Now that we’re kind of halfway through the Spooky Season, you may be wondering: is there
any classic Halloween film I haven’t watched?
From Hocus Pocus to The Nightmare Before Christmas, passing through Coraline,
Beetlejuice, and any other Tim Burton or Henry Selick film you can think of, October is the
month of rewatching films that may not necessarily be horror, but certainly bring a bit of
comfort with their creepy, obscure, and magical aura. So then, if you’re feeling adventurous,
I’ll give you my top recommendation for a Halloween movie that fits into the category of ‘not
horror, but spooky-season-themed’.
Donnie Darko has a place in my heart for mainly three reasons:
- I love October and Halloween
- I love time-traveling tales
- I love its soundtrack
Now, let’s expand on these points.
Donnie Darko is a troubled teenager whose life changes abruptly when he avoids death
accidentally by sleepwalking out of his house on a night that an airplane engine falls from the
sky directly into his bedroom. On the night of the sleepwalking, he meets Frank, a man in a
rabbit costume who tells him the world is going to end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and
12 seconds, which would be, the night of October 31 st .
Frank continues to present himself to Donnie, providing him advice – sometimes bizarre –
about what he must do to prevent the end of the world. A series of strange and seemingly
unrelated events is then unleashed upon the town throughout the course of October, all of
them provoked by Frank and his influence in Donnie’s decisions, who is not fully conscious
or aware of the meaning behind the man in the rabbit costume.
In one of the talks with Frank, he asks Donnie: ‘do you believe in time travel?’, which sparks
him with curiosity and leads him to ask his Physics professor about the topic. He hands
Donnie a book called ‘The Philosophy of Time Travel’, written by local crazy-old-woman
Roberta Sparrow, who lives in town and is constantly checking her mailbox – only to always
find it empty.
The movie also has strong female characters, whom I love and relate to: Gretchen, the new
girl in town, who despite her difficult past is in a constant search for beauty in the world that
surrounds her, and Karen, a Literature teacher in Donnie’s high school, who challenges the
school’s directives and their conservative points of view by teaching her students through
books that destruction is a form of creation.
To avoid any spoilers, I will tell simply tell you the following: the movie ends in the night of
Halloween, at a house party in Donnie’s place, and it is upon the ending that you will be
asking yourself questions such as: wait, what happened? What did I just watch?
Donnie Darko is a film that you may need to watch twice or thrice to make up your mind
about what you think is the answer. Depending on how you look at it, you can choose to
believe it’s time travel, or you can choose to believe it was all in Donnie’s mind – but no
matter what you think about, it will always be a bit confusing.
Unrelated to the plot, the movie has an outstanding soundtrack, featuring Tears for Fears,
Joy Division, Duran Duran, Echo & the Bunnymen, among other artists who perfectly craft
the vibe of dark, misty, cold October evening in the late 80’s (and if that’s your vibe, you’re
one of my kind! <3)
If any of these points has caught your attention, I highly recommend you watch this film – I
think you will not regret it, and hopefully you will include it in your Halloween rewatch
repertory!
To wrap this recommendation up, I leave you with this quote from Donnie:
I hope that, when the world comes to an end, I can breathe a sigh of relief, because there
will be so much more to look forward to.