Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992) Dir: David Lynch
- Ridley Coote
- Sep 24
- 3 min read
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Considering that I had just finished my very first watch-through of the first two seasons of the iconic 'Twin Peaks' series, originally created by Lynch and Mark Frost, it seemed only appropriate that my next move would be to watch this acclaimed prequel film, directed by Lynch. People seem to revere this film so much, some moreso than any other David Lynch film, so I was fascinated by the prospect of it.
I knew this was going to be good from the opening credits alone, which were very film noir-esque, and was accompanied by the first song of a truly beautiful soundtrack, composed by Angelo Badalamenti. The sounds of David Lynch films are often just as important as the visuals, and this film's sombre feel was, in-part, orchestrated by the tremendous and melancholy music that Lynch paired with it.
The narrative nourishes the series, which essentially starts where this film ends, and provides so much more context and characterisation to some of the many familiar faces in 'Twin Peaks', most significantly the person who seems to start all of the mysterious events in the television series; Laura Palmer. Although the audience, assuming they've seen the two seasons predating this, knows what will happen by the end of the film, it doesn't stop the climax from being absolutely devastating and horrifying. Make no mistake, this is just as much a horror film as it is a mystery film.
Sheryl Lee didn't have a lot to do in the television series, but when the time came to have her moment, she shone so brightly in this leading role. She felt every bit the intoxicating, complicated, misunderstood, and haunted young woman that she was supposed to be, and I was so impressed by how intense and captivating she was able to be, especially with her facial expressions. Her performance was exemplary, and it made her character's story all-the-more heartbreaking.
A lot the cast from the series returned in small-to-moderate roles in the film, with the exception of Lara Flynn Boyle, who was replaced, due to scheduling issues, by Moira Kelly. For what it's worth, I thought Kelly did a decent job in the role, albeit my sentimentality favours Boyle's version. I was very impressed with the acting of Ray Wise, whose performance, particularly with the added context of the television series, took on an extremely unnerving feel.
Dana Ashbrook and James Marshall had smaller, but pretty memorable, roles in their recurring roles, with Ashbrook in particular showing some good acting chops. There were also a couple of brief appearances worth noting from new cast memebers; being David Bowie, Chris Isaak, and Kiefer Sutherland. Finally, I'll rattle off a few of those returning names who had more minor appearances in the film; Kyle Maclachlan, Mädchen Amick, Eric DaRe, Heather Graham, Peggy Lipton, Phoebe Augustine, as well as David Lynch himself.
Overall, this was a perfect accompaniment to the brilliant cult television series, and a very good supernatural mystery film in its own right. If there was one slight issue, I suppose it would not be as satisfying for somebody who hasn't seen the show, but I imagine that isn't be a significant portion of its audience anyway. For someone like me, who really enjoyed the television series, this was exactly what I wanted from a prequel. Thematically and aesthetically, this was a phenomenal film.
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