Movie · 2001 · Fantasy, Drama, Mystery · 1h 54m · R · English
Curator score: 8.7/10 (3.2M ratings)
28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, 12 seconds... that is when the world will end.
Overview
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.7/10
IMDb: 8.0/10
Letterboxd: 4.00/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 88%
Metacritic: 88
TMDB: 7.8/10
Director
Richard Kelly
Production
Flower Films, Pandora Cinema, Newmarket Films
Cast
Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, James Duval, Drew Barrymore, Beth Grant, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne, Noah Wyle, Katharine Ross, Patrick Swayze, Daveigh Chase, Arthur Taxier, David St. James, Patience Cleveland, Jazzie Mahannah, Jolene Purdy, David Moreland, Kristina Malota, Marina Malota
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, fuboTV, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A moody, brain-twisting teen mystery with genuine emotional ache, eerie humor, and a cult-movie sense of unease. It rewards viewers who like films that are more atmospheric and interpretive than neatly explained.
Best for
fans of surreal coming-of-age stories
viewers who enjoy time-loop or fate-driven puzzles
people drawn to dark suburban melancholy
audiences who like 2000s cult cinema and alt-rock soundtracks
Skip if
you want a straightforward plot with clear answers
you dislike ambiguity or symbolic storytelling
you prefer bright, comforting teen dramas
you are impatient with slow-burn mood over momentum
Overview
Donnie Darko is a strange, haunted coming-of-age film that turns suburban adolescence into a cosmic crisis. It mixes deadpan teen comedy, existential dread, and apocalyptic mystery into something that feels both intimate and unruly, with a performance that keeps the character wounded, funny, and volatile all at once.
Worth noting
What lingers most is the film’s atmosphere: the late-night emptiness, the uneasy school-and-home rhythms, and the sense that every ordinary detail might be part of a larger design. It is famously open to interpretation, and that opacity is part of the appeal; the movie invites obsession rather than closure.
Bottom line
For some viewers, that will be the thrill. For others, it can feel willfully elusive. But if you respond to films that use genre elements to explore grief, alienation, and the fear of growing up, this is one of the defining cult titles of its era.
Top Letterboxd reviews
tasha 🪩 (5★) · 48987 likes
me: this is a masterpiece
also me: has to google "what is donnie darko about"
Jyn (4★) · 37760 likes
me at a party: ok ill have one drink...
me after said drink: first of all, Papa Smurf didn't create Smurfette. Gargamel did. She was sent in as Gargamel's evil spy with the intention of destroying the Smurf village. But the overwhelming goodness of the Smurf way of life transformed her. And as for the whole gang-bang scenario - It just couldn't happen. Smurfs are asexual. They don't even have reproductive organs under those little white pants. That's what's so illogical, you know, about being a Smurf. What's the point of living... if you don't have a dick?
Taz (5★) · 21702 likes
i too would figure out time travel just so i could die
shannon (4★) · 14875 likes
sOmEtImEs I dOuBt YoUr CoMmItMeNt To SpArKlE mOtIoN
#1 gizmo fan (5★) · 13900 likes
that scene where donnie tells ms. farmer to forcibly insert the lifeline exercise card into her anus is why Jake Gyllenhaal is the greatest actor of all time.
2000 · Mystery, Thriller · 1h 53m · R · Curator 9.1/10 (3.2M ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Peacock, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Peacock Premium Plus
A puzzle-box narrative built around memory, identity, and the pressure to assemble meaning from fragments.
2014 · Thriller, Science Fiction · 1h 29m · NR · Curator 6.5/10 (578.7K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Peacock Premium, Philo, Night Flight Plus, Cineverse, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Peacock Premium Plus
Low-budget reality-bending tension that turns a small social gathering into a cosmic puzzle.