My Favorite Halloween Movie also happens to have the Best Soundtrack: Donnie Darko (2001)
Elena Hernandez - Music Editor
On October 26th, 2001, Donnie Darko originally had a limited theatrical release in the United States. Costing $4.5 million to produce, it was scarcely advertised as the trailers featured a crashing plane. While this was central to its plot, the 9/11 attacks had just occurred a little over a month before the film’s release. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell, Patrick Swayze, and Seth Rogan, it grossed a mere $517,535 in its first run. Despite the lack of advertising, a loyal cult-fanbase accumulated in the following years. Eventually, it was able to earn $10 million in US home video sales and an additional $7.5 million after many reissues.
A Sci-fi thriller that begins on October 2nd, 1988, the film follows sixteen-year-old Donnie Darko (Gyllenhaal) after he happens to sleepwalk out of his house, inadvertently dodging his death. Once outside, he encounters Frank, someone or something wearing a bunny-rabbit costume, who informs him of the world›s end in 28 days. That same night, a plane bizarrely crashes into his bedroom, and he begins experiencing daylight hallucinations soon after, with Frank appearing in most of them. His parents send him to a psychotherapist, who diagnoses the visions as symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia.
After my first watch of Donnie Darko a few years back, I could understand why it was met with ambivalence from the public and critics at the time of its release. The script is mostly unnatural, and the performances of its stars are surely not the best. It was also clear to see where the film’s subject matter itself may have caused confusion for the viewer, as themes of mental illness, fate vs. free will, and time travel were major plot points. Despite these things, there is something irresistible about a story of teenage angst and coming-of-age. In the entirety of the movie, there is a sense of impending doom and an enduring mystery. Once it ends, various interpretations from the viewer are possible and even encouraged. Finally, the existential crisis of it all is just too relatable for many of us who ponder our inevitable fates and are unafraid to do so.
There is actually one more thing that makes Donnie Darko a certified classic, and that is not the gorgeousness of Jake Gyllenhaal but, undoubtedly, its soundtrack. Encapsulating the eighties, its soundtrack features new wave bands like Echo & the Bunnymen and Tears for Fears, blending nostalgia with a haunting melancholy. Here are my four favorite tracks that appear in the movie.
1. Never Tear Us Apart by INXS
This track wasn’t featured in the original version of the movie due to financial constraints. Director Richard Kelly had originally wanted “Never Tear Us Apart” in the opening, where Donnie wakes up outside and bikes his way home. Thanks to the film’s following success, Kelly was able to secure the funds for the song in his Director’s Cut, released three years later. It has since been featured in many recent television shows like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Umbrella Academy, Euphoria, and Yellowjackets.
2. The Killingmoon by Echo & the Bunnymen
In its theatrical release, this song served as the theme for Donnie Darko’s opening sequence. Personally, I normally watch the Director’s Cut (2004), where it’s replaced by Kelly’s originally desired track, and instead, “The Killing Moon” is played during the Halloween party, notably when Donnie and Gretchen (Malone) leave his bedroom together. It is very fittingly sung by the band Echo & the Bunnymen and is probably the song most associated with the film itself.
3. Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division
I was first introduced to this classic in middle school through Rainbow Rowell’s controversial novel Eleanor & Park. Hearing it in the context of the movie and its story makes it all the more devastating. “Love Will Tear Us Apart” plays when Gretchen arrives at the party and talks with Donnie in his room (a fitting choice given the end of the film and how their love story concludes). Gretchen says the famous line, “I guess some people are just born with tragedy in their blood,” while this song is playing.
4. Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears
“Head Over Heels” must be on my list of the best songs ever. Of course, “Mad World”, famously covered in the end of the film, originally belongs to Tears for Fears, too, but the sequence in which this specific track is featured is one of the most iconic. “Lengthy but stylish”, it plays when Donnie first arrives at school. Kelly revealed that filming the scene took about a day, which angered production and line managers. “They saw it as an indulgent music video sequence that had no dialogue and didn’t advance the story,” said Kelly, “but when they saw the finished sequence, they said, ‘OK, we were wrong.’” I’d have to agree.