE WAY MAZE.
• Good evening Mr. Murdock… J something Murdock… Justin Jerry? Jason? Jack Murdock.
• Oh hi Janitor of the back alley streets. I am just having an argument with my reflection… carry on broom sweep.
• Cash on the Barrel Head…  the hotel clerk has been “replaced.”
• There has been a murder here. Looks like tits up woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
• Those fingerprints ain’t right. They look new… like your shoes.
• Automat… where we keep all of your food separated… including your wallet… good luck. No problem… I’ll just use my brain wavy’s… Thoughts have ridges.
• Thematic spirals like the rat maze.
• 6 hookers
• I guess he had seen enough.
• What kind of murderer save a fish.
• Frank. They are watching us! Can’t you see?
• Have fish will travel… that can’t be good for that fish.
• Detective Walinski… Am I being punished?
• hehe… Inspector Bum Stead… 
• Noir List of Names. She walked in… but she was married… and I didn’t wait to talk to her… and I work for the force and am not a private dick.
• Ha! get it…cause he is a John… this movie has boobies.
• You don’t seem like the killer type. Randy. You feeling any urges I should know about.
• I lose more Johns that way… when they see my kid.
• Shell Beach… it is a shell of a good time. The water is fine… even if our sign is not.
• If I’m not the murderer why do I have all these newspaper clippings… it seems you have discovered your unfortunate nature.
• Sleep… no thanks.
• Man… he is killing all of those agents on oopsies.
• No more Mr. Quick. Mr. Quick Dead. Poor Poor Mr. Quick… Mr. Book? Mr. Hand? Mr. Knight… Mr. Shade the North.
• We must have this man.
• Jennifer Connelly is giving me a Demi Moore vibe in this movie.
• Are you punishing me? Common theme.
• Psychiatrist Sutherland.
• Do you happen to know the way to Shell Beach… wait… I can’t remember.
• There are levels. Literal levels of flow in 
• You know how uncomfortable moisture makes us. 
• I have a weak heart you know.
• This one can tune. He is special. I’ll imprint him again. It is almost Midnight. After tonight’s tuning.
• There is no case. It is all just a big joke.
• This one is still warm…. yummy… brain juice.
• Mr. Whatever your name is.
• Dark Christmas Memory Elves. Mr. Book.
• Weren’t you looking for the human soul? Maybe you have finally what you are looking for and it is going to bite you in the ass.
• Some say that Dark City was the first part of a trilogy that included The Matrix and eXistenZ. All three films feature machines that threaten a person’s sense of identity and agency
• Ahh the mind fuckery of the late 90s… love it.
• Shut it down. Kind of like the closing of the Dow everyday… time to manipulate the story.
• Face down in the soup seems like a good way to die.
• Now showing. The Evil.
• Wake up you sheople!
• Let the tuning commence
• The Dark Elves are about to go cobble the shit out of this city with their chattering teeth and drab wear They are also like cock-a-roaches.
• Congrats… you just got promoted off the night shift and into middle class.
• Just going to make some liquid thoughts and bam… needle to the head.
• Yeah we weren’t ready for Dark City…. The Matrix was more reasonable.
• These effects hold up pretty well.
• You have their power… control your power John. We can take the city back.
• Good job everyone… you did some mighty fine tuning.
• I am glad the night has an even number of eyes.
• Here on Ave M… no Ave M? A lack of control? 
• The life and times of Murdoch volume 2?
• Poor Poor Mr… 
• To imprint one of us has always ended in failure…
• Teeth Chattering bad time.
• He did the murder.
• Karl Harris…
• One of them Cenobite mother fuckers wrote that phonebook while chattering his teeth.
• Mr. Hand is cocky now that he has his memories.
• Leave me alone with her. There is work to be done.
• No way out you know… no way to get out of the city.
• They swap memories around. It happened to me… a wake up.
• But that is ok. I figured a way out… bug on a train windshield.
• She is always looking for something better.
• Not at the Shore. Not at the Automat. How about the Neptune Kingdom?
• We are on an island and we don’t like the water.
• Johnny… you don’t forgot about your Uncle Karl.
• Everybody has an aquarium.
• Where is my scar Uncle Karl? LIES!! And where are my journals… these are all lies!!
• The little kid has the Shinning.
• This thing is a gift of my mother…I keep it with me to remind me of her. I can’t remember when she gave it to me…
• Does this clock do AM? I think it just does PM… it is a DARK CITY.
• Guide to shell beach… it is empty… hey… it is hard to do all the details.
• Who us? Yeah we just stand around being creepy… do we eat? shit? pray? I don’t think so…. oh… we like to tune… that is fun. and make shit on an assembly line to fuck with the humans. Its teeth chattering living.
• This is version 12 revision b
• We built this city on memories 
• We use your dead as vessels.
• Mr. Glove is now Mr. Pancake.
• Have these guys never heard of child labor laws?
• You will probably need a shot after that nasty bite from that kid Cenobite.
• Do you know how to get to Shell Beach?
• Tell me how you get to Shell Beach.
• Remember daylight?
• Don’t believe me… then watch me do my magic ya Big ole Bum Stead.
• Is this love? You can’t fake love….
• What is in this Syringe… 
• Let’s all head to the Beach… The murderer, the doctor and the cop.
• You can’t make me go there… Brain Waves! ok ok.
• Poor ole doctor gets beat up by everyone.
• Who are you people?
• Ha… weird… this is like The Truman show where they get in the boat… how many fucking movies has this movie influenced?
• First there was Darkness. Then came the strangers. They mix and match us. Then they observe the results. It is our capacity for individuality… 
• They are dying cause they share one mind.
• They build this city on Brock and Broil.
• They can’t stand the light or the water…
• We mix it like paint. I am the artist.
• You were never a boy in this place.
• They brought us here… from where? Don’t remember.
• Keep rowing. Row row row your mind… 
• I have taken you this far… you don’t need me any more.
• The only place that home exists is in your head.
• Time to pick ass this place…  uh oh… we are in space
• They brought his wife
• We built this City in Outer Space… and jazz?
• She is not my real wife… but I do care for her.
• yeah right… like he is really asleep.
• The doctor was right… he has evolved… KILL IT!
• Shut it down… shut it down forever!
• haha… The doctor now has to wear one of those Victorian era dress girdle things. 
• They want to share your soul… nope…gonna use the faker one I gave you earlier.
• Here is your memories back…. oh… he is training him in a single shot…
• I am going to insert myself into your memories…
• The time for Study is over… time to be one with John Murdock.
• There is no time for Love John.
• Brain Blast… let’s go you uncle Fester looking bitch. That all you got?
• These guys are Borg like… so did Star Trek TNG make the Matrix possible?
• Good… the kids are the worst…
• Pull a mind knife on me… I’ll flip it and reverse it.
• She is not Emma anymore… you will have to make new memories.
• Dark City, now under new management… By god… I am going to make a space beach.
• The evil is now Book of Dreams.
• You want to know what makes us human. You won’t find it in here…the mind? Ha! You were looking in the wrong place… everybody knows it is in the Butt…
• Did he turn it towards a sun? nice.
•  
• Rufus Sewell as John Murdoch: Our amnesiac protagonist, struggling to prove his innocence and decode the city’s mysteries.
• Kiefer Sutherland as Dr. Schreber: Eccentric doctor caught between aiding the Strangers and guiding John.
• Jennifer Connelly as Emma Murdoch: John’s wife, tethered to memories she’s unsure she can trust.
• William Hurt as Inspector Bumstead: A detective grappling with ever-changing clues and the city’s illusions.
• The Strangers: Pale, ominous beings orchestrating the city’s nightly “tuning,” manipulating architecture and memories.
• Neo-Noir Aesthetic: A blend of 1940s style with a timeless, dreamlike design—no sun, no final sense of era.
• Philosophical Themes: Identity, memory, and the nature of humanity under cosmic manipulation.
• Visual Innovator: Prefigures aspects of The Matrix; stylized sets that shift and morph at midnight.
• Tuning and World-Building: The entire city physically reshapes based on the Strangers’ bizarre experiments.
• Alex Proyas’s Vision: Following The Crow, he brings a gothic, surreal flair to cityscapes and storytelling.
• Critically Acclaimed Director’s Cut: Later release with additional scenes, minus certain voiceover exposition.
• Influence on Modern Sci-Fi: Dark City remains a go-to reference for intellectual, visually distinct sci-fi.
• Legacy: A cult following that appreciates its philosophical depth, distinctive look, and moody atmosphere.
• Memorable Moments: The rooftop chase, the final confrontation with the Strangers, and that iconic reveal of the city’s true nature.
• Behind-the-Scenes Trivia: Elaborate sets and lighting setups, the Strangers’ design inspirations, and how it stood out among 90s sci-fi.

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