MUBI

David Lynch’s prequel to the popular TV show, might not be a horror film in the traditional sense, but there’s plenty of scary scenes that’ll freak you out. David Lynch has never directed a straight up horror film, but he’s no stranger to directing scenes that creep someone out. Eraserhead (which is commonly categorized as a horror film although I disagree), lost highway (robert blakes character), mulholland drive (the man behind the dumpster) and Inland Empire are all full of scenes and characters that tread close to horror. I didn’t like Fire Walk With Me at first. I never thought it connected with the show like it should have. The TV show was more quirky and humours (even though it did have its share of serious and dark scenes). The movie (fire walk with me) is MUCH more serious and more dark. This movie tells the story of Laura Palmer and all of the events that lead up to the television show. We learn that not only did Laura Palmer has have a dark side, but the entire town of Twin Peaks isn’t the perfect town that it pretends to be (although if you’re familiar with the show, this shouldn’t be new to you). This is actually another in flaw in the film in that a lot of the discoveries in Fire Walk With Me are nothing new. Even with its flaws, Fire Walk With Me introduces us to new characters (just as quirky and funny as the characters in the TV show). And no matter how much darker the movie is from the TV show, at its core it still maintains the same spirit as the TV show. Most importantly, Sheryl Lee gives one of the best (and underrated) performance of the 90’s (in my opinion). In fact, you can kinda see bits and pieces of performances come through in Naomi Watt’s performance in Mulholland Drive. I’m surprised Sheryl Lee never became a bigger actress.

Have you ever awoken from a disturbing nightmare the next morning to realise that you actually quite enjoyed it? This is the emotional response Lynch seeks to recreate in many of his films, and which is particularly apt for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. As an adoring fan of the television series, I watched this film warily and scrutinized it in comparison to what I had seen in the two short seasons of Twin Peaks. Only a few moments into the film I realised that this really is nothing like the television show at all and my careful comparison was pointless. Utterly humorless, substantially darker and inconceivably more mysterious than Twin Peaks, Fire Walk With Me is just another David Lynch film with all the bizarre imagery and twists we have come to expect from his previous work. Sure, the film is set in the same world as Twin Peaks – but with the absence of memorable characters such as the Horne family, Dr Jacoby, Catherine Martell and the replacement of the actress who played Donna Hayward, the film feels somewhat hollow and lifeless.

Supposed to be the ‘last seven days of Laura Palmer’, this film does not deliver what it promises. The opening that follows Agent Chet Desmond is a waste of screentime and doesn’t serve to further the plot at all, only as a means for Lynch to splash us with his trademark cinematic eccentricities. However, I could still appreciate this film for what it was – and allowed myself to be swallowed by the character of Laura Palmer in the film’s second part. Seen living and breathing for the first time outside the Black Lodge and flashbacks of the television series, Laura’s character is a tortured soul. To see Sheryl Lee portray a living Laura at last was a strange experience in itself, and I was absolutely mezmerised by her performance (which is unquestionably the best in the film).

When the final moments of Fire Walk With Me come, and the tragedy of Laura Palmer inevitably reaches its climax, I was thoroughly moved. The mish-mash of experimental styles and motifs of most Lynchian films are present, but they work and create a genuinely unsettling atmosphere. Fans will ultimately be disappointed in Fire Walk With Me, but lovers of Lynch should undoubtedly be able to find something to appreciate in the depths of this highly sinister and experimental film. I do maintain, however, that this film perhaps should not have been made unless all the actors were participating and Lynch was able to work with every element his audience had come to expect from the television show.