What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedDark City
Alex Proyas · Film · 1998
If you loved Dark City, start with Altered Carbon (Laeta Kalogridis, 2018) — a series on the same thread. Below: 3 books, 4 series and 2 podcasts, each matched to Dark City across media.
If Dark City unsettled you, these stories will continue your exploration of fractured identities and the fragility of a reality built on lies.
Books on the same thread
Dark Matter
Blake Crouch · Book · 2016
Shares 2 threads with Dark City: Identity Crisis, Existentialism.
Like the protagonist of Dark City, Jason faces a reality where his memories and life are suddenly foreign, forcing him to confront a disorienting crisis of personal identity.
City of Illusions
Ursula K. Le Guin · Book · 1978
Explores: Identity, Memory Loss, Utopian/Dystopian Societies.
Much like the amnesiac search for truth in Dark City, this story follows a wanderer seeking to uncover his past within a society that obscures his true identity.
The Memory Police
Yoko Ogawa · Book · 1994
Explores: Memory, Loss, Totalitarianism.
This narrative mirrors the unsettling atmosphere of Dark City by examining how the systematic erasure of memory functions as a tool for control in a restrictive, dystopian society.
Series on the same thread
Severance
Dan Erickson · Series · 2022
Shares 3 threads with Dark City: Identity Crisis, Existentialism, Memory Manipulation.
You will recognize the chilling manipulation of memory found in Dark City here, as characters grapple with surgically divided selves while trapped under the weight of corporate surveillance.
Serial Experiments Lain
Series · 1998
Shares 2 threads with Dark City: Existentialism, Identity Crisis.
This series captures the same existential dread present in Dark City, as the protagonist loses herself in a blurring of reality, memory, and an interconnected, synthetic digital landscape.
The Prisoner
Patrick McGoohan · Series · 1967
Shares 2 threads with Dark City: Identity Crisis, Existentialism.
This classic shares the core conceit of Dark City, trapping a man in a mysterious, inescapable environment where his identity is constantly challenged by his unseen captors.
Altered Carbon
Laeta Kalogridis · Series · 2018
Shares a thread with Dark City: Neo-noir.
Fans of the neo-noir aesthetic in Dark City will appreciate this gritty investigation, which explores the commodification of human consciousness and the trauma of shifting into new bodies.
Podcasts on the same thread
Darknet Diaries
Podcast
Explores: hacking, data breaches, cybersecurity.
While grounded in reality, this podcast mirrors the paranoia of Dark City by exposing the hidden, often invisible forces that monitor and manipulate the data defining our lives.
Naked City
Podcast
Explores: Organized Crime, Criminal Underworld, Investigative Reporting.
The investigative tone echoes the detective elements of Dark City, pulling back the curtain on a hidden criminal world that operates beneath the surface of everyday society.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is Dark City a film about a man struggling with his memories?
Yes, Dark City follows a man who struggles with memories of his past, including a wife he cannot remember. He exists in a nightmarish world with no sun that is run by beings with telekinetic powers who are searching for the souls of humans.
Are there beings with telekinetic powers in Dark City?
Yes, the world of Dark City is run by beings with telekinetic powers. These entities seek the souls of humans while maintaining a nightmarish environment where the sun never rises and the protagonist attempts to recover his lost memories.
Does the sun ever rise in Dark City?
No, the setting of Dark City is a nightmarish world with no sun. The protagonist navigates this dark environment while being pursued by beings with telekinetic powers who are actively searching for human souls.
What are the beings in Dark City searching for?
The beings who run the world in Dark City are searching for the souls of humans. These beings possess telekinetic powers and preside over a nightmarish world with no sun, where the protagonist struggles to remember his past and his wife.