Dark City (1998) Alex Proyas – WTF Happened to This Horror Movie?

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The Crow director Alex Proyas's 1998 film Dark City was not a box office hit, but it did earn high praise from Roger Ebert, who considered it to be the best movie of the year. The movie Ebert saw on the big screen was not Proyas's director's cut, though. That was a whittled down and restructured version of the film, made at the request of the studio after a test screening audience had a middling reaction to the cut Proyas preferred. Years later, the director was finally able to release his cut into the world – and in the new episode of our WTF Happened to This Horror Movie video series, we dig into the behind-the-scenes story to discuss the making of Dark City, and the editing and re-editing of the film. Check it out in the embed above!

You can watch the Dark City theatrical cut HERE, and the director's cut at THIS LINK.

Scripted by Proyas, Lem Dobbs, and David S. Goyer, Dark City tells the following story: 

John Murdoch awakens alone in a strange hotel to find that he is wanted for a series of brutal murders. The problem is that he can't remember whether he committed the murders or not. For one brief moment, he is convinced that he has gone completely mad. Murdoch seeks to unravel the twisted riddle of his identity. As he edges closer to solving the mystery, he stumbles upon a fiendish underworld controlled by a group of ominous beings collectively known as the Strangers.

The film stars Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, William Hurt, Jennifer Connelly, Richard O'Brien, Bruce Spence, Colin Friels, and Melissa George.

This is what the WTF Happened to This Horror Movie series is all about: 

Hollywood has had its fair share of historically troubled productions. Whether it was casting changes, actor deaths, fired directors, in-production rewrites, constant delays, budget cuts or studio edits, these films had every intention to be a blockbuster, but were beset with unforeseen disasters. Sometimes huge hits, sometimes box office bombs. Either way, we have to ask: WTF Happened To This Horror Movie?

Some previous episodes of the series can be seen below, and more can be found on our JoBlo Horror Videos YouTube channel!