NIGHTCRAWLER (Rated R)

The title “Nightcrawler” has the vague sound of a horror film, and though it is not, the premise is grounded in the horrifying possibility of TMZ-style journalism taken to extreme measures to capture the tabloid mantra of “If it bleeds, it leads.”

The dark side of television news is not confined to the latest escapades of frivolous celebrities and anyone named Kardashian.

“Nightcrawler” explores the underbelly of so-called journalism in which freelance bottom-feeders seek out footage of the sensationally gruesome scenes of domestic violence, murder and vehicle accidents.

Jake Gyllenhaal, a versatile actor who has also played his share of troubled characters, stars as intense, borderline sociopath Louis Bloom, the titular character of “Nightcrawler,” a title that is fitting for one engaged in the sleazy business of trolling the police scanners for hot tips of the grisliest crime incidents.

At the film’s opening, Louis is a random petty thief, though so devoid of any scruples that he has no problem beating up someone who tries to prevent him from stealing scrap metal from a junkyard for a quick monetary fix.

Clearly, Louis is unhinged and callous enough to fit right in with those who might profit from others’ misery.

Stumbling upon an accident scene involving a woman barely escaping an exploding vehicle, Louis encounters Joe Loder (Bill Paxton), a roaming videographer who chases down ghastly accident scenes and peddles his footage to local TV newsrooms in Los Angeles anxious to titillate audiences with as much bloody carnage as they can get away with.

The impressionable Louis, lacking any moral compass and eager to make a fast buck, is intrigued by the possibility of a new career as a “nightcrawler,” a fitting job for his nocturnal pleasures, only slightly removed from his penchant for illegal activities.

In fact, Louis uses purloined goods to obtain a video camera and an old police scanner so that he can tap into the “if it bleeds, it leads” mantra of late night TV news.

His first attempts at acting as paparazzi of the crime scene don’t go so well, but his luck soon changes with awesome footage.

An eager buyer for what Louis has to sell is Nina Romina (Rene Russo), a hardened news director at the lowest rated TV news station in Los Angeles.

Ever the cynic, Nina schools Louis in the finer points of tabloid news, letting him know that crimes against people in the wealthier neighborhoods are what drive the TV ratings.

Not burdened by any moral reservations, Nina is all too willing to whisper into the ear of a news anchor that an already shocking story needs to be punched up with more graphic details.

Nina expresses her view that the TV news should be akin to a “screaming woman running down the street with her throat cut.”

Equally unbound by the norms of respectable reporting, Louis, assisted by his perplexed assistant Rick (Riz Ahmed), goes to great lengths to obtain his stories, willing to manipulate the crime scenes to his benefit and interfering with police investigations and first responders when it most suits his purposes.

Louis goes to extremes in his work not only because he wants to topple Joe Loder as the prime go-to guy for gruesome footage, but he’s also driven by persistent, reckless ambition to succeed.

Even though he’s an uneducated man with a violent streak, he knows how to read every situation to maximize his advantage.

“Nightcrawler,” perhaps not always intentionally, aims for many things in its expose of the shady world of tabloid journalism.

The film could be considered a satire of the current state of TV journalism, or it might be fateful commentary on our endless obsession with tabloid-style sensationalism. It’s also a character study of a strange man fixated on the dark side.

Chilling and disturbing, “Nightcrawler” offers the viewer the opportunity to form a number of opinions. Louis Bloom is either evil or was seduced by evil; maybe it’s both.

Los Angeles turns into a postcard of the seamy side of life, realized into a modern version of the tarnished image of the City of Angels so visible in “Chinatown.”

Dark and frequently creepy, consistent with the oddly weird Louis Bloom, “Nightcrawler” taps into a visceral feeling about society’s strange fascination with rubber-necking journalism, unable to resist looking at the ten-car pileup or the sad tale of a nasty home invasion.

“Nightcrawler” just might be the unfortunate parable of our voyeuristic times.
 
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.