I think every person who takes movies seriously hopes to find a movie that completely intrigues them.  That sticks with you, regardless of how long it takes before you actually see it.  You read about it, hoping to glean as much you can about it without ruining the potential viewing experience.  You check the papers, hoping that it might come somewhere close to your area, and when it doesn’t, you check to see when it might come out on DVD.  When it finally comes out on DVD, you make a beeline for the store, calling all of your friends when you finally have it in your grubby little fingers.  And all the while, you pray to God that it doesn’t let you down.

Donnie Darko was just such a movie for me.  I’d read about it, immediately intrigued by the premise - a troubled young man is given visions of the world’s end from a giant demonic rabbit.  That alone was enough to stand out in my memory.  There were hints of time travel, parallel universes, and other science fiction gobbledygook, but it seemed more than just your standard sci-fi fare… much more.

Set in October 1988, the movie follows Donnie Darko, a brilliant, yet very disturbed high school student.  One night, out of the blue, an airplane engine falls out of nowhere, crashing into his bedroom.  The reason Donnie is spared?  He walks in his sleep, lured out of his room by the vision of a giant, demonic rabbit named Frank that tells him the world will end on October 30.

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