10 Philip K Dick Movie Adaptations Ranked Best To Worst

Speaking of bending reality, here’s an adaptation of one of PKD’s best novels whose distinctive look (achieved by a process known as rotoscoping) is the perfect fit for a movie about Substance D, a highly addictive new drug whose repeat use prevents the user from distinguishing fantasy from reality.

Shot on video and animated in post-production, A Scanner Darkly follows a police officer (Keanu Reeves) whose attempts to track down Substance D suppliers lead him to question what is real and what is an elaborate illusion. It doesn’t help that he has to wear a “scramble suit” to conceal his true identity or that he keeps the company of twitchy drug users (including Woody Harrelson and Robert Downey Jr) given to delivering monologues about their past drug use.

Richard Linklater’s movie is so faithful to the book, in fact, that it even reprints the list of Dick’s friends who either passed away from or had their health damaged by heavy drug use. Published in 1977, the novel chronicles Dick’s own experiences in the late 60s/early 70s drug scene, and certain moments have been recreated almost verbatim.