The Donnie Darko: Director's Cut includes about 21 minutes of additional scenes and some alterations to the soundtrack. Pages from Grandma Death's Philosophy of Time Travel?previously available at the DonnieDarko.com Web site?have also been inserted between and over scenes, disrupting the narrative but explaining plot/character points. Many of these scenes were available as deleted scenes on the original DVD. Here are the changes:
WARNING: By necessity, spoilers follow.
0:02?Change to opening music. As Donnie rides down the mountain and into the suburbs, the music has changed (for the worse, in my opinion) from Echo and the Bunnymen's The Killing Moon to INXS's Never Tear Us Apart.
0:06?Mom and Elizabeth conversation. Mom talks briefly to Elizabeth about Donnie stopping his medication.
0:09?Eye close-up. As Donnie wakes to Frank's voice, we see a close-up of his eye opening, with an image of Frank strobing in the iris.
0:16?Hotel extension. An extension of the scene in which Donnie, Elizabeth, and Samantha sit in the hotel room.
0:17?Frankie Feedler extension. An extension to the scene in which Donnie's dad muses about Frankie Feedler.
0:23?Reactions to Gretchen. Slight audio modifications to the scene in which Gretchen Ross walks into the classroom.
0:24?Extension to the drive home. As Donnie and his dad drive home, Donnie changes the radio station.
0:28?More Frank. During the Cunning Visions video, you can hear Frank tell Donnie, "Watch closely."
0:29?Eye close-up. When Frank awakens Donnie before flooding the school, we get another shot of Donnie's eye opening, this time with an image of water.
0:30?Teasing Samantha and Sharita. At the bus stop, Donnie steals Samantha's poem, and Donnie's friends call Sharita Chen Porky Pig, telling her, "I hope you get molested."
0:31?Rumors. We get more rumors about why the school was closed.
0:33?Donnie wants to change things. As Donnie walks Gretchen home, he says he wants to be able to "change things."
0:37?Checking handwriting. As the police check the students' handwriting, Donnie looks nervous, and Karen Pomeroy notices.
0:41? Banning The Destructors. Before the PTA meeting, Mrs. Farmer and Karen Pomeroy have words about banning books.
0:44?Donnie's poem. On poetry day, Donnie reads a poem about Frank.
0:53?First book excerpt. We see the first excerpt from The Philosophy of Time Travel, which discusses a tangent universe.
0:57?Who's the Boss?. When Donnie first notices the fate-spear phenomenon, the beckoning-finger effect is gone. Also, there's an audio change involving a Who's the Boss? commercial.
0:59?Second book excerpt. At the bus stop, a plane flies overhead and everyone looks up. Then the second excerpt from The Philosophy of Time Travel appears, concerning the importance of water and metal. There's also a new, brief scene between Donnie and Gretchen.
1:01?Dinner with the parents. Donnie's parents talk at a restaurant about disciplining Donnie for his altercation with Mrs. Farmer. It ends on a joke.
1:02?Carving pumpkins. Donnie and Elizabeth carve jack o'lanterns.
1:04?Eye close-up. Another shot of Donnie's eye opening, this time with the image of waves on a beach.
1:05?Third book excerpt. Donnie and Gretchen are in an arcade, with an excerpt from The Philosophy of Time Travel, concerning the Manipulated Living, overlaid on the action.
1:05?Monnitoff and Pomeroy. Professor Monnitoff and Karen Pomeroy talk casually in the teachers' lounge about Donnie.
1:06?Jim Cunningham seminar. An extension of the seminar, in which Donnie says to Gretchen that he's traveling through time.
1:11?Fourth book excerpt. Donnie and Gretchen visit Roberta Sparrow's house, and Donnie decides to write to her. We also get an overlay of the fourth excerpt from The Philosophy of Time Travel, concerning the Artifact of the Living.
1:14?Watership Down. Karen Pomeroy tells her class that even though they can't read The Destructors in class, it's available at the mall. Instead, they'll be studying Watership Down.
1:15?Fifth book excerpt. This excerpt from The Philosophy of Time Travel concerns the Living Receiver.
1:21?Eye close-up. Another shot of Donnie's eye opening, this time with an image of fire.
1:27?Sixth book excerpt. This overlay of an excerpt from The Philosophy of Time Travel concerns the Manipulated Dead.
1:28?Donnie and dad talk. Donnie and his dad talk in the garden about Donnie's mental state.
1:30?Cunningham arrested. TV voice-over audio of Jim Cunningham's arrest is slightly different.
1:31?Pomeroy fired. The scene in which the principal fires Karen Pomeroy is a bit shorter.
1:32?Discussing Watership Down. In this long scene, Donnie and Gretchen disagree about the novel's character motivations. Pomeroy introduces the concept of Deus Ex Machina ("God in the machine"), which Barrymore mistakenly refers to as "The God Machine."
1:37?Sparkle Motion is off. Donnie says goodbye to his mom and gives her a hug.
1:38?"Cellar door." As Karen Pomeroy clears out her desk, her discussion with Donnie is extended.
1:43?Placebos. Donnie's doctor tells him that his medicine has been placebos all along.
1:46?Seventh book excerpt. This overlay of an excerpt from The Philosophy of Time Travel concerns the Ensurance Trap.
1:50?Putting it all together. Donnie walks through the crowd at the party, and he starts solving the mystery.
1:54?Deus Ex Machina. Donnie clearly says "Deus Ex Machina" while pinned down at Grandma Death's place.
1:56?Roberta Sparrow. Grandma Death tells Donnie, "The storm is coming. You must hurry."
1:58?Countdown. In Donnie's eye, we see a montage of imagery as Frank counts down to the end of the world.
2:00?The world rewinds. Another imagery montage as Donnie travels back in time.
2:03?Eighth book excerpt. This overlay of an excerpt from The Philosophy of Time Travel concerns dreams.