Posts by Grace White4

I just finished watching this and honestly, I’m torn between tearing it apart or giving it credit (though I definitely won't be doing the latter). 😛

So, is the movie actually complete trash like I anticipated, or have my standards just hit rock bottom? Here is what I will say: if you watch this entirely on its own, without any prior knowledge of Donnie Darko, it definitely deserves more than its current 4.2 on IMDb. In that vacuum, I’d probably give it a solid 7/10.

But let’s be real—90% of the people watching S. Darko are going to know all about Donnie, so that low 4.2 rating makes perfect sense, maybe even lower. You can't really view this as a Sequel; it feels more like a cheap, low-budget rip-off of the original. The whole thing relies on pale, poorly executed imitations of tropes from Donnie (the sky, the countdown, the waking up, the rabbit, that weird thing coming out of the body, the party scenes, the cinema screen, the camera speed ramps, several identical lines of dialogue, and a truly terrible attempt at an ending), yet it adds almost zero originality. What’s worse is that the few new things they added just end up making the copied parts look even more blatant. ☕

When I add it all up, I really do have plenty of reasons to bash this film, and I’m not even sure why I tried to find a silver lining in the first place. I have no intention of revisiting this, and hopefully, after a few more viewings of Donnie Darko, this unnecessary mistake will fade completely from my mind.

If you’re asking me? My big three have to be Joe, Milan, and Johnny. 👍

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of other legendary songwriters out there with incredible stuff to their names, but I just don't see Alka Vujica or Dolly Parton in that top tier of greatness. 🤷

Since I'm such a huge fan of Donnie Darko, I’ve known for a while now that a sequel is in the works, and honestly? I am not happy about it. I mean, seriously, with all those millions of dollars floating around, can nobody come up with something original? It’s hard to wrap my head around. Even if you argue a sequel is "needed"—which it absolutely isn't—there's almost zero chance this won't be worse than the original. In fact, I'd bet it'll be catastrophically worse.

And since we're talking about the website and all that, just looking at the S. Darko site tells you everything you need to know. If you ask me, Donnie's official site was one of the best movie sites ever made. Just my humble opinion. ☕

If I were just a few years younger, I probably would’ve been absolutely mesmerized by that sequence with the rhythmic footwork games. As it stands? It was just your run-of-the-mill horror flick for me. Sure, the critics are all over it, claiming it’s way above average, but let’s be real—I’m hardly an expert when it comes to this genre. 🤷

They told her about those "stairs of fear" back in Extremadura, right outside one particular house—they look just like stone dual staircases. The legend goes that if a man or woman walks up them with a heart heavy with the fear of love, that dread just builds and builds until they hit the eighth step, which is actually the landing before you enter the house. Now, if you didn't want to walk through that door with your heart racing from all that anxiety, you were supposed to just keep going, head down the other side of the staircase, and as you descended, that fear would slowly ebb away until it vanished completely. They said those steps are basically a physical imitation of a musical scale. Anyone gripped by the fear of love can sing it in their head: do–re–mi–fa–sol–la–si–do. Once you hit that high note, the fear peaks. But then, as soon as you start singing the scale back down, from the highest pitch to the lowest, the fear starts to fade... and finally, it's just gone.

I caught the remake recently—didn't see the original, by the way—and honestly? It was one of the better thrillers I watched all last year. Now, if you’ve already seen the original, you might find this version a bit underwhelming or even totally predictable. But if you haven't? It is absolutely worth your time.