***** out of 5

Rating: Null/10 (18 August 2002)

What would happen if M. Night Shyamalan had let sam Ramai direct The Sixth Sense? You would probably get something like Donnie Darko. This film is so psycholigically complex I don't even know where to begin. The film is simply brilliant in that it has so many different issues weaven together to create on huge ball of irony, that one finds blinking may take your eyes off the screen for much to long. From the very beginning you get the feeling that this film has more to it than meets the eye. At first glance one may write it off as a modern day attempt at Poltergiest. After veiwing the trailer you may even want to consider it a brainless slasher movie but nothing could be further from the truth. What we have here is the tale of a teenager who's name is Donnie Darko. But Donnie isn't your average teen, see he finds himself drawn at night to a myseterious force named Frank. Frank is a bunny who teels Donnie that in 28 days , on Halloween, the world will end. We also have Donnie's girlfreidn who had to move away because her step-father stabbed her mom in the chest four times and seems to be living a life of torment and personal angst all fueled by fear. Fear is a hard topic in the movie, infact I would say that that one world "fear" us the basis for everything to come. We also have Jim Cunningham, a motivational speaker that teaches that fear and love are the two strongest emotions that a human has and learn to live your life in the love spectrum of life and avoid the fear. Then we have Grandma Death, an old lady who may just be the most important piece of this huge puzzel. She stands in the middle of the road all day, occasionlly walking to her mailbox to always be greeted by nothing inside. One day after Donnie's father almost runs her over she wispers in his ear "Everyone dies alone." Donnie later finds out that in the past she was a teacher and wrote a book on time travel (but to understand that without giving away the plot you must see the film). This comment comes up at Donnie's therepy and along with stories of Frank the bunny his shrink believes that Donnie is afraid to connect with reality due to a great fear of what may come from it. It pains me to say this but the climax of the matches, if not surpasses that of The Sixth Sense as everything finally starts to make sense. This will not only leave you wide-eyed, it will probably take your breathe away as well. The acting is all top notch including as cast of Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swazey and the gripping Jake Gyllenhaal as Donnie in his most mature role yet. The love/fear topic is present throughout the entire film and you can look for hidden signs of this scattered all over the film. One example of this is the billing of Evil Dead and The Last Temptation of Christ as a double feature at the theater. The film is horrifying and edgy without becoming cliched or unoriginal, making it not on;t the best, if you will, horror movie I've seen since The Sixth Sense, it is hands down the best movie of the year so far.