Lou Bloom, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, peruses the night endeavoring to find the next bloody car accident or criminal shooting in the suspenseful film Nightcrawler.

He lurks with the intentions to record these traumatic episodes, in part for his career in which he submits clips to a low-end news broadcaster, but mostly to satisfy his ill-fitted passion for zooming in on mangled corpses.

Accompanied by a man he picks up off the streets, Lou quickly learns how to be efficient in this business and manipulates everybody at will to get what he wants.

It is incredibly ethically demanding upon Lou, who would physically drag the body of a person who was just flung out of a car for the sake of capturing a headline clip.

As far as Nina, the director of morning news, is concerned, the bloodier the better, which feeds into the bigger question at play here: where is the moral line drawn for publicly displaying the gruesome misfortune of these victims?

Nina, played by Rene Russo, only encourages Lou to continue his work with the motive to gain the most viewers, meanwhile depending on Lou in a way he takes advantage of.

There are two evils at play here: Lou and Nina infringe the borders of this ethical line with their lack of remorse or empathy, but do not hastily lump these two entirely on the same level of immorality; Lou is of a much more sinister nature.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s captivating performance as a callous sociopath works great with the air of thick suspense that floods the movie. This has a cringe-worthy effect, but in the best of ways as we, the moral audience, recognizes what is wrong and right about Lou’s decisions.

Ultimately, Nightcrawler thrills audiences with its uncanny ability to invoke feelings of suspense. This is worth the full price of the ticket!