Donnie Darko

This 2001 film wears its cult sensibilities on its sleeve

Comments (0) By Nick Keppler Thursday, Jan 3 2008

Donnie Darko, showing at the River Oaks Theatre today, may be the first cult film that was actually meant to be a cult film. It seems modeled after its predecessors in the pseudo-genre, which found diehard audiences only after sinking at the box office the first time around.

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Donnie Darko, released in 2001 on the heels of The Blair Witch Project’s runaway success, was intentionally released on a small scale (58 screens on opening weekend) with a cast that featured a pre-Broke Back Mountain Jake Gyllenhaal, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore and former Houstonian Patrick Swayze. Donnie included many of the norms of cult films. A troubled teenage protagonist? Check. An icon-like weird image? Yes: A man in a rabbit suit delivers prophecies to the hero in a dream sequence. A non-linear plot? The thing revolves around loose theories of how to affect the course of time. Strange motifs? Look out for repetitions of the number eight. Unsettling use of a vintage song? “Mad World” will never sound the same again. Suburban America portrayed as dark and two-faced? Well, of course.

So it’s a little formulaic (“like a comic book rendition of a David Lynch film,” says Web site SLICEDWire), but for those on the hunt for startling weirdness at the theater or video store, Donnie Darko delivers. 11:55 p.m. today and tomorrow. 2009 West Gray. For tickets and information, call 713-866-8881 or visit www.landmarktheatres.com. $8.25.
Fri., Jan. 4, 11:55 p.m.; Sat., Jan. 5, 11:55 p.m., 2008