MovieChat Forums > Feardotcom (2002) Discussion > Sofia, Bulgaria as Manhattan, New York; ...

Sofia, Bulgaria as Manhattan, New York; Blade Runner inspired?

posted 13 years ago by jeffyoung1
2 replies | jump to latest

I wonder if the director was inspired by BLADE RUNNER (1982)? In that classic sci-fi film, the director depicted a dark, gloomy, run-down futuristic Los Angeles that still retains a glittery downtown nightclub scene set amidst a Hong Kong-like Asian overpopulated central Los Angeles city.

The director of FEARDOTCOM selected Sofia, Bulgaria as a stand-in for Manhattan, New York. If his intention was to portray a crumbling, gloomy, degenerate New York City, he succeeded. New City looks so uncomfortably unappealing as to scare anyone away from visiting it. The entire city starts to look like Detroit in the movie.

[–] Error_PC_LOAD_LETTER 13 years ago

You MIGHT be able to find places in New York/Manhattan atypical of these scenes -- old brownstones (crumbling, dark, but still elegant/picturesque) and subway entrances, industrial rustbelt localities -- there were more places such as these in the 1970s than today.

But Bulgaria has that nightmarish east-European weirdness about it that is different from Manhattan in subtle, dreamlike, disturbingly unfriendly ways.

The resulting ambiance is how you might experience New York in a weird dream or nightmare if you had been a child there many years ago -- just an unsettling tinge weirder than reality but still somewhat familiar.

[–] RotwangsGirl 13 years ago

I don't believe that any portion of this film was shot in Bulgaria. According to the DVD extras, it was shot in Luxembourg, France and Montreal.