FilmsDark CityLike this

Films like Dark City.

Dark City (1998) reads as Sombre, breathless, measured sci-fi / noir, surreal in texture. Ambivalent, epic, cold. Every film below is ranked by distance across the same twelve hand-scored axes — with what it keeps, and where it walks away. Not a genre dump.

The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello (2005) poster
1. The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello2005

Keeps the bone-dry seriousness and the documentary-plain realism — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society (2007) poster
2. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society2007

Keeps the bone-dry seriousness and the documentary-plain realism — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Mardock Scramble: The Second Combustion (2011) poster
3. Mardock Scramble: The Second Combustion2011

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG - Individual Eleven (2006) poster
4. Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG - Individual Eleven2006

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part I: Beginnings (2012) poster
5. Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part I: Beginnings2012

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2007) poster
6. Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone2007

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The Fly II (1989) poster
7. The Fly II1989

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

The Butterfly Effect (2004) poster
8. The Butterfly Effect2004

Keeps the bone-dry seriousness and the documentary-plain realism; trades toward a unmistakable directorial hand.

Mardock Scramble: The Third Exhaust (2012) poster
9. Mardock Scramble: The Third Exhaust2012

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The X-Files (1998) poster
10. The X-Files1998

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

The Inhabited Island (2009) poster
11. The Inhabited Island2009

Keeps the bone-dry seriousness and the documentary-plain realism; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

Metropolis (2001) poster
12. Metropolis2001

Keeps the bone-dry seriousness and the documentary-plain realism; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

These are Dark City’s neighbours — where are yours?

Rate five posters and the same twelve axes read you — then tonight’s pick comes from your own centre of taste.

Find my film for tonight — 60 sec →