If we’re going to talk about bunnies being scary, I first have to give a shout out to Anya from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you don’t know why…
Now this may be a bit of irony, but Donnie Darko takes the whole evil, creepy bunny to an entirely new level. Let me introduce you to Frank the Bunny.
Before I tell you about the movie, here are a few fun facts: Donnie’s mom is reading IT in one of the first scenes, Donnie takes Gretchen on a date to see EVIL DEAD, there are a slew of famous people in the movie–Noah Wyle, Drew Barymore, Maggie Gillenhall, Mary McDonnell, Seth Rogen–and the movie was released right after 9-1-1 and had little advertisement because of the plane engine falling from the sky onto the Darko house.
Donnie Darko is a toubled teen who sleepwalks every night. His nightly travels take him out of the house. Turns out he has an imaginary friend who talks to him. This voice belongs to Frank, a demonic bunny, who is counting down to when the world will end–28.06.42:12–28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, 12 seconds.
Not only does Donnie act out, but his interest in worm holes and death bring a wicked grin to his face. Man does Gillenhall pull off crazy! I mean, he goes from trying to get the new girl in school to “go with him” and then is found sleeping on the golf course by Patrick Swayze and another man! There are falling plane engines, a drunken mother, a conservative gym teacher, and a well-meaning psychiatrist. All the while, Frank wants Donnie to to right the universe.
The movie is funny in parts–where the swearing is the most creative I’ve ever heard–and disturbing in others. If you love the realism in your typical year of 2000 movie, you’ll find it here. There’s even an underlying message about not being afraid of who you are and be true to yourself. Also, Steven Hawkin’s theories about black holes and other universes existing makes for an interesting movie.
ENJOY!
Kathy Palm
You know…I’ve never seen this! I shall remedy this.