Set in a Virginia suburb against the backdrop of the 1988 presidential campaign, Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a troubled teen whose hallucinations may be just a product of his own brewing schizophrenia or the keys to averting the end of the world. The young anti-hero receives cryptic messages from a sinister six-foot rabbit named Frank, who tells him that the clock is ticking down to the apocalypse and urges him to commit destructive acts that spark controversy and upheaval in the conservative community, and ultimately push him toward his tragic destiny. A sci-fi thriller with a philosophical bent, Donnie Darko debuted at the Sundance film festival in 2001 to rave reviews, tanked at the box office on its initial theatrical release, but went on to become a cult classic.