The trailer for Nightcrawler hit the internet this week and, we have to admit, it gave us the creeps.
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Jake Gyllenhaal plays Lou Bloom, a seemingly down on his luck young man who — desperate for a job — finds himself making a living as a freelance Los Angeles crime journalist. This gritty job involves a lot of police scanning, high-speed dashes through traffic and a strong stomach, as Lou pushes past police tape in his quest to get up close and personal with all manner of freshly-dead people.
Here are four reasons the hunk's new character gave us the willies.
He moves a dead body then films it
![Nightcrawler]()
GIF via YouTube
Um, yuck! If this is what's involved in freelance crime journalism, then count us out. Can you imagine your first date with this guy? Your jokey "ever moved a dead body?" icebreaker question would be met with stone-cold silence and those dead-looking eyes and you'd just know your friend had set you up with a creeper.
Of course, we can't tell from the trailer if Gyllenhaal's character is just moving the stiff for a better camera angle, or if he actually had something to do with the poor guy's demise. Either way, Lou Bloom isn't going to get added to the "Jake Gyllenhaal characters we'd like to date" list anytime soon.
This stare
![Nightcrawler]()
GIF via YouTube
There's just something off about a guy in a short-sleeve white button-up meticulously arranging his desk before staring into the camera for a few beats that makes us squirm. What's he up to? What's his end game? Is this part of some late-night confessional? The trailer doesn't paint Gyllenhaal's character as a news anchor, so why is he behind the desk?
And look at those eyes... sure, he's smiling that adorable Gyllenhaal grin, but those eyes are telling us something is seriously amiss.
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Repetition
If insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, then Lou Bloom might be certifiable. His favorite line seems to be, "If you want to win the lottery, you have to make the money to buy a ticket," because he says it over and over and over again.
Gyllenhaal's gaunt face goes from desperate and hungry to eerily ego-ridden in a matter of seconds as his voice repeats the lottery phrase, each time sounding a little more unhinged than the last. It seems his character has adopted this mantra in a bid to claim responsibility for his own under-employed status.
It's as if he's shouting, "Lou Bloom is willing to work! Hire him! He's not a shirker and he's not blaming anyone else for his problems!"
Except, there's no hiding the air of desperation beneath the words, and listening to the man repeat the lottery line multiple times set our nerves on edge. Lou Bloom is obviously a person who is hanging on by a very thin thread. Don't believe us? Just check out the next GIF.
Oh. My. God.
![Nightcrawler]()
GIF via YouTube
The whole "grab the mirror and scream so hard that your eyeballs bulge out of their sockets" thing? That's something right out of our worst nightmares.
Apparently, this scene was so intense to film and Gyllenhaal got so into character while filming it that he actually had to go to the hospital afterwards.
That's super creepy.
Nightcrawler crawls into theaters Oct. 17 and also stars Rene Russo and Bill Paxton.