Introduction

In many of the futuristic films, a feeling of fear and dystopia is projected through the use of darkness and rain. These elements are used to portray and emphasize certain atmospheres, establish distinctions between environments, and create suspense and uncertainty. Darkness, suggestive of fear, corruption, and evil, and rain, suggestive of decay and ruin, are elements used in several ways in different films to achieve similar and distinct goals. What is a common thread between the films are their use of darkness and rain to create dystopic and fearful environments.

With various films taking hints from the film noir genre, they too take on the hopelessness of a doomed environment or fated world which can be seen in direct opposition to optimism and utopia. The cities are fallen and its inhabitants are victims struggling in a world dominated by forces and powers that probe, distort, and harm individual life. Darkness and rain are the phsyical manifestions of these decrepit worlds; they are product of pollution, decay, and evil; they are the generator of fear and dystopia.