Dark City
- R
- Year:
- 1998
- 100 min
- 708 Views
INT. OPENING MONTAGE
OVER BLACK a low rumble increases in volume.
FADE UP:
A GLOVED HAND wraps around a bulky scissor-switch, thrusts
DOWN.
SNAP! - Electricity arcs through darkness.
OS SOUND of MACHINERY turning on.
TITLES OVER:
MONTAGE OF CLOCKS - VARIOUS. The clocks are frozen, then second
hands turn - TICKING gets louder...
The streets are empty - no sign of life. Eerie silence.
A DOORWAY opens in the side of a building, then:
A line of shadowy figures walks out. Men, dressed in black full-
length coats, bald...
The STRANGERS walk silently out into the city.
INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT
SHADOWS DANCE - in and out of darkness. A hooded light-bulb
swings IN SLOW MOTION from the ceiling, its dim light REVEALS:
A GLASS SYRINGE - broken on the floor.
Clothes on a chair...
Puddles of water on the floor...
ANGLE ON SLEEPING EYES - Between waves of light they snap open and
dart about in confusion.
ON JONATHAN WALKER as he sits up. Water splashes. He's in a tub
of long-cold water. His neck aches like he's been sleeping forever.
TIGHT ON WALKER - he's in his early thirties, dark featured.
HIS P.O.V. - looking around the room. Everything's strange,
unfamiliar.
He stands, steps from the tub.
ANGLE - THE SWINGING LIGHT BULB. Walker's hand ENTERS FRAME,
stops the bulb mid swing.
ON HIS REFLECTION in a cracked wall mirror. He moves to the mirror
and looks at himself. A line of blood runs across his face, from a
point between his eyes. he wipes it away, and notices a tiny pin-
prick wound on his forehead.
WALKER'S P.O.V. PUSHES TOWARDS a circular window. The glass is
cracked, covered in grime. His hand wipes it, this only smears the
dirt, but the window is unlatched and swings open with a creak.
It's dark out there.
EXT. BUILDING - NIGHT
WALKER - from outside the window - ANGLE BECOMES A RAPID FLYING
P.O.V. PULLING BACK in silence until the window is a SPECK on the
side of a vast grey tower.
INT. BATHROOM - NIGHT
Walker shivers, cold. He picks up the clothes lying on the chair
and puts them on. Loose trousers with braces, a plain shirt,
leather shoes with HOLES in both soles.
Now he steps to the door, hesitates, hand inches from the doorknob.
He leans down.
TIGHT ON HIS EYE - blinking through the key-hole.
P.O.V. OF AN EMPTY ROOM - A glimpse of motion - the door across
the room (leading to a corridor?) is shutting.
INT. HOTEL - NIGHT
WALKER pushes the door open, steps into the adjoining room. No sign
of life.
He's unsteady on his feet, doesn't notice a fishbowl on a table near
the door, bumps it.
THE BOWL falls to the floor. Water goes everywhere.
TIGHT ON A SMALL GOLDFISH flapping at his feet. WALKER'S HAND
ENTERS FRAME and picks the fish up.
He steps back into the bathroom and throws the fish into the murky
water in the tub.
BACK IN THE OTHER ROOM - SERIES OF ANGLES ON WALKER
He moves cautiously through the room. He turns a light on.
A CLOSET - Walker's hand opens it. A grey coat hangs inside. He
goes through the pockets and finds a WALLET.
TIGHT ON THE WALLET - There's no I.D. in it, just:
A laundry bill;
Some money;
A business card for something called "Neptune's Kingdom";
And a postcard from "Shell Beach", a sea-side town.
With trembling hands, Walker puts everything back into the wallet
and looks around the room once again.
As he does this, he notices something on the floor.
HIS P.O.V. follows a dark stain on the floorboards, to a woman's
bare foot behind the bed. In the shadows there lies a WOMAN'S BODY,
naked, in a RAPIDLY EXPANDING pool of blood. Her eyes stare
lifeless.
Walker throws his hands over his mouth.
Walker staggers from the room, grabs a wall for support.
DING!
At the end of the corridor, elevator doors open TO REVEAL: TWO
SHADOWY FIGURES - ONE TALL, ONE VERY SHORT.
Walker instinctively flattens himself against the wall.
The figures step from the elevator - still in shadow - he can't
see them clearly.
Walker makes for the stairs.
INT. LOBBY - NIGHT
Walker rushes past a deserted front desk. A VOICE from the back
room stop him in his tracks:
HOTEL MANAGER O.S.
You gotta message.
Walker looks uncertainly towards a bead curtain.
MANAGER O.S.
(Cont.)
Message! You deaf?
Walker looks to a series of nooks for messages in front of him. In
one he sees a little folded note. Reaching across the desk, he
glances through the beads into the manager's office. RADIO SOUNDS
O.S.
HIS P.O.V. - hard to see - the man sits in a chair, lit by the
glow of a T.V. set.
Walker grabs the note, looks at it. It says: JOHN WALKER - PLEASE
CALL - .. That's all - no number. Walker thrusts the message
in his pocket.
MANAGER O.S.
(Cont.)
When you gonna pay up? That's three
weeks y-owe me!
Totally confused now, Walker sees something.
WALKER:
I...
WALKER'S P.O.V. - a painting on a wall (cheap print variety) -
waves on a beach. A breeze rustles the pages of a calender, pinned
beside the picture.
TIGHT ON WALKER - MOVE IN on his ear. O.S. surf crashes on
shore. A WOMAN'S VOICE WHISPERS:
VOICE O.S.
What's your name... What's your
name...
He backs away from the painting, looks around in panic - sees a
sign:
TOILETS. An outlined hand points the way.A PHONE on the front desk starts ringing.
The MANAGER, a squat man with glasses, steps through the bead
curtain just in time to see Walker run from the lobby.
MANAGER:
(calls after him)
Hey!
He grabs the receiver aggressively and barks into it.
MANAGER:
(Cont.)
Yeah. What?
ANGLE FOLLOWS Walker as he pushes shakily through a red door, runs
down a corridor.
Pipes on the walls steam and drip water.
Walker rounds a corner, slips, nearly falls.
INT. MENS' ROOM - NIGHT
Puddles on the floor, stains on the walls.
Walker bursts through the door and into a cubicle. He bends over a
toilet bowl and VOMITS.
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"Dark City" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Oct. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/dark_city_329>.
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