Did Thomas Ligotti inspire Dark City?

J

JadedFool

Acolyte
Spoiler alerts for "The Voice in the Bones" by Ligotti and the 1998 film Dark City.

As I read "The Voice in the Bones" from Noctuary this afternoon, I couldn't help but picture seeds of the 1998 sci-fi/noir film Dark City. The first page described a pair of darkly clad mysterious figures witnessing and possibly causing physical changes to a building across the street as a resident within cowers. Then the names begin... "Mister Ha-ha," "Mister Tick-tock," "Mister Thump," "Mister Fizzle." As for the names of the strangers in Dark City, whose forms are essentially puppets... Mister Hand, Mister Book, Mister Wall.

What do you think?
 
"The Voice in the Bones" is one of my favorite Ligotti piece. When I read it I can see it behind my eyes as a black and white dream. I would imagine walking through my osteon, hearing my bones creak.
ground-section-Photomicrograph-bone-cross-osteon-lamellae.jpg

As for Dark City, it feels Bekinski more than Ligotti to me.
 
I read Noctuary for the first time last year, but I really can't remember a single thing about The Voice in the Bones. Guess it's time for a reread. :)
 
And after further thought, another potential parallel. The mysterious figures in Ligotti's story are seemingly hinted at as being made up of the bone chips of the dead and possibly puppeteered by a black substance beneath their skins. Meanwhile, the strangers in Dark City are reanimated corpses possessed by parasites.
 
JadedFool said:
Spoiler alerts for "The Voice in the Bones" by Ligotti and the 1998 film Dark City.

As I read "The Voice in the Bones" from Noctuary this afternoon, I couldn't help but picture seeds of the 1998 sci-fi/noir film Dark City. The first page described a pair of darkly clad mysterious figures witnessing and possibly causing physical changes to a building across the street as a resident within cowers. Then the names begin... "Mister Ha-ha," "Mister Tick-tock," "Mister Thump," "Mister Fizzle." As for the names of the strangers in Dark City, whose forms are essentially puppets... Mister Hand, Mister Book, Mister Wall.

What do you think?
Click to expand...
To me, the first time I read it, it actually reminded me of E. Elias Merhige’s experimental film Begotten.
 
Google AI (sorry, I know) says on Philip K Dick themes -

"The Illusion of Reality: Characters constantly grapple with manufactured environments, shifting timelines, and hallucinations. His worlds suggest that reality is highly subjective or manipulated by outside forces".

I guess that could describe Dark City.

The mysterious "Mr. characters" seem inspired by Pinhead, minus the pins. I think the names were intentionally mundane because as a hive collective, they have both no need of names and had no individual imagination to come up with anything better. What is interesting is that they all seemed to be male. One wonders why there were no women's corpses to reanimate.
 
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