John Carpenter’s Escape from New York (1981) offered an early glimpse into the dystopic cyberpunk worlds, preceding Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner by a year. While not as developed in plot and other creative elements, Escape from New York draws attention to the interesting nature of power structure in special circumstances.

Notable perhaps more for being an indie sci-fi at a time when going big studios was the norm, Escape from New York marked a diversion in the cyberpunk tradition. Showing a dystopian world in an indie wasn’t – and still isn’t – child’s play. But Carpenter was up to it off his success with Halloween. So he chose to stride ahead into creating the near-future dystopic society of Manhattan (NY) turned into a high-security prison...

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