Every David Lynch Film RANKED From Worst To Best

Unjustly maligned at the time of its release, this prequel/sequel feature to the seminal show Twin Peak deserves rediscovery and is being tentatively reappraised by critics as one of the director's greatest triumphs.

Fire Walk With Me is primarily concerned with the events leading up to Twin Peaks' first series, though time is a great deal more fluid here. In particular, the film follows the investigation into the murder of Teresa Banks (Pamela Gidley) as well as the last seven days of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). Most of the original series cast reprise their roles, though a number were left on the cutting room floor, and the film also features small roles and cameos from Kiefer Sutherland, Harry Dean Stanton, and musicians Chris Isaak and David Bowie. Essentially, Fire Walk With Me distills the horror and mystery elements from the show and leaves most of its quirky humour out, layering dread into a masterpiece of trauma and suffering.

And that explains for the most part the initial backlash to the film: Fire Walk With Me is profoundly distressing, one that refuses to sugar coat the heart of the story of Twin Peaks in the entertaining eccentricities which are part of the show's charm; for all its surrealism, this is a story about one girl's abuse and murder. Despite being a horrific film, Fire Walk With Me has been unjustly ruled a bad one, which is most certainly is not.