David Lynch Scares Me: A Review of Lost Highway

I finally got around to watching David Lynch’s controversial 1997 “thriller” entitled Lost Highway yesterday. Well, not all of it yesterday. I actually started the night before that and had to turn it off. It was just too late for a David Lynch movie. Way too late. I got to that last videotape Bill Pullman watches and decided to call it a night.

I’ve had Lost Highway sitting on my DVD shelf for about a month and half now. I’ve wanted to watch it but I just haven’t been in the right mood or had the time. After all, you just have to be in a special kind of mood to endure a David Lynch film.

For those of you not familiar with Lynch, he’s the director of such strange films like Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Mulholland Dr., and Inland Empire. He also created the Twin Peaks series and directed the much-panned film adaptation of Dune. The majority of Lynch’s films do not make much sense, are eerie, strange, at times funny, and completely bizarre. Like most people, I tend to have a love-hate relationship with his movies- I love Blue Velvet (which actually kind of makes sense) and Mulholland Dr., hated Easerhead, and was mostly indifferent to Inland Empire. I’ve yet to see any of his other films but I’m sure I’ll get around to them in the future.

As previously stated, Lynch’s films don’t tend to make much sense. They’re usually so intentionally bizarre and confusing that it’s pointless to try and figure out what’s really going on. With that said, I usually can sit around afterwards and come to a theory of what was maybe going on (except in the case of Inland Empire- apparently Lynch wrote the script as they went on filming so there’s not supposed to be a way to figure it out). Still, despite whatever theory one comes up with, there’s usually not anyway of really knowing what Lynch is truly going for. This applies to Lost Highway as well. I really didn’t make much effort to figure it out as it played before me and just tried to enjoy it. However, I think I may know what Lynch was trying to say in this film after some thought.

Here’s a synopsis of the film, if that’s possible. Actually, I couldn’t think of a way to describe it to you all, so here’s Amazon.com’s product description:

"Haunting sexuality, ricochet action and fleeting murderous shadows await you on a journey that begins and ends on the Lost Highway. The successful jazz musician whose marriage is on the rocks; The man in black who threatens to expose him; The young mechanic with links to a powerful mobster; The mobster's moll who knows what she wants and the people who can get it for her. These are the riders on the Lost Highway trapped in their worlds of desire, destiny and unknown destination where the truth is always just a short way further down the road. Featuring a star-studded soundtrack and an incredible cast including Bill Pullman (Independence Day) Patricia Arquette (Medium) Balthazar Getty, Robert Blake and Robert Loggia, Lost Highway is a powerful sensual and extraordinary movie experience from renowned director David Lynch (Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks)"

That’s actually a pretty good description. And that’s about as much sense the movie is going to make. In Lost Highway, there are doppelgangers, time travel, body hopping, creepy videotapes, crazy acts of sex and violence, loud ominous bass rumblings (a Lynch staple), constant losses of focus, and the creepiest human being I’ve ever seen in a movie played by the even creepier and possibly homicidal Robert Blake (pictured at the top and bottom of this article). Basically, it has everything you would expect from a David Lynch movie and then, maybe, even some more.

I really don’t know what to say about Lost Highway. The film, like all of Lynch’s films that I have witnessed, made me extremely uncomfortable and tense. That’s one thing I can always count on. David Lynch can scare me. This is a pretty impressive feat, as the man doesn’t even make horror movies. No, he makes David Lynch movies. And David Lynch movies are some of the scariest films I’ve ever seen. In the first half of the movie, nothing was really even going on but I was still tense. That’s saying something. I don’t know what it was. Maybe it was those signature uses of random loud bass rumblings (I like how he also made the dialogue so quiet and everything else so loud… dang you, Lynch) or his eerie cinematography. Then, the videotapes came in. Man, what creepy stuff. After the last one, I had to turn the movie off. That’s okay though because Lost Highway essentially feels like three different films: 1) Bill Pullman’s life up until the last videotape and the aftermath of that 2) Balthazar Getty’s homecoming from prison and the love story that follows 3) Bill Pullman’s return and his revenge. I stopped the movie on the second day of watching it to do something else and I hit just the right spot because once I returned so did Bill Pullman.

So, after watching this strange film, what do I have say about it? Well, in my theory (and this doesn’t go into any spoilers or anything), the film is essentially about dealing with a relationship destroyed by betrayal, adultery, and jealousy. Believe it or not, but it’s really hard to get that out of the film since it’s so crazy and all over the place, but that’s what I tended to get out of it. It also may be dealing with the guilt of causing pain to someone you loved, even if they did hurt you through betrayal. Other than that, I don’t know what the film’s about.

You may be asking yourself, was the film any good? Um, yeah, I guess so. It’s really hard to rate a David Lynch film, so I don’t think I will do that in the end. But, overall, I would say that yes, despite all its insanity and nonsensical nature, Lost Highway is an extremely well-made film. Lynch’s direction is inspired, mood-filled, and effective. The guy goes all over the place and I loved him for it. His direction was especially effective in the love scene in the desert between Arquette and Getty. Many have criticized the film and called it pornographic for its multiple and frequent sex scenes but, due to the way they were shot, I don’t think Lynch was going for this vibe (except for one, but that was intentional and served the plot … I mean, if there was one). Most of these scenes have an artistic vibe and the one in the desert is no exception. The two people are lit in a brilliant yellow glow from the headlights of a nearby car while surrounded by complete darkness. In the background, Lynch plays the haunting but incredibly appropriate “Song to the Siren” by Mortal Coil. It’s really a visually beautiful and well-put together sequence. And how about that car chase at the very end of the movie through the desert? I’ll tell you, nobody shots a car chase like David Lynch. That was some scary stuff.

What else does this film have? Well, how about Lynch’s signature dark humor? Yep. That’s a check. The sequence with Robert Loggia and the tailgater was simply hysterical. How about a super creepy and mysterious character running around? Yep… another check. Robert Blake as the mystery man bothered me a lot. The guy looked so creepy to begin with so when he started transporting well… I about lost it. Good job, Lynch. Way to make another really freaky character. How about a crazy supporting cast? Robert Loggia, Richard Pryor (this surprised me), Henry Rollins, and Gary Busey? Gary Busey... Yeah, that's a major check. How about another good soundtrack? Unlike most of Lynch’s previous efforts, Lost Highway doesn’t feature any Roy Orbison songs. However, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad soundtrack. Angelo Badalamenti puts down another solid, moody score and the soundtrack has a crazy variety of different artists from David Bowie to Marilyn Manson (who has a strange cameo in the film). It’s a weird selection but, when put to Lynch’s images, it all works.

Are you still not getting how crazy this movie is? Check out the trailer here. It will make things more plain to you. It actually gets across the mood of the film quite well.

When I started watching Lost Highway, I really wasn’t sure I’d be able to finish it. Like all of Lynch’s films, it was making me uncomfortable and I just didn’t know if I could get in the right mood to last through two and half hours of the crazy director’s vision. So, I turned it off. However, once I picked it up again on the second day, I found myself truly drawn in by the film, despite the fact that I did not know what was really happening. I think that’s why I keep coming back to David Lynch and his films. They bother me in ways that other movies never could but, in the end, they are just so seductive in their storytelling that they end up being very entertaining. It’s really hard to describe. Lynch really has a talent in drawing the viewer in and it’s hard to deny him that. I don’t understand the man and he really does scare me at times, but I love come back to his movies over and over again. I’m not going to give Lost Highway a number score because I’m not really sure how to do that. I didn’t like it as much as Mulholland Dr. or Blue Velvet, but I would say that it was one of his better films that I have seen. It’s truly a heavily artistic and personal effort but I cannot tell you what it actually means in the long run. But I can tell you that I appreciate it for the talent that was obviously involved in making it.