What Makes Nightcrawler's Lou Bloom So Terrifying?

Nightcrawler's Lou Bloom, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, might be one of the creepiest villains of the last decade. It's not just the profession of filming grizzly accidents for the news, but in the way he carries himself. Lou Bloom is what makes Nightcrawler such a great film. And Gyllenhaal does a phenomenal job of selling Lou Bloom's darkest desires.

#nightcrawler #jakegyllenhaal #nerdstalgic

Written by Adam Smith
Edited by Brian Nappi

[ValentinoTarhan]

Fun fact: The reason Lou speaks so fast is because the script had alot of dialogue & they had a very short amount of time to film, jake explained the only way he could fit all the dialogue was by making it a character trait of bloom, it makes him that much more creepy.

[ajtaylor]

Louis Bloom's eyes help create this nightmarish aura around him as he represents a coyote out in the after hours of the early L.A. morning scene. He's constantly on the prowl for the next opportunity to hunt, and Jake Gyllenhaal embodies that in spades. Also, aside from "Collateral, " no film has quite capture L.A. nighttime like this film.

[RedheadDevito]

I never thought of Bloom as an anti-hero. He’s a villainous protagonist. Typically anti-heroes have at least one or two redeeming qualities, and maybe a past trauma that informs their “bad” behavior. I don’t remember anything like that as a set up to his character.

[mikaeki]

I will never forget the gut-wrenching feeling I got when Lou Bloom let his sole employee die. I felt physically sick, something no other movie has ever made me feel. It was horrifying and amazing at the same time.
Truly a materpiece of a movie and performance by mr. J.Gyllenhaal.

[HoboGaming]

This film slid under a lot of people's radar. I was working a movie rental store when it released so I checked it out and was thoroughly impressed. It was a chilling character study and had some grounded themes that reflect the dark corners of our current world. I'm happy to see this film is finally getting some of the recognition it deserves!

[motherplayer]

Always like that scene where he talks to Nina and looks back at the wall of the fake city and says with such charm "It looks so real on T.V." along with the score having this sense of whimsy. Has the feeling of being inspirational, and like it was said, this is it's own success story tale that doesn't shy away from how cutthroat you have to be to get ahead.

[alexofthecolossus]

I will always hate that Jake Gyllenhaal didn't at least get a nomination for his performance.

[bradley]

This is still up there, in my opinion, as one of the best ever film performances. It's up there with Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh to DeNiro's Travis Bickle. No matter if he is in the background of a scene, you cannot take your eyes off of Gyllenhaal. It's an absolute masterclass.

[angrykeeper]

I mean just adding the simple fact he basically tried to not blink at all if possible in scenes, really made Lou Bloom that much more unnerving as a character.

[cbdy]

I was a first responder. The nightcrawlers I’ve seen were pretty respectful of the scene and stayed out of our way. Then again I worked in a rural area not in the big city

[richtifilmpalast]

Gyllenhaal is easily one of the best actors of his generation. His range is boundless and it is no wonder that some of the greatest directors of our time put him into their films

[SameSam]

the best part of this movie is Jake's eyes. he has widened eyes throughout the film to resemble a nocturnal predator.

[VinegarAndSaltedFries]

“They call it the American Dream because you gotta be asleep to believe it”

[FinancialShinanigan]

The scary thing is we all know a Lou in our lives
If you don't, he probably knows you

[KajiCarson]

A modern personality study classic on par with 'Taxi Driver', I dig this film a lot.

[baldyhardnut]

This film is the definition of hidden gem

[fatimaisa]

It's one of the calmest psychopath I have ever seen

[elenadirectorofmiiss]

Lou Bloom's not an anti-hero; he's a villianous protagonist, a sociopath, and he doesn't care who he hurts.

[HamsterFactz]

Saw this movie on Netflix at a friends house the week it came out and always thought it was one of those "sleeper hits" nobody else has seen. In a similar vein, anyone who likes this movie might also like Gyllenhaal's performance in "The Guilty" which is another great suspense film of his.

[ryanbesco]

I’ve never heard anyone mention that he had been watching kids shows on tv until that freak out scene in front of the mirror.

He finally snaps and right when he does, his tv is heard saying: “viewer discretion is advised”.

I thought that was incredible sound design actually.