the m0vie blog

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, and this week with special guests Doctor Bernice Murphy and Joey Keogh, The 250 is a weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released Saturdays at 6pm GMT.

So this week, a Halloween treat: Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko.

Donnie Darko is a teenager living a seemingly normal life, but who is prone to sleep walk. The peace and tranquility of suburban existence is disrupted when a mysterious jet engine falls from the sky on to the family house. Donnie finds himself haunted by strange visions and eerie prophecies, with the end of the world seeming to loom just over the horizon.

At time of recording, it was not ranked on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Show Notes:

• Recorded 14th September 2022.
• Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, this episode was recorded remotely. We suspect, going forward that a lot of our episodes will be until the crisis resolves.
• Donnie Darko at the Internet Movie Database.
• Follow Bernice on Twitter.
• Browse (and order) Bernice’s books at Amazon.com.
• Browse (and order) Bernice’s books at Amazon.co.uk.
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• The Rural Gothic in American Popular Culture by Bernice Murphy, October 2013.
• Follow Joey on Twitter.
• Read Joey’s articles at Wicked Horror.
• Read Joey’s articles at Vague Visages.
• Joanna Glasner at Wired discusses the eerie cover image of The Coup‘s first album, September 2001.
• Hannah Frishberg at The New York Post reports on the eerie World Trade Centre imagery in The Simpsons, November 2021.
• Darren Mooney at the m0vie blog discusses The Pilot of The Lone Gunmen, November 2015.
• Kate Stewart reviews Donnie Darko at The Los Angeles Times, October 2001.
• The Ringer produces an oral history of Donnie Darko, January 2021.
• Lorcan Dillon Kelly talks to RTÉ about screening Donnie Darko at the IFI Horrorthon, October 2014.
• Matt Damon talks about why modern Hollywood can no longer rely on secondary markets on Hot Ones, August 2021.
• Richard Kelly talks to The Skinny about how the British film market saved Donnie Darko, December 2016.
• Robert Levine at The New York Times discusses the rehabilitation of Donnie Darko, July 2004.
• Mark Olsen at The Los Angeles Times explores how the DVD market effectively pushed Donnie Darko to profitability, July 2004.
• Michael Ordona at The Los Angeles Times discusses Richard Kelly’s Director’s Cut of Donnie Darko, July 2004.
• Jack Gyllenhaal and Richard Kelly talk to The Guardian about the development and production of Donnie Darko, December 2016.
• Adam Fields talks to ScreenRant about how Drew Barrymore was pivotal to the production of Donnie Darko, May 2021.
• Allan Cameron discusses the official website of Donnie Darko in the context of Modular Narratives in Contemporary Cinema, 2008.
• IndieWire puts together an oral history of “the Cannes Cut” of Southland Tales, January 2021.
• Richard Kelly talks to Vice about making sense of Southland Tales, July 2013.
• Nathan Rabin at Nathan Rabin’s Happy Place discusses David Robert Mitchell’s Under the Silver Lake, April 2022.
• Donald Clarke reviews at Under the Silver Lake at The Irish Time, March 2019.
• Richard Kelly talks to The Hollywood Reporter about how directors like Christopher Nolan and Francis Ford Coppola shaped Donnie Darko, March 2017.
• Richard Kelly talks to The Observer about making and selling Donnie Darko in the wake of the Columbine shootings, March 2017.
• Alissa Wilkinson at Vox looks at the evolving way that films approach school shootings, April 2022.
• The BBC polls critics on the best films of the 21st century, August 2016.
• The Washington Post places Donnie Darko in the suburban context of Blue Velvet, August 2004.
• Matthew Taylor at The Guardian reports on Gary Jules’ Mad World cover taking the Christmas number one slot, December 2003.
• Steven Poster talks The American Cinematographer Magazine about working with Richard Kelly on Donnie Darko, October 2021.
• Richard Kelly talks to The New York Times about how various aspects of his own parents informed The Box, October 2009.
• Richard Kelly talks to Los Angeles Weekly about the various influences on The Box, November 2009.
• The Suburban Gothic in American Popular Culture by Bernice Murphy, August 2009.
• Olav Rokne at Strange Horizons considers I Am Legend as a parable of “white flight”, Ocotber 2021.
• Michael Gioulakis talks to Definition Magazine about the influence of photographer Gregory Crewdson on It Follows, February 2015.
• Nick Ripatrazone at The Atlantic considers Donnie Darko as a Christian movie, April 2017.
• Ann Hornaday at The Washington Post considers Donnie Darko as “The Passion of the Christ for the secular set”, August 2004.
• Kat Krueger at The Badger Herald considers the depiction of book banning in Donnie Darko, September 2004.
• NPR reports on how teachers have found themselves on the front lines of the American culture war, January 2022.
• Tom Breihan at Stereogum considers the eighties nostalgia of Donnie Darko, January 2021.
• Ryan McKee at MTV considers Seth Rogen’s cinematic debut in Donnie Darko, September 2011.
• Gina Piccalo at The Los Angeles Times talks to the production team about making Donnie Darko, October 2001.
• Richard Kelly talks to Total Film about making Donnie Darko, October 2021.
• CBS News reports about the engine falling off a KLM jet in California, August 2000.
• Emily Gulla at Cosmopolitan reports on Jake Gyllenhaal’s personal hygiene, September 2021.
• Bobby Finger at Jezebel reports on Leonardo DiCaprio’s rumoured sexual technique, June 2016.
• Nate Jones at Vulture reports on Leonardo DiCaprio’s fondness for Bloodline, October 2015.
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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: 1980s, bernice murphy, david lynch, donnie darko, eighties, halloween, Jake Gyllenhaal, joey keogh, nostalgia, podcast, richard kelly, suburbia, The 250 |