20 Brilliant Mind-F*ck Movies
12. Donnie Darko
For many people who were around their mid-teenage years in 2001, Donnie Darko was their induction into the world of movie mind-f*cks. It made a star of Jake Gyllenhaal, and it gave a lot of us nightmares in the process.
Throughout the movie, Frank - the iconic bunny-suit wearer who has become synonymous with the film - visits Gyllenhaals title character and instructs him to do a series of strange, and often illegal, things. Are these meetings hallucinations, or vital messages that could save world? The answer to that is hard to find on first watch, but it is out there if you want to go looking.
Whether you want to deconstruct it or not, Donnie Darko is a hugely effective foray into the surreal from writer-director Richard Kelly. He hasnt topped it since mainly because thats a fairly impossible task.