2014 was the year modern true crime culture really kicked off. Serial, the smash hit podcast focused on a potentially innocent man’s trial, debuted in October and set the scene for what would practically become an American pastime a decade later. Knowing this, it feels like prescient serendipity that Dan Gilroy’s directorial debut, Nightcrawler, arrived the same month, on October 31, 2014. The film’s palpable neo-noir landscape is thick with foreboding vibes, but it’s downright horrifying when you realize it's indicting us in the overconsumption of extreme tragedy.
In fact, it starts to feel less like noir and more like horror, and it’s all thanks to Jake Gyllenhaal as Lou Bloom. It’s easy to temper our terror of the supernatural; we have no proof of it, so effectively, it doesn’t exist. A man without empathy, however, isn’t so easy to shake off. Enter Lou, a wayward conman and petty thief who finds a twisted talent and pride in nightcrawling, late-night video journalism covering Los Angeles’ gruesome crimes, and plans to make as much money from it as possible.
