The one word that’s probably most tied to the filmography ofDavid Lynchwould have to be “weird.” He’s a legendary director who’s been working in film and TV for more than 50 years and has a singularly recognizable style that gives his work a truly distinct quality. His way of filmmaking is so uniquethat the word “Lynchian"has been coined to describe his work and refers to films that feel dreamlike, surreal, mysterious, menacing, and sometimes nightmarish.
As a director, Lynch has made plenty of short films and has worked in TV - most noticeably across three seasons ofTwin Peaks. When it comes to his films, Lynch has 10 that were theatrically released and had feature-length runtimes. They vary in strangeness; some feel mostly normal, if a little unconventional. However, a few are among the most bizarre mainstream releases of all time regarding themes and execution. Indeed,the weirdest David Lynch movie will have surreal imagery, tonal shifts, unexpected narrative choices, or, most likely, a mix of all these elements.
10’The Straight Story' (1999)
Cast: Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, Harry Dean Stanton
If anything, it can almost be unnerving how normalThe Straight Storyis. It’s a film without anything that could be described as dreamlike or horror-inspired, and also lacks conflict in the traditional sense, simply being about an elderly man who wants to visit his brother, who’s in poor health. As he doesn’t have a car or driver’s license, he decides to make the long journey there driving his lawnmower.
The Straight Storyis a unique road movie in that way, as the journey is slow but steady, and there are no antagonists around to make it difficult. It’s a peaceful, character-focused, and ultimately heartwarming movie and stands out among David Lynch’s other movies for how down-to-earth and straightforward it is. Without a doubt,The Straight Storyis the furthest from Lynchianthat a David Lynch movie has ever gotten.
Watch on Disney+
9’The Elephant Man' (1980)
Cast: John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, Anne Bancroft
Most of the movies David Lynch made that could be considered “normal,” or at least close to traditional, came in the earlier years of his filmmaking career.The Elephant Manis the perfect example, as it was his second film and is more or less a straightforward historical drama about a unique subject: a man namedJoseph Merrick, who lived a difficult life because of his physical deformities.
The Elephant Manis an emotional and empathetic drama that features very few directorial trademarks often associated with Lynch. Without a doubt, it’s a film that deserves to be ranked amongthe greatest biographical movies of all time. It has a slightly more foreboding atmosphere thanThe Straight Story, given its setting, emotional scenes, and the fact it’s in black-and-white. Otherwise,The Elephant Manis one of Lynch’s most straightforward and normal movies, lacking his future flair and love for the surreal.
The Elephant Man
A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication.
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8’Blue Velvet' (1986)
Cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Laura Dern, Dennis Hopper
There are plenty of unsettling scenes inBlue Velvet, largely thanks toDennis Hopper’s terrifying performance as the vile Frank Booth,one of cinema’s best and most memorable villains. But for those who can get past the disturbing elements,Blue Velvetis ultimately a fairly direct (by Lynch’s standards) crime/thriller with a plot that isn’t nearly as intricate or hard to follow as Lynch’s more bizarre movies.
It’s a neo-noir film that flirts with Lynch’s trademark surrealism in a few spots. However, ultimately, it tells a comprehensible plot involving a young man getting wrapped with a nightclub singer and various unsavory characters who kidnapped her child.Blue Velvetis more disturbing than strange, and viewers who are up to handling some violent and alarming content will likely be able to follow the movie without much confusion.
Blue Velvet
The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.
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7’Dune' (1984)
Cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Francesca Annis, Patrick Stewart
Dennis Villeneuve’sDuneis the better film overall and might be amongthe all-time great sci-fi movies. However, nearly 40 years before the 2021 filmwowed audiences with a faithful adaptation of the classic novel, David Lynch had a go at it. Unlike Villeneuve’s version, Lynch tried condensing the whole thing into one 137-minute-long movie. The results were certainly interesting, with Lynch’s style doing justice to some aspects of the sci-fi epic’s story and world but feeling a little rushed and messy in other areas.
Ultimately, 1984’sDunewill be reasonably comprehensible to those familiar with the novel or the 2021 film, but newcomers to its world might be lost. As a large-scale blockbuster, it’s probably one of the more bizarre of the 1980s; still,Lynch’sDunetells a cohesive story with more or less recognizable sci-fi tropes, ensuring it’s not among the director’s strangest efforts.Watch on Max
6’Lost Highway' (1997)
Cast: Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, Balthazar Getty
Lost Highwayrepresents the point at which things start becoming very strange and heavily Lynchian. This mystery/thriller has a constantly unnerving and nightmarish atmosphere and a labyrinthine plot that involves murder, blackmail, doppelgängers, and a figure known as the Mystery Man who seems to know an unsettling amount about the film’s protagonist.
With a film likeLost Highway, it’s best just to go with the flow and not worry too much about what everything means. It might not strictly count as afilm that belongs in the horror genre, but there’s still a good chance it can still cause nightmares. Given it moves at a pretty fast pace, features creative visuals, and is always engaging on some level, it remains fairly accessible, all things considered. Still, this is the point where Lynch’s movies start to become harder to summarize when it comes to their core narratives.
Lost Highway
Anonymous videotapes presage a musician’s murder conviction, and a gangster’s girlfriend leads a mechanic astray.
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5’Mulholland Drive' (2001)
Starring Naomi Watts and Laura Harring
For a good chunk ofMulholland Drive, things are relatively comprehensible; thus, it’s one of David Lynch’s most popular films and highly-regarded efforts. For much of its runtime, it mostly sticks to following two main characters - an aspiring actress and a mysterious amnesiac - who form a close bond, with the former helping the latter find out who she really is. What starts simple soon becomes far more complex and unusual than one might initially expect.
There are a few odd tangents here and there, but these scenes are also often entertaining in their own way.Mulholland Drive’s ending is where things become very strange, with the surreal atmosphere and dream logic being upped considerably. There’s a definite method to the madness, and it’s certainly not being random just for the sake of it. Alas,most viewers will likely find themselves very lost if they only watchMulholland Driveonce.
Mulholland Drive
After a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a perky Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.
4’Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me' (1992)
Cast: Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, Kyle MacLachlan
A feature film sequel/prequel to the first two seasons ofTwin Peaks,Fire Walk With Meis one of David Lynch’s boldest, best, and most uncompromising movies. It fluctuates between hard-hitting family drama and scenes that feel truly nightmarish, with a plot that mostly focuses on the life of Laura Palmer during her final days. It complementsthe iconic TV drama seriesperfectly, though it is considerably more harrowing.
The straightforward scenes that don’t indulge in dreamlike or nightmarish imagery are all very upsetting; when contrasted with the film’s horror elements, they can makeFire Walk With Mea difficult watch. For good measure, there are also plenty of scenes that are hard to analyze or explain - including a wildDavid Bowiecameo, with most of them featured in the film’s opening half-hour or so.
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3’Wild at Heart' (1990)
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Diane Ladd
David Lynch plusNicolas Cagewas always going to make for a wild time, andWild at Heartdoesn’t disappoint. The two pair up for one of Lynch’s weirdest movies, with its plot centering on two young lovers on the run. Thus,Wild at Heartis a suitably hectic mash-up of crime, romance, dark comedy, and a road movie.
For anyone who feared just Cage wouldn’t be enough, the film also contains other scenery-chewing actors in its cast, likeWillem DafoeandCrispin Glover.Wild at Heartis violent, hyperactive, and sometimes even an assault on the senses. Additionally, it also contains plenty of references toThe Wizard of OzandElvis Presley. That being said, it’s not like anyone couldcall it a genuine musical or anything, but it’s definitely… something. It’s a rocking, bizarre, unsettling “good” time.
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Cast: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Jeanne Bates
Right from the start ofEraserhead, David Lynch wants the viewer to know they’re in for something strange. It serves as a definitive introduction to David Lynch’s filmography as a whole, given it was his first feature film and builds on the weirdness he showcased in his short films made during the 1960s and 1970s. It’s certainly not the only scarymovie released in 1977, but it’s definitely up there with the best.
The premise ofEraserheadsounds simple enough: a young man is constantly on edge and struggles to deal with his very strange-looking newborn baby. However, the setting, atmosphere, and overall tone ofEraserheadwork together to make it strange; sometimes, it feels like a lot’s going on, and sometimes it feels like surprisingly little is.Eraserheadis as surreal as horror can get, with its experimental elements easily making it one of Lynch’s weirdest.
1’Inland Empire' (2006)
Starring Laura Dern and Jeremy Irons
Inland Empireis a terrifying fever dream of a movie that cannot truly be explained. Initially, it seemingly focuses on an actress losing her grip on reality, thereby having some similarities toMulholland Drive. However, it goes off the rails into an even more bizarre territory far quicker. It’s possible to label Inland Empire as a particularly twisted, bleak, unsettling, andrather long fantasy movie, making it a dense and exhausting watch.
At approximately three hours long,Inland Empirealso proves daunting because of its length. It’s currently the last feature in Lynch’s filmography and arguably works as his definitive film, one he’d been building up to his whole career.It might not be his best movie, butInland Empireis his most ambitious, strangest, and most challenging.
Inland Empire
As an actress begins to adopt the persona of her character in a film, her world becomes nightmarish and surreal.
