Written and directed by Richard Kelly.

Donnie Darko

• [in a letter] Dear Roberta Sparrow, I reached into your book and... there's so many things i need to ask you. Sometimes I'm afraid of what you might tell me. Sometimes I'm afraid that you'll tell me that this is not a work of fiction. I can only hope that the answers will come to me in my sleep. I hope that when the world comes to an end, I can breathe a sigh of relief, because there will be so much to look forward to.

• [reading his poem in class] A storm is coming, Frank says / A storm that will swallow the children / And I will deliver them from the kingdom of pain / I will deliver the children back to their doorsteps / And send the monsters back to the underground / I'll send them back to a place where no-one else can see them / Except for me / Because I am Donnie Darko.

Gretchen Ross

• Some people are just born with tragedy in their blood.

• What if you could go back in time, and take all those hours of pain and darkness and replace them with something better?

Kitty Farmer

• Okay, now girls... I want you to concentrate. Failure is not an option. And Bethany, if you feel the need to vomit up there... just swallow it.

Frank

• Twenty-eight days... Six hours... Forty-two minutes... Twelve seconds... That is when the world will end.

Dialogue

Gretchen Ross: Donnie Darko? What the hell kind of name is that? It's like some sort of superhero or something.

Donnie: What makes you think I'm not?

Gretchen: You're weird.

Donnie: Sorry.

Gretchen: No, that was a compliment.

Sean Smith: Beer and pussy. That's all I need.

Ronald Fisher: Well we gotta find ourselves a Smurfette.

Sean Smith: Smurfette?

Ronald Fisher: Mmm-hmm [gulps beer]. Not some like tight-ass Middlesex chick, y'know? Like this cute little blonde that'll get down and dirty with the guys. Like Smurfette does.

Sean Smith: [Nods agreement] Hmm.

Donnie: Smurfette doesn't fuck.

Ronald Fisher: That's bullshit. Smurfette fucks all the other Smurfs. Why do you think Papa Smurf made her? It's because all the other Smurfs were getting too horny.

Sean Smith: No, no, no, not Vanity. I heard he was a homosexual.

Ronald Fisher: Okay well you know what then, she fucks them while Vanity watches, okay?

Sean Smith: Well what about Papa Smurf? I mean, he must get into all the action.

Ronald Fisher: Yeah. What he does: He films the gangbang, later on...he beats off to the tape.

Donnie: [earnestly] First of all: Papa Smurf didn't create Smurfette - Gargamel did! She was sent in as Gargamel's evil spy with the intention of destroying the Smurf village. But the overwhelming goodness of the Smurf way of life transformed her. And as for the whole gangbang scenario - Huh! I - it just couldn't happen. Smurfs are asexual, th-they don't even have...reproductive organs under those little...white...pants. That's what's so illogical, y'know, about being a Smurf. Y'know what's the point of living... if you don't have a dick?

Sean Smith: [sighs] Dammit Donnie wh-why you gotta get so smart on us?

[Donnie tries to kiss Gretchen and she pulls away]

Donnie: Well I-I, sorry I...

Gretchen: Donnie wait...

Donnie: I like you a lot...

Gretchen: I just want it to be... at a time when... it...

Donnie: When what?

Gretchen: When it reminds me just...

Donnie: When it reminds you of how beautiful the world can be?

Gretchen: Yeah... [turns her head] and right now there's some fat guy over there staring at us.

Donnie Darko: Why do you wear that stupid bunny suit?

Frank: Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?

Donnie Darko: Take it off.

Dr. Lillian Thurman: Do you feel alone right now?

Donnie: I... I don't know... I mean, I'd like to believe that I'm not, but I just... I've just never seen any proof, so I... I just don't debate it anymore. You know, it's like I could spend my whole life debating it over and over again, weighting the pro's and con's and in the end, I still wouldn't have any proof, so I just... I just don't debate it anymore. Heh, it's absurd...

Dr. Thurman: The search for God is absurd?

Donnie: It is if everyone dies alone.

Dr. Thurman: Does that scare you?

Donnie: I don't wanna be alone.

Taglines

• Life is one long insane trip. Some people just have better directions.

• You can never go too far.

• What would you do if you knew the future?

• Be Afraid of the Dark

• Dark. Darker. Darko.

• Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?

• Why are you looking at me?

• The only way to unwind the future is to follow the path.

Cast

• Jake Gyllenhaal - Donnie Darko
• Maggie Gyllenhaal - Elizabeth Darko
• Jena Malone - Gretchen Ross
• Beth Grant - Kitty Farmer
• Drew Barrymore - Karen Pomeroy
• Patrick Swayze - Jim Cunningham
• Mary McDonnell - Rose Darko
• Holmes Osborne - Ed Darko
• Daveigh Chase - Samantha Darko
• Noah Wyle - Prof. Kennth Monnitoff
• Katharine Ross - Dr. Lillian Thurman
• James Duval - Frank