Richard Kelly's distinctive debut about time travel and the manipulation of fate has had goatied indie kids stroking their beards in puzzlement since its release in 2003.

Is there a tangent universe? Was it just a sci-fi take on a suburbia teetering on the abyss? What's that big rabbit all about? Why on earth do a cover of a Tears for Fears song?

Many of these mysteries may have been thrown up by the fact that Kelly was forced to trim twenty minutes off the original film to provide an acceptable running time.

Here he's restored the superimposition of pages from the book The Philosophy of Time Travel in a bid to guide viewers through Donnie's understanding of what's going on.

There's also the appearance of hints and pointers that were only available on the Donnie Darko website, as well as the usual remastered sound and new visual effects.

Cult movies, particularly cult movies as beguilingly mysterious as DD, are usually best left alone as the original magic is just fine without any tampering.

So the director's cut is a bit of mixed blessing. Quite simply put: if it ain't broke don't fix it. And for thousands of cinema-goers, DD was just dandy the way it was.

With the notable exception of Ridley Scott's Alien, the concept of the director's cut has shown itself to be an opportunity for the film-maker to meddle.

Whether there's any point in making life easier for the fan of a movie which thrived on being difficult is a difficult question.

But you'll get your chance to answer that one at the cinema for 28 days - before the director's cut comes out on DVD.

Tim Evans