My Frank! What big eyes you have!
Now 7 years later, Donnie's youngest sister, Samantha, seemingly alone and lost in the world, has run away from her home shattered by the death of her brother. Drowning in sadness and unable to dream, she has drifted deeper into the darkness of her sleep. And when darkness consumes the starlight, nightmares rule the night...
Samantha "Sam" Darko (Daveigh Chase) and Corey Corn (Briana Evigan) are two eighteen-year-olds on a road trip to California hoping to make it big as dancers there. Along the way, their car breaks down in Conejo Springs, a small town in Utah. The town badass, Randy Holt (Ed Westwick), comes to their rescue, cigarette in hand.
As they end up staying for a while they meet a Donnie look-a-like running amok in military clothes, a nerdy kid with a rash, a Badass Preacher and experience many a weird going-on.
The sequel to Donnie Darko no fan will admit exists. Though the film is widely considered inferior to its predecessor, it does have some features that were praised, such as the stunning cinematography and nineties pop songs.
This film provides examples of:
- Bilingual Bonus: Conejo Springs gets its name from the Spanish word for "rabbit."
- Continuity Nod: At the party scene, there is a girl in a white bikini who drapes herself in an American flag. In the original Donnie Darko, Donnie had a poster with a white swimsuit model backgrounded by an American flag.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Corey calls Sam one at one point.
- Karma Houdini: The person killing the children, implied to be Trudy, never gets caught on-screen and does not seem to suffer any consequences for the deaths.
- Mind Screw: Intended, at least. Unfortunately, so much weird shit happens in this movie that in the end, you just stop thinking about it.
- Never Speak Ill of the Dead: In the original timeline, the townsfolk are dismissive of Iraq Jack but when he goes back and is killed by the meteorite, they become quite upset.
- Retcon: Many things mentioned in S.Darko, such as their family still living in Virginia contradicts the
Word of God from the first movie. Samantha also somehow got Donnie's copy of "The Philosophy of Time Travel", complete with Frank drawings by Donnie, even though he only got a copy of the book in the tangent universe in the original.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Iraq Jack. He claims to have done some bad things during the Gulf War, but nobody seems to take him seriously.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: It seems as though all of the male leads were chosen for looking like Donnie Darko.
- Television Portal: At night, the dead version of Samantha reaches through a TV screen and pulls out a glowing feather.
- Trailers Always Lie: An early trailer for the movie
made it appear as if it would take place during the events of Donnie Darko, only from Samantha's perspective. Doubles as What Could Have Been. - What Happened to the Mouse?: We never find out if Billy is ever rescued from the abandoned mine or found.
