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File this under WTF. According to Empire, Donnie Darko, that celebrated piece of indie film making with one of the strangest plots going, is getting a sequel. If that doesn’t get you wondering whether we’re not in an alternative universe of our own, I don’t know what will.

For those who don’t remember, Donnie Darko was a very odd little movie brought out in 2001, about a boy (Donnie, played by Jake Gyllenhaal) who was slightly disturbed and had visions of a giant rabbit (Frank) with a metal face, who gave him a count down until the world ended. In receiving this count down at all, Donnie’s life was spared but this put into motion a chain of events that he could only rectify by finding out how to go back in time and stopping himself from leaving the house that night, i.e. by Donnie dying.

The movie, directed by Richard Kelly, was an excellently done self-contained piece. It wrapped itself up nicely, it told a strange and intriguing story which left most people wondering what happened until they watched it a few times more, and it has been classed as one of the best indie movies in a while. So, how the hell can a sequel even be conceived, let alone be a good thing?

The answer to both of those questions is of course, money. Richard Kelly it seems, has too much integrity and sense to be involved in the bastardisation of the memory of his child, but the studios don’t feel the same way. The sequel, titled S. Darko, is set to follow Samantha (played again by Daveigh Chase), Donnie’s youngest sister, 7 years on from Donnie’s death. She and her best friend, Corey, are “plagued by bizarre visions while on a road trip to Los Angeles”. Visions of a life without an acting career, maybe?