David Lynch is one of the most unique filmmakers of all-time, as he managed to turn surrealist filmmaking into a genre that many more cinephiles were introduced to. While Lynch has flirted with more mainstream projects like an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel Dune and the inspirational drama The Straight Story, a majority of his work is tough to pin down to any standard classifications of genre due to the influence of crime, noir, fantasy, and satire.
Although there is certainly humor to be found in the idiosyncratic characters that tend to populate his work, Lynch often includes graphic moments of horror, and wrestles with very dark concepts about inherent darkness in humanity throughout the course of the various films and show that he has directed. Here are the ten scariest David Lynch movies and televison shows, ranked.
10 ‘The Elephant Man’ (1980)
Starring John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins
The Elephant Man is the only film that Lynch has made that was based on a true story, even though he nearly got fired while it was in production. The film centers on Joseph Merrick (John Hurt), a man with severe facial deformities who was cast aside by society and forced to become a “freak performer” at circus shows. Although a kind-hearted doctor (Anthony Hopkins) eventually gave Merrick the respect he deserved and brought him out of imprisonment, a majority of his life was rather miserable.
The Elephant Man is scary in the sense that it unlocks a nasty side of human nature, showing that people are truly willing to commit acts of savagery towards anyone that they perceive to be different. The fact that The Elephant Man is drawn from realistic accounts of what happened to Merrick makes it even scarier and more upsetting.
9 ‘Lost Highway’ (1997)
Starring Bill Pullman and Patricia Arquette
Lost Highway was a shocking reinvention of the noir genre in which Lynch transformed Los Angeles into an otherwordly dreamscape where nothing appeared to be what it initially seemed to be. The film centers on a charismatic saxophone player (Bill Pullman) who is drawn into a mysterious underworld of intrigue and terror after being allured by a dangerous femme fatale (Patricia Arquette).
Lost Highway has a disorienting effect on the viewer because of how non-linear the story is, forcing audiences to reflect on what they watched from a different perspective. Although there are some amusing side characters that add doses of humor to the story, the shocking conclusion of Lost Highway is one of the most depraved sequences that Lynch has ever pulled off. It’s the type of bold, confrontational finale that is bound to leave even Lynch fans scratching their heads.
Watch on The Criterion Channel
8 ‘Eraserhead’ (1977)
Starring Jack Nance and Charlotte Stewart
Image via Libra Films International
Eraserhead was certainly an outstanding directional debut for Lynch, as it proved that he was willing to take a chance on material that many viewers might dismiss entirely as confusing or pretentious. Although Lynch ended up cutting one moment that he felt was simply to violent to include in the theatrical cut, the story of the lowly worker Henry (Jack Nance) and his attempts to raise a deformed child are strange and upsetting in all the best ways.
Eraserhead serves as a perfect metaphor for the reality of raising a child, and presents a surprisingly relatable story for anyone that has become a parent. That being said, the horrific imagery of the child itself and the strange appearances by supernatural creatures in Henry’s apartment make Eraserhead a particularly scary watch for anyone who is not already familiar with Lynch’s unique brand of surrealism.
7 ‘Inland Empire’ (2006)
Starring Laura Dern and Justin Theroux
Inland Empire is a sharp critique of Hollywood stardom and the truth behind the “City of Angels” that features some of the most fascinating cinematography of Lynch’s entire career. The film utilized digital cameras to capture a “fly on the wall” feeling that almost felt like a documentary; the fact that the film felt so authentic made it even more disturbing when Lynch started including shocking moments of characters under extreme mental stress.
Inland Empire is over three hours long, but it casts such an eerie vibe that the aura of suspense never goes away. Lynch has made many films that are deemed confusing on an initial watch, but in the nearly two decades since its release, Inland Empire is just as difficult to unravel for its themes as it initially was; it may be the most fascinating enigma of Lynch’s entire body of work.
6 ‘Wild at Heart’ (1990)
Starring Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern
Wild At Heart is a twisted take on the American road movie, as Lynch includes imagery relating to Elvis Presley, The Wizard of Oz, and various figures from folklore in this crime spree thriller about how the lovers Sailor (Nicolas Cage) and Lulu (Laura Dern) try to escape from the cops and criminals that attempt to pin them down. Wild at Heart begins with such an earnest love story between its two leads that its transformation into something more sinister comes as an even greater shock than it would have been otherwise.
Wild at Heart features one of Lynch’s greatest villains ever in Willem Dafoe as Bobby Peru, a viscous gangster and robber who threatens Sailor and Lulu. The fact that there is nothing about Bobby that is supernatural somehow makes him an even more haunting version of pure evil.
5 ‘Twin Peaks’ (1990-1991)
Starring Kyle MacLachlan and Sheryl Lee
Twin Peaks is one of the greatest drama shows of all-time, as it completely inverted what audiences expected when it came to a procedural crime thriller. Although most television shows at the time featured a “case of the week” that was resolved at the end of each episode, Twin Peaks told a serialized narrative about how the FBI Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) investigates the death of the high school homecoming queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), and the effect that it has on the surrounding community.
Twin Peaks delved deep into trauma, abuse, betrayal, and the cyclical nature of evil, as Lynch showed a keen ability to take a standard narrative format and transform it into something far more profound. It’s a masterful work of horror that was able to get away with a surprising amount of lurid content considering that it aired on ABC in the early 1990s.
4 ‘Blue Velvet’ (1986)
Starring Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern
Blue Velvet is a masterful work of suburban gothic horror that fully unleashed the surrealist impulses that Lynch was not able to fully articulate with his work on The Elephant Man and Dune. The film reunited him with Dune’s Kyle MacLachlan, who stars as a young man whose discovery of a severed ear leads him to discover a criminal underworld lead by an insane gangster (Dennis Hopper) who is torturing a femme fatale (Isabella Rossellini).
Blue Velvet creates a paranoia about the evil that is lurking beneath the surface of seemingly idealized communities, and seeks to unpack the lies that the 1950s suburban American lifestyle was based on. The sheer amount of graphic violence, including some particularly disturbing moments of sexual assault, make it a very scary Lynch film that is not intended for anyone with a weak stomach for shocking moments.
3 ‘Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me’ (1992)
Starring Sheryl Lee and Kiefer Sutherland
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is a brilliant prequel to the Twin Peaks series that was able to go to a much darker and more disturbing place than the show ever would have been able to realize on network television. Rather than continuing up after the controversial cliffhanger that ended the second season of the show, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me explores the last week in the life of Laura as she deals with the torment and abuse inflicted upon her by her father, Leland (Ray Wise), who has been corrupted by the evil spirit Bob (Frank Silva).
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is one of the most miserable Lynch films, as Laura is an earnest character whose pain is simply uncomfortable to watch. A brief appearance by David Bowie as the FBI agent Phillip Jeffries makes the film even creepier.
2 ‘Mulholland Drive’ (2001)
Starring Naomi Watts and Justin Theroux
Mulholland Drive is one of the most defining arthouse films of the 21st century, and certainly features some of the best acting out of any of Lynch’s films. Naomi Watts stars as an aspiring actress who travels to Hollywood with hopes of becoming a famous actress, only to discover a sinister underbelly of unscrupulous figures that seek to undermine her sense of innocence.
Mulholland Drive manages to capture legitimate social criticism with the supernatural; although the commentary Lynch has about the way that the film industry chews up and spits out women is entirely authentic, the shocking emergence of mythic creatures comes as a complete shock. Mulholland Drive is not a film that can be “solved” by just one interpretation, as it is a work of art that viewers will just have to sit with and draw their own conclusions.
1 ‘Twin Peaks: The Return’ (2017)
Starring Kyle MacLachlan and Sheryl Lee
Twin Peaks: The Return is the single greatest drama television season of all-time, as Lynch was able to return to the world of Twin Peaks for the first time in over two decades to offer a definitive continuation to the murder mystery surrounding Laura. Twin Peaks: The Return got even more experimental than its predecessor, particularly in the highly acclaimed “Part 8,” which showed how the detonation of the first nuclear weapons led to the creation of an insurmountable force of evil.
Twin Peaks: The Return never tries to coast on viewers’ nostalgia for the original show, as there are many fan-favorite characters that are treated with particularly cruel fates. Most disturbing is seeing Cooper transformed into a ruthless agent of the Black Lodge who causes chaos and violence wherever he goes, becoming the exact opposite of the good-natured hero he was in the first two seasons.
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