Is Donnie Darko scary?

[Billiam86]

I'm pretty much a pussy and i dont like scary movies, but Donnie Darko looks pretty intriguing. Is it scary?

[SolidSnakeASS]

No, but it isn't very good either.

[Indyphantom]

Originally posted by SolidSnakeASS
No, but it isn't very good either.

[StinkPalm]

.....why must snake bash every movie?........
anyway. no it isnt very scary. its a little creepy but not scary. if ur interested u might as well pick it up for $10 then only rent it for like $5.

[Sycowulf]

Dont listen to this guy, its more of a strange movie then anything creepy or scary, and yes, it is a damn good flick... give it at least two watches before you judge it tho its easy to miss things the first time through

[michaelallroy]

are you afraid of good movies? afraid of thinking?

[Flash Ahhh]

michaelallroy,

Welcome to DVD File Forums.

Thanks for posting.

-Flash

[Billiam86]

I just watched it and I thought it was great! The only thing that startled me was...

**********SPOILERS************








When Frank tanks off his mask and his eye has been gouged.





*********END SPOILERS*********


Other than that, it was great! I'm a little confused, but I'll watch it again. Btw, Frank coming from the surrounds startled the hell out of me!

[StinkPalm]

dude i found it pretty creepy the first time i saw it. franks costume is creepy as hell. and when donnie stabs the mirror with a knife that was creepy.
they should sell franks costume. id like to be frank for halloween

[michaelallroy]

^^^
they put frank masks out as promo items for the uk press screenings, so the critics could sit in the theater frank style. ha. i think you can find them on ebay sometimes. they were just cheapy cardboard things tho.

thanks for the welcome flash! booyeah.

[Prancer]

Billiam86,

Glad you enjoyed the film. Watch it again with the commentary.

However, from my own experience, I enjoyed the movie so much the first time that I didn't want everything to be explained just yet. As a result, I kept watching the film to retain the first time feeling for as long as I could. After about the 11th or 13th viewing, I finally watched it with the one commentary.



Welcome to the forum michaelallroy

[SolidSnakeASS]

I don't bash every movie! Just the really crappy ones. Donnie Darko is one of those films where people have mistaken sloppiness for complexity. The film is just boring and soul-less, containing nothing of importance or beauty or entertainment in the least.

[chogan]

I have to agree with snake. I bought this one blind based on people's recommendation here, and since it was $9.99. Well, now I know why it's $9.99.

I think this is the kind of movie that appeals to high school kids. Smart high school kids probably, but at 30 I'm too much of an old fogey to get into the rebelious young outcast thing.

The music choices (late 80's alternative) were great though! to that.

[UserNameUndecided]

I agree with Snake as well about sloppiness being mistaken for complexity. But I still find the movie entertaining.
I don't think it's very good storytelling, but I'm still entertained by it.

[michaelallroy]

i figure i'm older than the target audience (knocking on 27's door) but i still love the shit out of this movie. i don't think the high-school-outcast angle is the same worn out template we usually see.

[silentmatt]

Originally posted by SolidSnakeASS
I don't bash every movie! Just the really crappy ones. Donnie Darko is one of those films where people have mistaken sloppiness for complexity. The film is just boring and soul-less, containing nothing of importance or beauty or entertainment in the least.

I think I love this guy.

I couldn't agree more. The whole movie plays like a two hour anticlimax.

[Happy Scrappy]

What the hell is going on here!?!?!
The question as it is posted at the top of the page is, "Is Donnie Darko scary?" I think all of three people have answered that question. Everything else is either harsh and unneccessary Darko bashing or Daro defense (way to go, defenders!). It is my unchangeable opinion that this is not a film that a person can simply say, "Oh, it sucked, never lay eyes on it." It is a movie that can only be loved or hated after seeing it, something like Dogma or Waking Life. It is impossible to give a judgement on the film and pass it on to other people without them seeing it. There is simply too much in the film to like (or dislike) for the film to be seen in exactly the same way through two different sets of eyes. For instance, I showed this film to an ex-girlfriend of mine (and before you say anything, we broke up long after we saw the movie together and over something completely different) when we were still together, and I thought that she would probably hate it. But she was silling to give it a chance, more than most are willing to do. She absolutely loved it. This type of film (she was calling it a, "Wannabe American Beauty clone") is the type that, seen through MY eyes, is loathed by her. But she loves it. Proving (at least in some capacity) that the power and adequacy of a film, especially this film, is as much in the viewer as it is in the filmmaker.
And so I am not labeled as hypocritical, I will answer the question posted at the top of the page: Donnie Darko is not scary, for the most part. There are certainly elements of the film that will be frightening to people with certain temparments, but in the whole it is more dark and often times creepy than outright scary.

Oh, and through my eyes, the film ROCKS!!!!

[SolidSnakeASS]

Glad to see there are other people on this forum smart enough to see through Donnie Darko and call it the crap it is! We have all seen it and made our jugdements, some of us hate it others love it. And Happy Scrappy> some of us like to actually have a 'discussion' instead of just answering 'yes or no' to any query presented on the boards. That is why we are also discussing the merits, or dismerits, of the film.

[StinkPalm]

well i dont know. i really like this movie a lot. i have seen it like about 10 times and i still like it. (i am a high school student )
sure there are a lot of gaps in the story. for example when watching the extra features or listening to the commentary it is revealed that Frank was Donnie's sister's boyfriend. now they really dont give many hints of this at all. even in the deleted scenes it is hard to see that. and there are tons of unanswered questions in this movie.
but thats what i like about it. i like how u can sit there thinking about it and come up with ur own conclusions.

[UserNameUndecided]

Originally posted by StinkPalm
but thats what i like about it. i like how u can sit there thinking about it and come up with ur own conclusions.

Sorry, but that's just a horrible excuse for plot holes. "You get to fill them in yourself!"

Like I said above, I like enough of the film to say that I enjoyed it, but it really is way too mixed up and unfulfilling.
I'll say that it does do a good job of leaving out plot points for the sake of coming off as intelligent. I mean... obviously it does, or this conversation wouldn't have been had.

[SolidSnakeASS]

Frank was Donnie's sister's boyfriend

I actually understood that prefectly. I found the part at the end where the Mom and the girlfriend share a "moment" to be the worst. They never even met in the first reality! Makes no sense. And how Swayzes character ever really affects the fate of Donnie isn't developed either, he is just a tool used for cheap laughs with no meaning at all.

[StinkPalm]

SPOLIERS!!






well actually......swayze's character does affect donnie's fate. when he goes to jail that teacher Kittie wanted to go on trial in his defense. this caused donnie's mother to have to shaparone the girls in there talent contest thing.
that led to donnie and his sister being alone the weekend and having a house party, which led Frank to go get beer for the party, which led Frank hitting Gretchen.

anyways i dont care how many plot holes there manybe and if u think that me saying that i am using the "i like to come up with my own conclusions" as an excuse. i still like DD.

[The Mobius]

On topic, I found Donnie Darko to be scary in certain parts (just a couple), but it's definitely not a "scary movie", if that makes sense.
I didn't like it, but I'm still just as intrigued by it as before I saw it.
I have a strange desire to see it again, to figure out if it's possible to make sense of it (and therefore enjoy it), or to see if it really is the senseless pile of footage I first took it to be.

edit: In a thread asking for general opinions of a film like this, it might be useful if people included some spoiler tags?

[Happy Scrappy]

I just checked the board again for the first time in a few hours, and I feel that I have to respond to what Snake had to say about my previous comment.

Snake:
You say that you want a "disscussion" of the film, and I'm all for that. If you notice, nowhere in my original comment did I say "We shouldn't discuss anything about the story, lighting, composition of shots, music, sets, etc., we should just let people decide if they like it on a personal basis." What I said was that you cannot categorically dismiss the movie for all others by saying, "It's not good", thus turning off many people from a movie that they may like. You can tell anyone you want about the different elements of the film, and if we ever meet IRL, I would be more than happy to discuss the thematic and technical merits of the film. It seems to me that you are the onle that is trying to end the discussion with a simple "yes or no" by saying, simply and without explanation, "It's not good." So, as a wise man once said, "Remove the plank from your own eye before removing the speck from anothers'."

[UserNameUndecided]

Let it be formally announced here:
Any opinions stated in this forum henceforth, should clearly be open to the possibilities of a counter viewpoint held by any reader. Thus, statements such as "This movie is crap", should be followed by an asterisk. The asterisk should then lead to this message pasted at the bottom of your post:

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Please feel free to copy this message and store it on your computer for future reference. The failure to supply the above message in any post which features a personal opinion of any film will result in an immediate fine of $10,000 and a one week suspension of forum membership.

[Morticia]

Originally posted by UserNameUndecided
The failure to supply the above message in any post which features a personal opinion of any film will result in an immediate fine of $10,000 and a one week suspension of forum membership.

UserName -- I realize that this comment was made with a great deal of sarcasm, but please do not put words in the Forum Mod's/Admin's mouths. People (new members, specifically) may think you have a say in the matter.

[Father Lamont]

I thought it was one of the most interesting films of 2002 - when it was finally released in the UK... Very well acted and with one of the best selections of music I've ever heard. The use of "Head Over Heels" is inspired.