Creepy ‘crawler – Gyllenhaal sets mode to ‘psycho’

There’s a new terror coming for Halloween, and it has nothing to do with ghosts and goblins. Set in Los Angeles’ seedy milieu of local TV news where “If it bleeds, it leads” is less of a critiquing quip and more of a maniacal mantra, Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler may elicit more chills in theaters across the country than any schlocky horror flick Hollywood’s got.

“If you want to win the lottery, you have to make the money to buy a ticket.”

As the trailer (below) shows, a gaunt, hollow-eyed Jake Gyllenhaal says this several times throughout the film. But I have a sneaking suspicion that, while he may be talking about cold hard cash, the overarching meaning behind the phrase rests on the concept of the wayward opportunist he plays sliding into a morally dubious career that feeds all of his latent sociopathic tendencies.

As Lou Bloom, Gyllenhaal essentially cons/talks his way into becoming a freelance crime journalist, recording and reporting on a variety of bizarre accidents and murders that occur overnight in the City of Angels. Of course, the line between reporting the news and making it blurs, and if you think Gyllenhaal makes it through without getting his hands dirty you’re going to be so very wrong.

The role may be a character capstone for the 33-year-old actor’s recent run of darker pictures that started with the great and underrated crime mystery Prisoners and continued with last year’s Enemy. Most fans first encountered the Los Angeles native in the brilliant mind-bender Donnie Darko, and while he has strayed from the psychological thriller since that break-out performance in 2001 (mostly in romantic dramas and stock action films), dark and edgy remains Gyllanhaal’s undisputed wheel-house (see also: Zodiac and Jarhead), and Nightcrawler looks like it really lets him off the crazy leash.

The film’s success rests on two things: Gyllenhaal’s performance (which shouldn’t be an issue) and how well first-time feature director Dan Gilroy—a producer and bother of writer/director Tony Gilroy—can strike on the apparent themes obsession, fame and the power of the media (the big question mark).

Like some strange mix of Network‘s news and culture-biting themes, Drive‘s moody, hyper-stylization and American Psycho‘s bold, dark-humored tone, Nightcrawler looks like one of the most daring and unique films of 2014. The flick just wowed audiences at the Toronto International Film Festival and arrives in theaters Oct. 17.

Watch the trailer below: