Year: 2001
Country: U.S.
Subgenre: Science Mind Bender/Halloween
Runtime: 113 min. (theatrical)/134 min. (director's cut)
Director: Richard Kelly
Okay, this is not technically a horror movie, but it is a pretty classic Halloween film at this point; and, it would not be at all out-of-bounds to label this as seriously "horror adjacent." The surrealism in the film is quite Lychian, though unlike a lot of David Lynch's work, there is a recognizable narrative (eventually) to the film. Still, it's deeply unsettling and thought provocting because of the surrealism (which is why I think it's worth a watch--even I don't find value in unsettling just for unsettling sake). Starring real siblings Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, along with a Jenna Malone, Mary MacDonnell, Drew Barrymore, Beth Grant, Seth Rogan and the late Patrick Swayze, it is also a great film to watch if you are pissed off about the latest BS with school book banning and social grifters in the guise of politicians and preachers. Even when the film came out, Swayze's character Jim Cunningham, the snake oil motivational speaker, struck deep chords with those us who had been subjected to some such in childhood (mine came from church). It is also worth a watch for Daveigh Chase as Samantha Darko; this was just one year before she was the utterly evil Samara in The Ring (can ANYONE imagine Samara as a member of "Sparkle Motion"??!!). For it's Halloween connections alone, it's a solid bit of October cine (my love of weird bunny stuff also has me also using it from time to time for Easter Horror as well).
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