Twin Peaksfeatures some of David Lynch’s most singular and ambitious storytelling, following the residents of a small town in rural America after the death of a young schoolgirl named Laura Palmer. What begins as a pretty familiar police procedural turns into a much darker and unpredictable story about supernatural forces and surrealist conspiracies that only somebody as talented as Lynch could have pulled off. There are many greatshows likeTwin Peaks, but this very unique style has also bled over into some feature-length movies.
Thebest episodes ofTwin Peaksare those that take advantage of the story’s surface-level mundanity, blending the small-scale murder mystery with the much bolder, more ambitious story of the Black Lodge and the supernatural creatures that live within it. This is something that Lynch was always incredibly good at,using the normality of everyday life to bring audiences face-to-face with the darkness of the worldaround us. Although this quality is often associated with the late filmmaker, there are plenty of other directors who’ve been inspired by this approach over the years.
Richard Kelly’sDonnie Darkois a much darker and grittier story than most of the subplots inTwin Peaks, but it deals with much of the same surrealism and absurdism that’s so prominent in David Lynch’s works.The film centers around a young boy named Donnie, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, whose imaginary friend informs him that the world is going to end in less than a month.
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Lara Flynn Boyle was replaced as Donna Hayward by Moira Kelly in Fire Walk With Me, and there are several reasons why.
The pair develop a strange relationship that forces Donnie to reconsider the world around him and his role within it.Donnie Darkohas a very complex endingthat requires several watches to fully understand.
9The Invisible (2007)
Directed By David S. Goyer
The Invisiblefollows a teenager who is stranded somewhere between life and death following a spontaneous attack on his life. This supernatural thriller explores the fragility of life and the incomprehensibility of what happens afterward, drawing inspiration from concepts such as the Black Lodge inTwin Peaksto prove how little we may understand about the universe around us.The film blends aspects of horror, science fiction, and psychological thrillersto create a wholly unique murder mystery.
Nopeis the third feature from actor-turned-director Jordan Peele, and the one that relies least on traditional horror storytelling to get its message across.The film follows two siblings as they investigate a mysterious presenceliving in the clouds above their cattle ranch, seeking help from an eccentric carnival owner who believes he can communicate with the alleged aliens. There’s a very effective blend of dark comedy and visceral horror inNopethat’s reminiscent of thecreepiest scenes fromTwin Peaks,but Jordan Peele really takes this in his stride and makes it his own.
Both David Lynch and Charlie Kaufman were two of the leading voices in surrealist filmmaking throughout the 1990s, andBeing John Malkovichis arguably the latter’s most Lynchian script of them all. The film centers around a puppeteer named Craig Schwartz who discovers a mysterious portal that seemingly leads directly into the mind of Hollywood actor John Malkovich.The film effortlessly blurs the lines between fiction and realityin ways that very few filmmakers would have dared, but the result is something totally unique and singular.
Starring Scarlet Johansson as the unnamed protagonist, Jonathan Glazer’sUnder the Skinis a very patient and methodical thriller about an alien creature that seduces lonely men from the streets of rural Scotland. Much likeTwin Peaks,Glazer’s film revels in keeping the audience at a distanceand relying solely on atmospheric storytelling to keep the momentum pushing forward. The story is almost entirely up for interpretation, with several clues sprinkled throughout the narrative that allow viewers to draw their own conclusions. It’s one of theweirdest sci-fi movies ever made, but that’s exactly what makes it stand out.
Another surreal drama from Charlie Kaufman,I’m Thinking of Ending Thingsfollows a young woman who travels with her new boyfriend to spend the winter at his parents’ farm. Again,the film really takes its time with some very slow, patient storytellingthat intricately sets the scene for the absurdist twists in its final act. There’s a real sense of the uncanny in Kaufman’s film that’s reminiscent of the most jarring scenes inTwin Peaks, with quirky characters whose odd personalities constantly remind audiences that something isn’t quite right - even if they don’t know what it is.
Starring Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe as two isolated lighthouse keepers, Robert Eggers’ major breakthrough feature feels strongly influenced by David Lynch’s works in the most effective ways imaginable.The filmmaker uses plenty of surreal imagery and atmospheric storytellingto suck the audience into this world despite not fully understanding what’s happening and then lets everything loose in a final act that requires some serious analysis to understand fully.The Lighthousestrikes the perfect balance ofslow-paced storytelling that’s mind-blowingat times, which David Lynch essentially mastered.
Coherenceis much more sci-fi inspired than anything inTwin Peaks, taking sci-fi concepts like time travel and alternate timelines to their logical extremes, but the atmosphere that James Ward Byrkit manages to create is very similar to Lynch’s work.The movie follows a group of friends who come together for a dinner partyon the night of a comet’s journey through the sky, but the astronomic event has disastrous consequences on the flow of time. With captivating performances, quippy dialogue, and a fearless screenplay,Coherenceis one of the most inventive and creative sci-fi movies ever made.
Black Swanis widely regarded among the mostmind-bending psychological thrillersin recent memory, starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis as two talented dancers who find themselves in fierce competition for the leading role in a ballet performance. The film explores themes such as self-image, loss of control, and female autonomy in a way that’s very reminiscent ofTwin Peaks’ female characters;there are sprinkles of Laura Palmer in all of these characters, and the supernatural elements are very Lynchian in practice.
Based on Stephen King’s famous novel of the same name,The Shiningtells the story of a man named Jack Torrence who takes a seasonal job with his family at the Overlook Hotel, looking after the building during its off-season. What begins as a simple narrative of loneliness and isolation quickly transforms into something more sinister when the man’s young son Danny develops a supernatural gift that brings forth the dark spirits of the haunted hotel.
The way he blends the eerie, clinical atmosphere of the Overlook Hotel with the darkness of the spirits within is very reminiscent of Lynch’s treatment of the Black Lodge inTwin Peaks.
While there are plenty ofgreat books likeThe Shining,there are very few movies quite like Kubrick’s cinematic adaptation. The way he blends the eerie, clinical atmosphere of the Overlook Hotel with the darkness of the spirits within is very reminiscent of Lynch’s treatment of the Black Lodge inTwin Peaks, and his presentation of madness and possession through Jack Torrence’s character is also similar to the way Lynch tells Leland’s story in the second season of the show.
