Donnie Darko

Theatrical Release Date: 2001 10 26 (USA - Limited) / 2004 06 04 (USA - Rerelease)

UPC: 024543165033

Studio: 20th Century Fox

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Not For Children, Adult Language, Substance Abuse, Watch With Your Teen]

Summary: Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a bright and charming high-school student who also has a dark and willfully eccentric side; he does little to mask his contempt for many of his peers and enjoys challenging the authority of the adults around him. Donnie is also visited on occasion by Frank, a monstrous six-foot rabbit that only Donnie can see who often urges him to perform dangerous and destructive pranks. Late one night, Frank leads Donnie out of his home to inform him that the world will come to an end in less than a month; moments later, the engine of a jet aircraft comes crashing through the ceiling of Donnie's room, making him think there might be something to Frank's prophesies after all. The rest of Donnie's world is only marginally less bizarre, as he finds himself dealing with his confused parents (Mary McDonnell and Holmes Osborne), his college-age sister (Maggie Gyllenhaal), his perplexed analyst (Katherine Ross), a rebellious English teacher (Drew Barrymore), a sleazy self-help expert (Patrick Swayze), and the new girl at school who is attracted by Donnie's quirks (Jena Malone). Donnie Darko was the first feature film from writer and director Richard Kelly; Drew Barrymore, who plays teacher Karen Pomeroy, also lent her support to the project as executive producer. A director's cut played in select theaters on a limited basis in the summer of 2004, featuring original music cues and trimmed scenes originally in Kelly's first cut of the film. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Fantasy

Awards: Best First Feature – Independent Spirit Awards Best First Screenplay – Independent Spirit Awards Best Actor – Independent Spirit Awards Special Citation – Toronto Film Critics Association

Features: cc16x9 widescreen presentation (aspect ratio 2.35:1)
Audio: English 5.1 (Dolby Digital), English 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
Audio commentary with writer/director Richard Kelly and director Kevin Smith
Scene selection
Subtitles: English, Spanish
English closed captions
Donnie Darko production diary (with optional commentary by director of photography Steven Poster)
"They Made Me Do It Too" - The Cult of Donnie Darko
Storyboard-to-screen featurette
#1 Fan: A Darkomentary
Director's Cut theatrical trailer

Donnie Darko

Format: DVD

Release Date: 02/15/2005

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cinemascope

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, DDS2.0 Dolby Digital w/ 4 channels

Runtime: 132 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 2

Language(s) English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 -- Disc One
1. Main Titles/Where Is Donnie? [4:16]
2. Family Tension [4:52]
3. Wake Up, Come Closer [3:49]
4. Engine Trouble [5:12]
5. Head Over Heels [5:05]
6. No Mail Today [3:49]
7. Controlling Fear [4:30]
8. Going Together [3:29]
9. They Made Me Do It [6:14]
10. Do You Believe in Time Travel? [3:24]
11. Simple Lifeline [5:42]
12. Grandma Death's Book [5:52]
13. Water and Metal [3:26]
14. Discussing Donnie [4:57]
15. The Manipulated Living [5:27]
16. Space and Time [5:13]
17. The Living Receiver [3:24]
18. Have You Ever Seen a Portal? [4:27]
19. Burn It to the Ground [4:11]
20. Inappropriate Methods [4:01]
21. The Rabbits Are Us [5:37]
22. Cellar Door [2:25]
23. Open Sky [4:53]
24. Ensurance Trap [4:17]
25. Time Is Running Out [4:15]
26. Facing Frank [5:39]
27. A Storm Is Coming [4:12]
28. Mad World/End Credits [4:39]

Elbert Ventura

One of the eeriest and most ambitious American independent films of the early 2000s, Richard Kelly's debut feature is an eclectic amalgam of science fiction, horror story, '80s nostalgia-fest, and teen movie. A child of the '80s, Kelly wears his formative influences on his sleeve: the movie invokes Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis among others, and the soundtrack boasts Echo & the Bunnymen, Joy Division, and Tears for Fears. Unlike films that have trafficked in '80s nostalgia, Kelly's portrait is admirably restrained, mining the period for specific political and personal connotations (as opposed to cheap laughs and pandering irony). Despite being a period piece, the movie succeeds in conveying a sense of imminent doom. Anchored by Jake Gyllenhaal's nuanced performance as the eponymous hero and Steven Poster's tenebrous lighting, the movie is genuinely unsettling. Its denouement, set on a portentous Halloween night, evokes an unraveling world of lost kids and absent parents -- perhaps the closest thing to a definitive statement the movie makes about growing up during the Reagan years. With its intimations of apocalypse and visions of planes falling from the sky, the movie inadvertently gained added resonance in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. An unabashed popcorn movie at heart, Donnie Darko gets terrific mileage from Kelly's imaginative scenario and evocative direction. For all its splashy special effects and inspired casting, it's the movie's ominous and ultimately elegiac tone that stays with you. ~ Elbert Ventura, Rovi

Cast and Crew: David St. James  Actor 
Ashley Tisdale  Actor 
Seth Rogen  Actor 
Gary Lundy  Actor 
Jolene Purdy  Actor 
Drew Barrymore  Executive Producer 
Adam Fields  Producer 
Hunt Lowry  Executive Producer 
Chris J. Ball  Executive Producer 
William Tyrer  Executive Producer 
Nancy Juvonen  Producer 
Aaron Ryder  Executive Producer 
Richard Kelly  Director 
Richard Kelly  Screenwriter 
Casey La Scala  Executive Producer 
Michael Andrews  Composer (Music Score) 
Sean McKittrick  Producer 
Jake Gyllenhaal  Actor 
Jena Malone  Actor 
Mary McDonnell  Actor 
Holmes Osborne  Actor 
Maggie Gyllenhaal  Actor 
Drew Barrymore  Actor 
Patrick Swayze  Actor 
Katharine Ross  Actor 
James Duval  Actor 
Noah Wyle  Actor 
Daveigh Chase  Actor 
Beth Grant  Actor 
Arthur Taxier  Actor 
Stuart Stone  Actor 

Country: USA