Dark City

Director Alex Proyas lends a potent gothic atmosphere to this dreamlike film noir fantasy about a race of mysterious bald figures who are conducting a weird experiment on the inhabitants of a surreal and gloomy city. As with his earlier The Crow, Proyas employs every striking camera angle in his visual vocabulary, breathing dread into the overhanging Batman-style architecture. The effects are impressively realised, too, as buildings stretch and widen before our eyes. Although overshadowed by the film's visual flair, the eclectic cast - including Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, William Hurt and Ian Richardson - adds a splash of colour to the shadowy surroundings.