THE TOP TEN FILMS SET ENTIRELY AT NIGHT!

Hmmm.....

FINAL VOTE TALLYS
TOP TEN FILMS ABOUT WWII:                                   15

TOP TEN TV SHOWS WHO'S HIGH RATINGS
WERE ENTIRELY BECAUSE OF THEIR LEAD-IN      2

TOP TEN FILMS SET ENTIRELY AT NIGHT               20


Well, this one should be fun. I mean, this should be difficult, but, you know, not Worst Theme Songs of All-Time painful, thank fucking Christ. God, whose stupid-ass idea was it for me to do that one anyway?

(From "Top Ten Worst TV Show Theme Songs" Post)
And yes, in a runaway, TOP TEN WORST TV SHOW THEME SONGS won by a landslide!. And I'm happy about that, that was one of my suggestions to the list and the one I most wanted to see win.

Oooooh, right, mine.

(Sigh)

Well, I guess I've got no one else to blame on that one. Instead the crowd has spoken and based on the suggestion of Alex Willoughby, oh hey, old friend of mine from high school, thanks for the suggestion; I appreciate it, and we're gonna turn the lights down low, and talk about NIGHT.

Yes, yes, we're counting down some Night Movies, oh, I love the night life, as much I love to boogie, as if I don't suffer from any, Night Fever, I can be dancing the night away, in the still of the night, all night long, so let's the spend the night together, twisting the night away- Okay, I'll stop! Although when I think about night, I usually think about songs, and not-so-much, movies. In fact, it's actually a little weird to think about movies that only take place at night. Especially ones that entirely take place at night. And if they do, it's usually, one night. And one long night, I'm actually kinda curious to go through my lists of films I've seen that take place, only at night, or at close to only at night as I can get, (Well, talk the full criteria in a minute) that actually take place over several nights. It's a little hard, usually there's that pesky day in the middle that screws everything up.

Stupid days, I hate them. All that brightness and sunlight and heat, and people waking up, who needs all that crap? (Shrugs) Sorry daywalkers, but what do you expect, I'm a writer; the ultimate night owl. That stereotype's true as Hell and I'm a Las Vegan where half of us sleep in the day and work at night anyway, partly because we lost track of time to begin with and we don't realize it's not night until sometime around nine or ten a.m. when we finally eat dinner and go to bed.

Anyway, night time, it is an interesting suggestion. Hell, it's almost like a challenge; I bet a lot of good movies could be made with the prompt that the entire film has to be set at night. So, how will I determine this?

Well, fair warning, as of my writing this, I haven't made the list yet, so hopefully it won't be subject to too many alterations and changes, there's a chance it might though, but obviously the first priority, we're talking the top films, so we're talking the best films. That's one. Two, obvious, the action in the movie should entirely take place at night, although that is gonna be tricky. Most movies we naturally think of as taking place during the night, usually have at least one scene that takes place during the day, and you know the damnedest thing about that is that it's probably gonna be either the very first scene or the very last scene in the movie! I mean, it makes sense, for several reasons, logically at the end of the night, comes the day, and of course symbolically, and least in Western literary and philosophical metaphor, we often go through darkness in order to come into the light, and there's no better symbolism for that then the transition from night to day, and the vice-versa is true, we often start out pure and then descend into the darkness. Yep, day and night have a hard time separating themselves from each other, they always seemed to be joined.

So, let's say, perhaps, approximately 95% of the movie, minimal, maybe, give-or-take a couple percentages, should take place at night for it to count? Or at least be considered, with movies with higher percentages of the action taking place at night, being given more prominence? I think that's doable, but this also leads into a 3rd, or perhaps 4th criteria, depending on how you're counting, what exactly is, well, night? No seriously, are we talking, complete darkness out side, from sundown to sunrise? From dusk 'till dawn? Or, should we say a particular time, to be more specific? And what about Daylight Savings Time? Or what about movies that take place by the North Pole or down in Antarctica where it's night for half the year? Or can I just say, it's nine o'clock somewhere and get away with it that way? Nah, of course not. When we say night, it's sunset to sunrise and according to Wikipedia, when the sun is below the horizon, and we're also talking, darkness. It has to be dark outside, at least at the time that the story is taking place, in the location that the film is taking place.

Speaking of locations however, for the sake of sanity, I'm gonna disqualify anything that takes place, in outer space, where that's the obvious known location. Yeah, I thought of that, ha, ha, ha. Although that doesn't technically mean, the film has to take place on Earth, or even on any known existing celestial body that exists in the real universe as we know it, but yeah, claiming it's outer space and it's always dark there, eh, no. Scratch that line of thinking out of right away. Sorry, "Alien" fans.

As to night itself, well, just because something takes place at night, that alone doesn't make it enough to make this list to me. There has to be something about the fact that it takes place at night, that matters. It can't just be, that was the time they shot, or it just happens to be when the events of the movie take place. Maybe not as stringent as the only time this story could've possibly taken place is at night, although that'll help, but the setting of night, it should have meaning and value to the film. There's so many different things that night can invoke, you know? Romance, enchantment, shadowy figures, dark corners, frights, loneliness, mystery, etc. Night and day aren't just constructs, they each have a different tone and a different mood from each other, and within those moods and tones, other moods and tones that are also very different from each other. It means something to go out during the day, and it means something very different to go out at night. So that's gonna be the last x-factor, the movie's usage of night. How necessary is it, how does the film use it, how does it improve the story, and a bunch of other naval-gazing questions along those lines as well. Basically, the fact that the movie takes place at night, has to matter, and it has to matter a great deal.

So, I think those are the main qualifications, well also, I had to have seen the movie. There's that caveat, and I suspect that's gonna knock out a few popular ones, so let me know about them in the comments. comment here, comment on Facebook, Twitter,... (Shrugs)  Google Plus, if you want, I forget I have that account, but by all means....

(2 DAYS LATER)

(Long deep breath)

Okay, that wasn't as painful but that was still quite challenging. I had to seek out and rewatch a few things on fast forward just to double-check, some of them were tougher to hit that 95 or so threshold than you'd think. Setting is weird, there's always a possibility that a lot of movie that we think of as being dark or associate with nighttime, probably a lot more of them took place in the daytime. more than you'd realize. There's some examples of the opposite happening as well too. Alright enough chit-chat; I think I'm good; let's do this. We're counting down....!


THE TOP TEN FILMS SET ENTIRELY AT NIGHT! (Well, mostly at night. Basically entirely at night, essentially...- THEY'RE CLOSE ENOUGH!)

Number ten: I know it would be very attracted to put a bunch of films on this list that are essentially just a couple people talking for a couple hours, or having an all-night evening, maybe a date. I've talked about some of the more popular films like that many times before, even some that kinda suck I have some level of attraction too. "Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist" could've been a helluva lot worst you know? (Although it still annoys me that there's not one self-aware "The Thin Man" reference in that film.) That said, obvious choice is usually obvious, for a reason. When we're going out to have long conversations with possible friends or acquaintances about life, where do you like to go? I like to go to a nice restaurant.


10. "My Dinner with Andre" (1981) Director: Louis Malle



I guess I could've picked something more obscure here, but this is pretty much what I think of when I think of going out at night. Long, deep conversation at a nice restaurant with an old friend, or maybe an old foe who I can catch up with an debate. I mean, I guess in some modern times this movie could take place in the daytime and maybe in a coffee shop or some place more casual, but, I don't know, something about this conversation taking place in some place less, I don't know, sophisticated, feels wrong. Talking long into the night is way more intimate and revealing than catching up during the day does. Anyway, this film's already in the Canon of Film, you can check that out at the link below if you want more details on this one.

http://davidbaruffi.blogspot.com/2014/01/canon-of-film-my-dinner-with-andre.html


Number nine: So, there's definitely a few genres out there that are intimately associated with night,
one of the big ones is horror. Still, what's really scary about night in most of these movies, is the contrast. Night is mysterious, frightening, full or lurid darkness and shadows where threats can hide, so more of them than you think, have a significant portion of the film taking place in day time, even some classic that take place predominantly in daytime just to undercut that calming sense of light and safety that day is supposed to bring. That said, not all the classics of the genre do this.


9. "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) Director: George A. Romero



I actually wrote a review for Romero's original "Night of the Living Dead", way back, back, early, early on, like, maybe a month or two into starting this blog. The link is below, although I don't recommend you click on it unless you really want to see how evolved my writing has gone from the early days.

http://davidbaruffi.blogspot.com/2011/08/random-movie-reviews-edition-3-cedar.html

Yikes. I mean I'm sure ten years down the road, I'll look at my writing style now and be just as embarrassed, but, eh, no-I,- (Sigh) No, no. I'm mostly just embarrassed to read those and think I could've done better even then. And in regards to this film in particular, I do want to take another shot at it at some point in the near future, 'cause I think I underrated this film. It's really difficult to look at "Night of the Living Dead" with fresh eyes now that zombies and zombie movies have become so ingrained into our culture. I've confessed before that I'm not particularly enthralled with zombies as a villain, but I gotta give it up to the original here. Watching the film, there's actually not as many zombies as you'd think and the majority of the film takes place in a house that's quickly trying to stand guard as they await the march of the living dead to swarm in on them. Simply put, that's great tension-building. It's also truth in advertising, the events all take place, at night. That's rarer than you'd think, as I've found out doing this list. It manages to get, or in some cases, all those aspects of horror movies that make them frightening, including the nighttime setting laying an extra undercurrent of fear, unable to see what's out there and how far, or how close the threat may be, and the added level of effect that has on the characters and the situation is played perfectly.


Number eight. John Huston's name came up a lot as I was doing this list. That's not surprising, he basically invented what we now know as film noir with "The Maltese Falcon". That's still his best film, but it was far from his only great one and he did other films that explored night as a part of the setting. He's actually one of the few filmmakers I had a few options of picking from for this list. But I chose the one where night is the time for revelations about one's true emotions get revealed.

8. "The Dead" (1987) Director: John Huston



Huston's final film, "The Dead", based on a James Joyce short story called "Dubliners" is a somber film, ironic, since most of it is a party somebody's throwing. An all-star cast get-together, and it's only at the end of the night, after the party when one character reveals something to their significant other, something personal, something they never knew about that person. There's always that cliche about how the biggest events usually happen in the middle of the night, and yeah, this is one of those movies. It's also the only all-night party movie on this list, (Well, unless you count...- well, we'll get to that one later) I thought about a couple other, again most of those movies usually had a significant portion of the film take place in daytime, although I do wish I had more comedies on this list. That said, "The Dead", is one of those brilliant reflective movies that says more about life and circumstance than many of us would like to admit we have a connection to. It's one of those parties you go to, whether you want to or not and things happen, but from a different time and era.


Number seven. Oh boy, this one.I thought a great deal about this one, and remember I'm judging this, not solely based on film quality, but also the importance and relevance of the films taking place at night, and how night is used to great effect to add to a film. I mean, if I just listed these films solely in terms of quality as films, "My Dinner with Andre" would probably be at the top of the list, so.... That said, um, outside of this qualification of "night", I think this movie is highly overrated. Not bad, by any means but-eh, personally I consider the best movie in the franchise to be the first sequel.


7. "Die Hard" (1988) Director: John McTiernan



Yeah, I'm that one. The one who argues that "Die Hard 2" is the best "Die Hard", and I think it's easily the best in the franchise in fact. I actually think "Die Hard" has periods that are too slow and at some points the tension and action comes to a complete halt, and Paul Gleason's character should've just been written out completely, and while I think it's really good despite all that, to me, the more interesting and most entertaining "Die Hard" film is the second one. That said, "Die Hard 2" takes place at night, almost coincidentally more than anything else. It helps tells the story, sure, and there's some strategic advantages to it, but "Die Hard", undercuts it's otherwise exuberant-yet-benign nighttime setting, (Fine, Christmas night setting, but no, it is not a Christmas movie, screw people on that one.) and allows it to enhance the situation, the danger, the intensity of being trapped in a building that's under a terrorist hostage situation, and a lone man who's out there trying to stealthy save the day while not getting killed himself. I mean, the terrorist prepared for the night, they even prepared in case light was thrust upon them by the LAPD. Sure, it's never been unusual that action films take place at night, but I would have a hard kind coming up with an earlier film that used it's setting of night to it's advantage as much as "Die Hard" did. It's still the standard of it's genre, and for good reason.


Speaking of the strangest most improbable things happening at night, number six:


6. "After Hours" (1985) Director: Martin Scorsese



So, we've had nights out at dinner, nights out at parties, nights out at parties that turn into hostage situations, so nothing unusual so far, but we haven't had a really surreal night of insanity and paranoia, that kind of Kafkaesque nightmare that's both frightening and hilarious. Martin Scorsese has had so many great films that it's easy for one or two to slip through the cracks; that used to be "After Hours", although in recent years, it's gotten a bit of a popularity resurgence. It was overlooked at the time a bit with Scorsese famously splitting the Independent Spirit Awards for Best Director with the Coen Brothers's "Blood Simple", which unfortunately I could not find a spot for on this list. That said, "After Hours" takes this horrific scenario of everything going completely wrong for a main character and turns what would normally be a wronged man narrative of empathy and fright, into a sadistically twisted joke. It's too ridiculous to explain what happens, you just have to experience it to believe it. There's a long list of movie about bad nights out where everything goes wrong, so few of them use the night as more than just setting, "After Hours" is one of the few that really, genuinely feels like "Don't Go Out at Night" is genuinely good advice that would've prevented everything from happening if the main protagonist had followed it.


Number five: (Sigh) I debated this one for awhile, and I decided to go with it, but this is gonna be a really controversial pick.


5. "Daybreak (aka Le Jour se Leve)" (1939) Director: Marcel Carne



So, one really common theme I discovered while doing this list, is that, well there are a lot of movies that are technically set at night, but the actual story that's being told, might be in a world that's not so full of night. Usually these are flashbacks, or in some cases, dreams. If you think about it, technically, a movie like "The Wizard of Oz" takes place primarily at night, even though most of that night is spent with the main character in an unconscious slumber dreaming about a Technicolor world. There's several others that fit into this category, "Double Indemnity" for instance arguably, and I was trying to figure out whether or not to include a movie with this kind of storytelling conceit or not. I certainly think putting a list together of a bunch of them would just be cheating, but it does make sense in some cases, and it happens enough that I think it should be represented, so I picked the one that I think most used the night setting of it being the time where our main character is confessing the story for our experience the best and to me that's Marcel Carne's "Daybreak" or it might be better known to some as "Le Jour se Leve". It's the only foreign film I put on the list, (Well, one is half-foreign, but we'll get to that) which is a bit surprising considering some of the German Expressionism uses of light and dark, but again, they're not all mostly set at night. In "Daybreak" the main character has killed a man and is holding up in tall building overnight while Police are surrounding him and as they are actively trying to force their way in, we see in flashback what happened to Francois (Jean Gabin) that led him to this point.

I must confess, it's been awhile since I've seen this film, and I do need a rewatch, and to be honest I've never really been as enthralled with Carne as others have, (Why exactly does "Children of Paradise" need to be three fucking hours long!?) but that said, if there's one movie where it matters and effects the films that the narrator is reflecting on other events in the middle of the night, I think it's definitely "Daybreak".


Number four. You know, going out to dinner, going out to a party, you know what's really a night thing, where all the shit really hits the fan? The after-the-party, (finger quotes) "party."


4. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966) Director: Mike Nichols



Yeah, I suspect that this might've been an easy call for most. I actually have a lot of affection for this film and the play, it's one of my personal favorites. In fact, I've even done some scene work with it in some basic acting classes; I think I made a pretty good George if I say so myself. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" takes place on an Ivy League campus after one of those cliched but totally realistic faculty soiree that go into the night and everybody gets sloshed, and follow the exchanges of two couples, one new to campus and the other who's done this routine so many different times, they've developed a little game of it. A game that, can get a bit out of hand, especially in the middle of a long, drunken night. The movie and original play by Edward Albee were both controversial, in fact the modern MPAA ratings were basically created for this movie. I'm probably ranking it a little high, 'cause most of the movie is basically inside a house, or a restaurant, so the night aspect is sorta mostly just a detail than a feature, although I can't imagine any believable scenario where this story happens in daytime. That's what really saves this one for me and makes me consider it a legitimate night film, not just one that takes place in night.


Number three: So, you know one of the funny things about being a Las Vegan is that there's a great deal of people who work at night here. There's people that work primarily at night most everywhere sure, but you definitely make more connections with people who worked at night here than most towns, and there's a lot of different jobs that happens in. Bartenders is a big one, waiters and waitresses, hoteliers is a bit unusual, convenient store clerks, sure, hookers and dancers in certain parts of town and times of night. One profession that this is really common, so common in Vegas in fact that there was actually a long-running reality show based on those late-night connections, is cab drivers.


3. "Night on Earth" (1991) Director Jim Jarmusch



"Night on Earth" is an anthology or compilation movie of sorts; it's five stories taking place at five different times at night and in five different world cities, each story centered around a cab ride. Writer/Director Jim Jarmusch has made some other films like this before, most notably "Coffee and Cigarettes" and his inspirations have usually been related in some way to his original inspiration, poetry. He's one of the premiere vanguards of the American Independent Film Movement of the '80s, and you can basically think of "Night on Earth" as five short stories of his, and they're all pretty good and each one is very different from the others. (The one in Rome is particularly unique, fair warning Roberto Benigni is involved. I know some don't think of that as a good thing, I tend to be okay with it.) You can debate which stories are your favorite or are the best, I prefer the Paris one myself, but you can also read the movie as a journey through the night itself. The movie celebrates each part of it from sundown to sunrise and tell each tale at a different time of night and the tones of each little hour are just as different as the characters and the cities themselves. Night of course, always walks in beauty in Jarmusch's films and in a way "Night on Earth" is his way of celebrating all the ways the night is beautiful. I'm honestly surprised this one never caught on more and that there aren't more imitations or pseudo-remakes or re-imaginings of this film; it's one of his most universal films, especially early Jarmusch, but, well, I hope, like all these choices if you haven't seen them, you'll seek them out.


Number two: Yeah, yeah, I didn't forget the obvious. Which one did I pick?

(Clears throat, gets into characters, Transylvanian accent)

Ca-rea-tures, of the night; what muuu-sic they make."


2. "Dracula" (1931) Director: Tod Browning



Ye-up. Vampires, I didn't overlook this obvious trope of night films, but again, not as many as you'd immediately think take place primarily at night. Mainly because, you need the day to contrast with the world of vampires at night, or to reveal the sun coming up and kill them. (You know, I never really think about it, but that is weird.) I guess there might've been one or two other vampires movies I could put here. I would've considered; "Interview with the Vampire" more if, you know, it didn't suck. (Look, I'm sorry, I've tried, she sounds like a nice and interesting person, sure, but in terms of her work, I don't get Anne Rice at all.) but when it does come to vampires, I usually end up back at the classic "Dracula". And you know, yeah, there's a little opening in daytime, but actually, this is one of the rare instances where I re-checked a film and it actually had less day scenes than I remembered. Everything else, takes place at night, and not just because it's convenient for Dracula, it's convenient for everybody else to talk and eventually investigate and capture him, once they realize he's the one, well, murdering and raping essentially. (Sighs) I do tend to like more romantic versions of vampire stories, outside of this film. (That reminds me, I'm like five seasons behind on "True Blood," still, I should really catch up on that.) Tod Browning is one of the great forgotten names of early cinema and it's a shame he gets overlooked as a director. He retired quite young and many of his films are considered lost, but we still have the original and best.


Alright, before I reveal my number one, I'm gonna throw out some honorable mentions in no particular order that didn't make the list, but for one reason or another I seriously considered, and what the hell, why stop recommending films at ten now.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

"The Fireman's Ball"-This is the satirical comedy that put Milos Forman on the map, and damn-near got him thrown out of Czechoslovakia. It's a great movie, I don't know how important it is that it takes place at night though.

"Blade Runner"-You know, I didn't even realize that this movie takes place entirely at night until I started looking things up. That said, if you know my position on it, than you probably shouldn't be too surprised that I left it off. By the way, while we're on the subject of overrated, same goes for both versions of "Evil Dead".

"American Graffiti"- Eh, there's too many memorable scenes that do take place in daytime, including the climax.

"Die Hard 2"-Yeah, I just want to elaborate again that "Die Hard 2" is the best of the franchise. I stand by it; he blows up a plane in mid-air, with a lighter!

"Blood Simple"-I don't know how well this holds up now that we have three decades of Coen Brothers works to compare, but I probably need a rewatch; I honestly have trouble remembering how much of this film takes place in daytime.

"Night and the City"-It's weird, I genuinely couldn't find a spot for a film noir movie on this list, too many of them, including this underrated Jules Dassin one, just spends a little too much time in the daytime, which is weird considering it's title; "Night and the City" are the basically the two biggest ingredients you need for a film noir.

"The Sweet Smell of Success"-Oh, there was this classic noir as well. This I seriously thought about including for a little while, and it's one of the few movies that takes place primarily at night, that doesn't take place in just one night. Still, great movie though.

"Key Largo"-One other film noir that just missed. This was the other John Huston movie I seriously considered, and I'm definitely tempted especially since it has both Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson, possibly my two all-time favorite actors in it. It's a great tense hostage movie in of itself.

"Dick Tracy"-Did you ever notice that very little of this film takes place specifically in the daytime? Granted, it's unusually forgettable and it's not particularly among Warren Beatty's best directing pursuits but I do tend to be an apologist for it. As an adaptation, it's actually closer to the comic than it probably should be.

"Hard Eight (aka Sydney)"-I just happened to rewatch this recently, it's really underrated. Just one-two many daytime scenes, but it's more of a night film than people might realize.

"Get on the Bus"-This one gets forgotten among Spike Lee's work, but I think it's underrated. Might be difficult to explain the context these days, The Million Man March in '95 has kinda become more forgotten than even this film.

"Collateral"-I know some rank this as Michael Mann's best; I tend to put "Heat" in that position, but "Collateral" really is very good.

"Nocturnal Animals"-This is another one I debated over, because of the "Daybreak" thing, but ultimately no matter how I sliced it, there were too many scenes during the day and if I'm wrong about that, it's so Pinteresque in it's structure, who can tell?

"Victoria"-I don't know how many have seen this German film from Sebastian Schipper, but it's really impressive. The whole thing is shot in one take and takes place from like 4:00am to a little after 6:00am. It's an amazing feat, and it's entertaining with that trick, unlike say, "Russian Ark" which is just boring as Hell. Ugh.

"Edmond"-Another lesser known film, this is a Stuart Gordon film based on the David Mamet play, and has one of William H. Macy's very best leading roles in it. Despite that, the movie just barely escaped being a straight-to-DVD release. (Shrugs) I personally think I would've tried for a wider release, but that's me.

"Only Lovers Left Alive"-This Jim Jarmusch love story was the closest I came to putting a second vampire film on the list. I know some people who really love it, but I'm just in the "It's okay" camp on it, myself.

"Irreversible"-Yeah, that scene... that said, as a film, it's honestly not as interesting as people think it is.

"Rope"-As much as I love this film, I don't think this movie needed to necessarily be set at night, if it didn't want to be. For most of it anyway.

"Dinner Rush"-I really wanted to put this on the list; I consider it one of the most underrated and underseen films of all-time, but I would've had to get rid of "My Dinner with Andre" and I can't take out one great restaurant film for another. That said, still seek this film out if you haven't already.

"Still the Drums"-You've probably never heard of this movie, but interesting fact, it's in the "Guiness Book of World Records" for most wins by a single person in a film festival, for their work on the same film. Talbot Perry Simons won for Directing, Writing, Acting, Producing, and Best Song at the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival. It's also actually, a pretty good film, and I think it takes place mostly at night. I think.

"Radioland Murders"- Nah, I'm kidding, I didn't seriously consider this one at all, but this should be a better movie than it actually is. That said, we really should make fun of George Lucas for this a lot more often than we do.


Alright, number one. What's the best films set, entirely (Almost) at night? Well, like I said, there were a few setbacks in making this. Night, usually ran into day a little too much. Clarifying night specifically can be tricky, how important is the setting of night in the movie, and I couldn't cheat with "Outer Space", but I did say it didn't have to take place on Earth though. And if something doesn't take place on Earth, or any known place, than maybe we can create a world that doesn't necessarily follow the day and night pattern, and perhaps see what happens....? Yeah, I probably gave too much away with that hint.


1. "Dark City" (1998) Director: Alex Proyas



Alright, first of all, I never saw "The Crow", so that's why that's not here. I know, I've been told it's all night as well, but...- anyway, Alex Proyas's "Dark City", it's a great movie, it takes place over multiple nights, the only scene of day is at the very end, it makes sense why there are no day scenes between the night scenes, it's called "Dark City" and it's very dark in all the best literal and figurative ways, it's makes sense in the universe that's created.... If I wanted to, I could even argue that it basically covers my missing film noir requisite...., and it even has some German expressionism stuff there too. It's a great movie that lives and bathes itself in night, so much so that for the characters it's hard to even remember what day looks like. I've written on this film before, in fact my Canon of Film post on it was republished on Age of the Nerd recently at the link below:

http://www.ageofthenerd.com/2018/03/canon-of-film-dark-city-directors-cut/

and I think this is a solid number one choice that's difficult to argue against. I can't think of too many other great movies where the setting of night matters this much and is this intricately important to the film and story itself.

Hope you enjoyed this list, let me know if you have thoughts on my choices or others that I should've considered, or recommendations for others. Well, that's all for now; I got about half a dozen documentaries to write movie reviews about.

Oh, good night, everyone. Good night.