Thursday, November 08, 2012

Ask JKM a Question: #50: Donnie Darko?



A reader named Tuomo writes:

“I just watched Donnie Darko Director's Cut. This movie goes right there with Mulholland Drive as one of the scariest movies I have seen. Not scary in the sense of primal fear, but existential fear that makes you question your whole idea of the world around you. And these stories make a great use of the movie as a medium to portray such ideas. I would love to hear your thoughts about Donnie Darko, and maybe recommendations of other movies in this genre.

Tuomo, thank you for a great question.  Donnie Darko is actually one of my all-time favorite films, and I agree with you completely about the vibe of “existential fear.”  Mulholland Drive is in that camp definitely, as are Lost Highway and Inland Empire.

I admire Donnie Darko so much in part because of that intellectual basis for the horror.  I also love it because it doesn't spoon-feed us answers.  It’s a film that I have returned to over and over again, and always find fascinating. 

I’ll review it right here on the blog a week from tomorrow (Friday, November 16th) , so stay tuned.

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