Line #27 Film/DarkCity1998


1	%%
2	%%
3	%%
4	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out.
5	%% Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
6	%%
7	%%
8	%%
9	%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16660214640.42921400
10	%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
11	%%
12	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/555b2a11_99a3_4687_8e80_34dea484fd34.jpeg]]
13	%%
14	->''"A world where the night never ends. Where man has no past. And humanity has no future."''
15	--> -- '''{{Tagline}}'''
16
17	''Dark City'' is a 1998 neo-noir science fiction film directed by Creator/AlexProyas, starring Creator/RufusSewell, Creator/WilliamHurt, Creator/KieferSutherland, Creator/JenniferConnelly, and Creator/RichardOBrien.
18
19	A man (Sewell) [[YouWakeUpInARoom wakes up in a bathtub]] with [[EasyAmnesia no memories]]--he doesn't even recall that his name is John Murdoch until he checks his wallet. He finds a dead woman in the bedroom; so when the phone rings and the voice on the other end tells him to get out before "they" come for him, John does so. Despite the damning evidence, John is convinced that he's not a killer, and he sets out to prove this while evading the police... and the [[LooksLikeOrlok pale men in dark coats]] who have taken an interest in him.
20
21	Meanwhile, Emma Murdoch (Connelly) is contacted by Dr. Daniel Schreber (Sutherland); he claims to be her husband's doctor and says that he desperately needs to speak with John. But it becomes increasingly unclear whether or not Dr. Schreber is on [[ReluctantMadScientist John's side]].
22
23	Meanwhile, [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist Inspector Frank Bumstead]] (Hurt) is investigating a serial killer targeting streetwalkers--the dead woman in John Murdoch's room was the latest victim. The evidence does seem to paint John as the serial killer, but some pieces just don't fit. Bumstead is beginning to understand why the last detective on this case [[RoomFullOfCrazy went insane]].
24
25	It's going to be a very long night for everyone.
26
27	'''Also worth noting''': The {{opening monologue}} from the original cut [[{{Spoiler}} spoils the movie to hell]]. (It was a last-minute addition [[ExecutiveMeddling at the behest of New Line Cinema]].) It's recommended that you either watch the Director's Cut (which omits the narration) or mute the opening if you're watching the theatrical version. (Unmute at the closeup of the pocketwatch.) If you ''want'' spoilers, check out [[Recap/{{Dark City\|1998}} our synopsis page]].
28
29	[[JustForFun/IThoughtThatWas Not to be confused with the]] 1950 FilmNoir of the same title starring Creator/CharltonHeston in his first starring role.
30
31	----
32	!!We need to list the tropes, Mr. TV Tropes, yes:
33
34	* AccidentalMisnaming: Narrowly averted. When Emma reaches Dr. Schreber's office, she stops herself before uttering his name in a wrong way, unsure how to pronounce it, as she was only given a card prior.
35	-->'''Emma:''' Dr. Sh... [She stutters, not really knowing how to continue]
36	-->'''Schreber:''' Schreber. Please, won't you come in?
37	* ActionSurvivor: [[spoiler:Before he learns how to master his Tuning]], John Murdoch's just a terrified guy trying to survive as best as he can, but he actually manages to kill a few Strangers through quick thinking and luck, and knocks down Mr. Hand with one punch during their rooftop confrontation.
38	* AffablyEvil: While most of the Strangers fall into FauxAffablyEvil, Mr. Hand seems far more genuine in his politeness. It becomes far more pronounced after he gives himself the memories meant for Murdoch.
39	* AlwaysNight: The city exists in a state of the perpetual night [[spoiler: till the end of the movie, when John [[CueTheSun creates the sun.]] ]]
40	* AmnesiacLover: [[spoiler: John to Emma in the beginning, then Anna (formerly Emma) to John at the end.]]
41	* AmplifierArtifact: [[spoiler: The machine below the city allows tuners to create changes on a massive scale.]]
42	* ArcSymbol: Circular mazes. Dr. Schreber has one in his office for testing rats, Walenski was driven mad into drawing them all around his apartment, and the city itself is maze-like and constantly changing. [[spoiler: Not to mention the spaceship itself houses the city in a circular shape.]]
43	** The serial killer also carved symbols resembling them into his victims' chests.
44	* ArcWords:
45	** "Remember."
46	** "Do you know the way to Shell Beach?"
47	** "You ever think about the past?"
48	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: "Do you know the way to Shell Beach?" [[spoiler: It's part of everyone's memory, but nobody remembers the trip due to the limits of the Strangers' constructions. The question tricks people into noticing the missing link.]]
49	** "When was the last time you did anything during the day?"
50	* AxCrazy: Mr. Hand, after being imprinted with the memories meant for John, mainly since these memories were designed to make him into a SerialKiller.
51	* BackstoryInvader: [[spoiler: Schreber becomes a rare heroic example of this, injecting John with a syringe that contains all the memories he should have had, ''plus'' memories of Schreber showing up in his past to educate him about the Strangers and his powers.]]
52	* BadassLongcoat: John, Inspector Bumstead, and The Strangers.
53	* BaldOfEvil: All of the Strangers.
54	* BeamOWar: [[spoiler: ''Twice'' during John's final battle with Mr. Book, the second time involving a thrown knife as well.]]
55	* BecomingTheMask: When Mr. Hand imprints himself with the memories meant for John, he starts to act and behave more like a human. Unfortunately, since the memories were designed to make John into a SerialKiller, Mr. Hand starts to become one too.
56	%%* BigBad: Mr. Book, the leader of the Strangers.
57	* BigDamnKiss: While talking about their "relationship" in the jail visiting room, John realizes he's fallen in love with Emma for real. He telekinetically shatters the glass between them and kisses her passionately.
58	* BioPunk: While it leans more toward DieselPunk, the film incorporates several biopunk touches as well, and has had a big impact on much later biopunk works with a RetroFuturistic vibe. The development team for VideoGame/{{Bioshock}}, for instance, cited this film as a major influence on their designs not just in the plasmid technology but also for the city of Rapture as a whole.
59	* BlankBook: Stranger-made artifacts of John's "childhood".
60	* BlindedByTheLight: Mr. Hand when [[CueTheSun the sun comes up]].
61	* TheBrute: Mr. Wall.
62	* CastingGag:
63	** The creators said the Strangers were inspired by Riff-Raff from ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow''. So Mr Hand is played by Richard O'Brien.
64	** Jennifer Connelly had previously starred in ''Film/MulhollandFalls'' and ''Inventing The Abbotts'' - and this was the third film in a row that had her playing someone in the 40s/50s setting.
65	* TheChanteuse: Emma Murdoch's occupation. [[spoiler: Or at least the one the Strangers have chosen for her.]]
66	* ChekhovsGun: Dr. Schreber's special memory vial, [[spoiler: which John pockets just before being captured]].
67	* {{Chiaroscuro}}: As part of the homage to GermanExpressionism.
68	* CityInABottle: Everybody seems to remember life outside the city, but nobody remembers how to get to any of those places.
69	* CityNoir: Given this film is a homage to classic FilmNoir and GermanExpressionism, it's to be expected. But there's the added twist that [[spoiler: this city always changes. Literally. Buildings are never in the same place twice, bridges or roadways constantly shift, apartments can become hotels, housing developments can transform into five-star restaurants, etc. This only heightens the uncertainty, surrealism, and paranoia in the atmosphere. It's a prison with ever-changing cells. This takes the Film Noir metaphor of the city as a repressive labyrinth of the soul to the logical extreme.]]
70	* CityWithNoName: Mainly because [[spoiler:it's a pastiche built from the mixed-and-matched memories of people [[AlienAbduction abducted]] from numerous time periods throughout the Twentieth Century.]]
71	* ClickHello: Utilized when [[spoiler: Murdoch and Bumstead confront Schreber]].
72	* ClockOfPower: The Strangers physically alter the city with the aid of a gigantic clock that they control via mass "tuning" (their word for their telekinetic/psychic power). The clock amplifies their tuning, allowing them to send everyone in the city to sleep at once, and can deconstruct/reconstruct entire skyscrapers in seconds.
73	* ClosedCircle: [[spoiler:The titular story itself.]]
74	* CreepyChild: Mr. Sleep. (Who was played by a pair of very young fraternal twins.)
75	* CruelAndUnusualDeath:
76	** One of the Strangers gets ''scalped'' when the giant metal hand of a [[ItMakesSenseInContext woman on a billboard]] swings down and slices the back of his head off. Another Stranger falls through a wooden bridge and gets his neck tangled in ropes connected to gears, and when the gears start turning he's painfully strangled to death.
77	** Another one gets smashed like a bug when he gets trapped between [[spoiler: two moving buildings as the city is changing.]] ''[[SquashedFlat Squelch!]]''
78	** Getting [[spoiler: [[ThrownOutTheAirlock thrown out into space]]]] cannot have been pleasant for either [[spoiler: Mr. Wall]] or [[spoiler: Bumstead.]]
79	** [[spoiler: [[BigBad Mr. Book]] gets stabbed in the throat with a knife and then ''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill slammed into a watertower]]'' with great force. ]]
80	* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: Every single word that Detective Eddie Walenski says to anyone turns out to be perfectly true, despite the fact that his partner, Inspector Bumstead, is absolutely right when he describes Walenski as being around the bend.
81	* CueTheSun: How the film ends. [[spoiler: John, after having taken control of the massive space station, rotates it so that the sun is shining across its surface for the first time.]]
82	* CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler: Once Dr. Schreber gives him a whole lifetime of training via ExpositionBeam, John trashes the Strangers in about five minutes of screen time.]]
83	* CurseCutShort: Dr. Schreber, cut off mid-rant by Mr. Book.
84	-->'''Schreber:''' Maybe you've finally found what you're looking for, and it's going to bite you on your -- ''Aaah!!''
85	* CyberpunkWithAChanceOfRain: [[ShapedLikeItself It's always dark in the city]]. Justified [[spoiler: by the eponymous city being controlled by aliens who can't stand strong light]].
86	* DarkWorld: The title should say it all.
87	* DaysOfFuturePast: According to the director, although his co-screenwriters have a different interpretation.
88	* DeadpanSnarker: Bumstead.
89	* DeathIsTheOnlyOption: [[spoiler: Walenski has a pretty good grasp of what's happening in the city, and figures out that the only escape is by committing suicide]].
90	* DieselPunk: One of the more important {{Trope Codifier}}s, cementing the aesthetic's connections to FilmNoir and a vaguely [[SpookySeance Spiritualist]][=/=][[CosmicHorrorStory [=Lovecraftian=]]] breed of AppliedPhlebotinum bordering on {{Magitek}}.
91	* DisposableSexWorker: [[EnforcedTrope Enforced]] by the Strangers, who give prostitute identities to certain women, then kill them, and then share John's memories of killing them—all to see if he will kill another woman chosen to be a prostitute. John [[DefiedTrope refuses to follow through]], but once Mr. Hand gets John’s manufactured memories he [[DoubleSubvertedTrope finds and kills her]].
92	* DragonWithAnAgenda: Mr. Hand has himself injected with the memories meant for John, claiming it will make him able to track John better. However, he eventually admits that his goal was to experience individuality and what it's like to be human.
93	* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Detective Walenski, who throws himself in front of a subway train when he sees it as the only way out of the City.]]
94	* DyingRace: [[spoiler: The Strangers, although exactly why they are on their way out remains ambiguous.]]
95	* {{Eldritch Location}}: The Strangers can adjust the architecture of the city at will.
96	* EndOfTheWorldSpecial: The last 10 minutes, in which [[spoiler: John frees the world from the shackles of The Strangers and recreates it to be a better place for all those who inhabit it.]]
97	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: John saving the goldfish at the beginning demonstrates his good nature. Bumstead even takes note of it during his investigation.
98	* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles: Emma's first dress we see her performing in is a sparkly green number.
99	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Mr. Wall is the only one to object to imprinting Mr. Hand with the memories meant for John. While the rest of the Strangers are reluctant to do so, they ultimately do so anyway out of desperation. Considering [[SerialKiller what it turns Mr. Hand into,]] Mr. Wall's fears were definitely justified.
100	* EvilBrit: The Strangers all speak with English RP accents. Non-American actors Rufus Sewell (British) and Melissa George (Australian) use American accents as their more sympathetic characters.
101	* EvilCannotComprehendGood: [[spoiler:Mr. Hand's final conversation with John, who tells him the Strangers were looking for humanity [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove "in the wrong place."]]]]
102	* ExpositionBeam: An Exposition ''Syringe''. [[spoiler: Doctor Schreber wants to give John a fighting chance against the [[RealityWarper reality warping]] Strangers, so he fills the last Syringe with both exposition and a lifetime of experience in using his matter manipulating powers. [[CurbstompBattle Carnage ensued.]] ]]
103	* FaceplantingIntoFood: When the clock strikes midnight and the entire city falls asleep at once, one couple drops into the bowls of soup they were eating.
104	* FanDisservice: We get a few shots of topless prostitutes, but since said prostitutes are ''[[DisposableSexWorker dead]]'' and covered in spiral carvings at the time, it's hardly erotic.
105	* {{Fanservice}}: One of the first things we see is John's naked bottom, and not long after that, we see May topless. People keep their clothes on afterwards.
106	* FakeMemories: [[spoiler:Regularly and on a city-wide scale]].
107	* Five Man Band: The most prominent Strangers:
108	** TheLeader[=/=]BigBad: Mr. Book
109	** TheDragon[=/=]DragonWithAnAgenda: Mr. Hand
110	** TheBigGuy[=/=]TheBrute: Mr. Wall
111	** The CreepyChild: Mr. Sleep
112	** TheSmartGuy[=/=][[spoiler:TokenGoodTeammate]]: Dr. Schreber
113	* FilmNoir: The whole movie is an homage to this combined with GermanExpressionism, you have a disturbed protagonist unsure of his morality entangled in a web of lies far larger than himself, his beautiful [[TheChanteuse nightclub singer]] lady friend, the stoic police inspector tracking him down, a [[HerrDoktor sinister German doctor]], and a whole bunch of sinister men in black trenchcoats hunting him down, all of it taking place in the city, at night, and in very heavily shadowed surroundings.
114	* FiveSecondForeshadowing: [[spoiler: When John and Bumstead smash through the wall of "Shell Beach", Bumstead almost falls out but John saves him. Moments later, the Strangers attack, and Bumstead goes out through the force-field for real.]]
115	* FlashbackCut: John's shattered memories of Shell Beach. [[spoiler:Also how Dr. Schreber presents himself to John to teach him to master Tuning in mere seconds.]]
116	* ForcedSleep: The Strangers have the ability to put people to sleep simply by waving a hand and saying "Sleep now." [[spoiler:They also combine forces to put the entire city to sleep so they can work undisturbed.]]
117	* {{Foreshadowing}}: On repeated viewings, a lot of lines and shots can be seen to call forward to the plot twist:
118	** John is noticeably bleeding from his forehead in the first scene, which not only foreshadows the memory injections but also [[spoiler: the [[PuppeteerParasite aliens in the Strangers' bodies]], which enter and leave through wounds in their foreheads.]]
119	-->'''Crime Scene Cop:''' [[spoiler: Ever notice how these things always seem to happen in the middle of the night?]]
120	** Bumstead notes that Emma seems unused to wearing her wedding ring.
121	** The second song that Emma Murdoch sings. "''So remember when you tell those little white lies/that the night has a thousand eyes...''"
122	** Murdoch takes the fish from its shattered bowl and places it in a bathtub.
123	** After Murdoch finds the newspaper clippings about the murdered prostitutes, one of them blows out of his hand onto the ground, where Mr. Hand steps on it.
124	* GlowingEyesOfDoom: A subtle example whenever John uses his powers. Most noticeable right at the end, when his face is entirely in shadow.
125	* GoodAllAlong: [[spoiler: Dr. Schreber.]]
126	* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Whatever Detective Walenski found out while investigating the case drove him utterly around the bend.
127	* GoneHorriblyRight: John Murdoch. The Strangers wanted to test humans and see what would happen. ''Murdoch'' happened. Dr. Schreber actually taunts them with this when they complain.
128	* GracefulLoser: [[spoiler:Mr. Hand, after the rest of the Strangers are killed, admits he’s dying and simply has a polite conversation with John where he explains his motives.]]
129	* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: Emma wears a purple dress when performing "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes", and also has a purple coat she wears in the latter half of the movie.
130	* GreenAndMean: Invoked. Most of the clothes John has arranged for him are green [[spoiler: and the Strangers were planning to imprint him with the personality of a serial killer]].
131	* GunsAreWorthless: [[spoiler:Inspector Bumstead learns this the hard and tragic way.]]
132	* HappyPlace: Shell Beach, which everyone knows yet no one knows how to reach. Unlike the perpetual darkness of the city, visions of Shell Beach are in bright, oversaturated sunshine. [[spoiler: Did it ever exist before John "created" it? Who can say?]]
133	* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Dr. Schreber reveals that he's actually on humanity's side after all]].
134	* HeroOfAnotherStory: Some of the Strangers' conversations imply that Murdoch wasn't the first to wake up when he wasn't supposed to. Mr. Wall mentions an incident where another Stranger seems to have been killed, asking the others if they remember what happened [[NoodleIncident "last time"]]. It's possible that Detective Walenski was one of those people.
135	* {{Homage}}: This film is a love letter to {{German Expressionism}} and the classic {{Film Noir}} era. See {{Shout Out}} for more details.
136	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:Mr. Book is taken out by a telekinetically-thrown knife to the throat. Though the knife doesn't actually do him in, crashing into a water tower as he's flailing about does.]]
137	* InfoDump: A well-done one, when Dr. Schreber explains the nature of the City to Murdoch and Bumstead.
138	** Also a poorly-done, studio-mandated one, tacked onto the beginning of the movie and spoiling it to hell. Fortunately absent in the Director's Cut.
139	* IntriguedByHumanity: [[ExaggeratedTrope To an extreme degree!]] The Strangers’ whole purpose in creating the city and performing their nightly experiments is to study humans in order to [[BecomeARealBoy become like them]] and reverse the [[DyingRace death of their species]].
140	-->'''Mr. Hand''': [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove I wanted to know what it was like … how you feel.]]\
141	'''Murdoch''': You know how I was ''supposed'' to feel. That person isn’t me—never was. You wanted to know [[HumansAreSpecial what it was about us that made us human]]. Well, you're not going to find it ''<<points at his head>>'' in here. You were looking in the wrong place.
142	* ItWasAGift: Bumstead's accordion, which [[spoiler:he thinks]] he got from his late mother.
143	-->'''Bumstead:''' It's a funny thing, though. I can't remember ''when'' she gave it to me. How do you think I could forget a thing like that?
144	* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: The prostitute May is blonde, upbeat and friendly (Light). John's wife Emma is brunette, troubled and distant (Dark).
145	* LivingLabyrinth: The city transforms at 12 o'clock, new buildings sprouting up and others retracting.
146	* ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway: [[spoiler: Where is the city? Has it been sealed from the world? No. There is no world -- it's floating in space.]]
147	* LovecraftLite: [[spoiler:There's an ageless race of squishy, invertebrate aliens who capture humans to toy with as they please, endlessly manipulating us for our entire lives, invisibly, and we are completely at their mercy... until one of us obtains their superpower, then the tables start to turn.]]
148	* MathematiciansAnswer: When John goes to the automat to retrieve his wallet.
149	-->'''Cook:''' You left your wallet here, buddy.\
150	'''John:''' When did I do that?\
151	'''Cook:''' When you were last here.\
152	'''John:''' When was that?\
153	'''Cook:''' When you left your wallet. You expect ''me'' to remember?
154	* MemoryJar: Dr. Schreber implants FakeMemories into people's heads with syringes, and he's later seen concocting the fluids that make up these memories.
155	* TheMenInBlack: The Strangers are aliens impersonating men in dark formal clothing who manipulate and threaten people.
156	** Interestingly, rather than the classical MIB archetype, they seem to be based a specific real-life case: that of Herbert Hopkins, an UFO researcher who claimed to have been visited in 1976 by a hairless, pale-skinned man with a black hat who demonstrated supernatural powers.
157	* MindRape: The entire premise of the mysterious syringes, and inverted when Mr. Hand makes use of John's memories to track him down.
158	* MindScrew: The premise is quite disturbing once you really start thinking through its implications. The movie starts with a white desk clerk changing to a black guy between camera cuts and just keeps rolling from there.
159	* NakedOnArrival: John Murdoch wakes up in a bathtub with no memories or a sense of identity.
160	* TheNightThatNeverEnds: Not only is it part of the film's atmosphere, it becomes a plot point.
161	* NightmareFuelColoringBook: [[spoiler: The murdered prostitute]]'s daughter draws one of the crime scene.
162	* NoodleIncident: Apparently John wasn't the first "experiment" to wake up when he wasn't supposed to, and it's implied that another Stranger was killed as a result. When the Strangers are preparing to [[spoiler: inject Mr. Hand with John's memories]], Mr. Wall warns the others against the procedure, asking if they remember what happened "last time", and another Stranger agrees, lamenting "poor, poor Mr. Quick".
163	* OntologicalMystery: John wakes up in a hotel bathroom with no idea how he got there or even who he is, and there's a murdered woman in the bedroom. As he tries to piece together his identity, it becomes increasingly clear that no one he meets is aware that they seem to be trapped in an anonymous city of constant night.
164	* OpeningMonologue: The opening scene in the theatrical cut has Dr. Schreber give an introductory narration about the Strangers.
165	* PillarOfLight: A beam of light appears as the dark world dissolves.
166	* PlatonicCave: In this case the "cave" is [[spoiler:an alien spaceship/laboratory made up to look like an American city ca. the 1940s]].
167	* PossessingADeadBody: The Strangers (really OctopoidAliens with incredibly strong psychic abilities) can only occupy dead human bodies, hence their pale skin tone and sunken eyes. Presumably this is because possessing a living human would cause them to experience human emotions, which are fatal to their species. They're not picky either; one of them has taken the body of a [[UndeadChild dead child]].
168	* PowerFloats: The Strangers move by eerily gliding, stock-still, around the city.
169	* PowersAsPrograms: Dr. Schreber injects people with a substance that alters their skills and experiences in a heart beat.
170	* ProductionThrowback: The movie theater advertises ''Book of Dreams'', a previous film by Alex Proyas.
171	* PsychoKnifeNut: All the Strangers (sinister {{Puppeteer Parasite}}s occupying dead bodies) carry nasty-looking extendable knives which they love to threaten people with.
172	%%** Mr. Hand becomes a far more straightforward version of this after injecting himself with the memories meant for John.
173	* PuppeteerParasite: [[spoiler:"You've seen what we are. We use your dead as vessels."]]
174	* QuestForIdentity: John tries to find out who he is.
175	* RegainedMemoriesSequence: [[spoiler:At the climax, John gets injected with [[ExpositionBeam a syringe containing his missing memories]], conveyed to the audience as a rapid-fire montage of flashbacks. Complicating matters is that these memories, and John's entire past, is completely fabricated as part of the Strangers' vast experiment, and even John knows by this point.]]
176	* LaResistance: Schreber works as TheQuisling for the Strangers, but has been secretly waiting for the moment to undermine them.
177	* TheReveal: [[spoiler:The city is actually a giant spaceship.]] The theatrical version ruins this surprise with the opening monologue.
178	* RoofHopping: Murdoch confronts Hand and flees other Strangers after a roof-leaping chase. Unusually suspenseful in that the buildings ''are changing shape'' as he's running across them.
179	* RoomFullOfCrazy: Detective Walenski's bedroom (and, to a lesser extent, his ''office'' at the police station).
180	-->'''Bumstead:''' ''[upon being shown to Walenski's office]'' I'm being punished for my sins, aren't I?\
181	'''Husselbeck:''' Everything Detective Walenski committed to paper should be here.\
182	'''Bumstead:''' The only thing that should be committed is Walenski. ''[finds a mouse trap in the stacks of paper]'' Nothing like a little healthy paranoia.
183	* RousingSpeech: [[spoiler:Dr. Schreber instructing John on Tuning, the Strangers' Underworld machines, and how to combat them in his memories.]]
184	* RRatedOpening: John Murdoch discovering a topless, mutilated prostitute in the room next door to his in the first scene (although oddly enough, this is one of only two times where we see blood or nudity).
185	* SafelySecludedScienceCenter: The film's big twist is that [[spoiler: the entire city is a secret research facility floating in deep space, and the city's human inhabitants are just abducted test subjects for the Strangers' efforts to uncover the truth of the human soul. For good measure, the central laboratory is hidden hundreds of feet beneath the city, to the point that it requires an underground monorail service to reach, and the Strangers themselves only venture out to adjust the memories of their captives -- or to hunt down a test subject running loose.]]
186	* SanitySlippage: This is what happens when a Stranger is imprinted with the memories meant for a human, as we see first hand with Mr. Hand.
187	* SceneryCensor: Subtle example: the bathtub water is cloudy enough to conceal John's nudity in the opening scene.
188	* SceneryPorn: The city, the lighting, the cinematography, it's gorgeous.
189	* SerialKiller: John was supposed to be one, but [[spoiler:he woke up in the middle of the procedure and screwed up the memory imprint.]] Mr. Hand starts to become very bloodthirsty after imprinting himself with John's memories.
190	* ServileSnarker: Dr. Schreber follows all the Strangers' orders, but still throws barbs at them occasionally, mocking one as "Mr.-Whatever-Your-Name-Is" and even giggling to Mr. Book's face that their experiment is going to bite them in the ass.
191	* ShoutOut:
192	** To ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}'', as each of the Strangers {{Looks Like Orlok}}.
193	** The Strangers are also partially based on the mob from ''Film/{{M}}''.
194	*** The film's creator also noted that the original idea came from the look of Riff Raff in ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow''. This makes Richard O'Brien's role especially [[ActorAllusion notable]].
195	** Dr. Schreber is named after a real person, Daniel Paul Schreber, a German judge who wrote ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Paul_Schreber Memoirs of My Nervous Illness]]'', an account of his symptoms during nine years of Dementia praecox.
196	* SpoilerOpening: The theatrical version begins with an OpeningMonologue that completely spoils ''every major reveal and plot twist'' you're about to see. This was apparently mandated by Executive Meddling, as the studio [[ViewersAreMorons thought viewers would be confused]]. It is conspicuously removed from the Director's Cut. (Seriously, do ''not'' start with the theatrical version if you're a first-time viewer who likes stories to contain any mystery at all! Many fans will watch the theatrical version on mute until the close up of Dr. Schreber's pocket watch.)
197	* SquashedFlat: Happens to one of the Strangers chasing Murdoch when he gets trapped [[spoiler: between two moving buildings]] at the wrong time.
198	* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler: When Mr. Wall throws Bumstead out into space, the inspector manages to grab his coat and pull Mr. Wall with him through the forcefield.]]
199	* TerrainSculpting: The strangers do this all the time, using their "tuning" powers to reshape the labyrinthine architecture of the city to conduct their experiments on the human inhabitants. [[spoiler:After their defeat at the end, Murdoch uses his own tuning powers to create an ocean at the edges of the city.]]
200	* TheyPlottedAPerfectlyGoodWaste: The plot holes aren't. They're foreshadowing.
201	* ThrownOutTheAirlock: [[spoiler: Or rather, thrown out the ''forcefield'' into space. So long, Bumstead and Mr. Wall.]]
202	* TimeStandsStill: Sort of. The Strangers shut down the city at midnight each night. When they do this, everyone stops what they're doing and falls asleep. It's shown that people driving cars and doing other things take steps to stop what they're doing first, so they don't accidentally injure themselves or others. John wakes up during one such event and is immune after that, and it's implied Walenski is the same way (but has no powers), hence why he's crazy.
203	* ToKnowHimIMustBecomeHim: Mr. Hand's justification for being injected with John's memories. Other Strangers (particularly Mr. Wall) consider it a bad idea, primarily because attempting to imprint Strangers with human memories always results in the recipient Stranger's death. Mr. Book is willing to go along with it anyway, because Murdoch isn't blindly wandering the City, but following the clues the Strangers set out for him as part of the Murdoch-as-serial-killer experiment. The imprint will lead them down the path he's following far faster than trying to re-create the experiment. And besides, Mr. Hand is really interested in giving human sociopathy a try.
204	* TransferableMemory: The Strangers are trying to isolate the human soul by tracking the effects of swapping memories around various people.
205	* {{Tuckerization}}: Dr. Schreber is named after Daniel Paul Schreber -- a German judge who suffered from psychosis and suspected schizophrenia. His book ''Memoirs of My Nervous Illness'' is alluded to many times throughout the film.
206	* VerbalTic: Mr. Hand says a hissing, rhetorical ''yes?'' after almost every sentence.
207	* WaterTowerDown: Mr. [[spoiler: Book]] is [[MindOverMatter thrown]] through a water tower because that's [[KillItWithWater his weakness]].
208	* WeaksauceWeakness: The Strangers hate water, which is likely the reason that [[spoiler: they designed the city with little to no water sources, and Shell Beach does not exist.]]
209	* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: The Strangers are conducting the city as an experiment into the nature of the human soul in order to save their dying race, and it's implied that they [[BlueAndOrangeMorality don't truly understand the cruelty of their actions.]]]]
210	* WhenThingsSpinScienceHappens: The Machine that amplifies the Strangers' powers rotates during the Tuning process.
211	* WindowLove: John and Emma are about to do this. [[spoiler:Then John breaks the glass instead.]]
212	* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler: John becomes one by the end, although he probably won't destroy the world.]]
213	* WorldGoneMad: In the climax, [[spoiler:Mr. Book and John's psychic battle overloads the Tuning machine, causing the entire city to start uncontrollably warping]].
214	* YouHaveToBelieveMe: Schreber is desperate for Murdoch to believe him, even though what he's saying seems impossible.
215	* YouWakeUpInARoom: John wakes up in a bathtub, [[IdentityAmnesia unable to remember who he is]].

Context Film / DarkCity1998