Blue Velvet (1986)

Writer / Director: David Lynch

Stars: Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, Hope Lange, Dean Stockwell, George Dickerson, Priscilla Pointer, Frances Bay

A college student (Kyle McLachlan) discovers a severed human ear in a vacant lot and begins an investigation, uncovering a hidden world of violence, corruption, and sexual obsession concealed beneath the surface of an idyllic small town. 

As he is drawn deeper into the mystery, he crosses paths with a terrifying, volatile, gas-huffing criminal (Dennis Hopper) whose brutality and unpredictability transform the investigation into a struggle for survival. 

This film exemplifies why David Lynch became such an influential filmmaker. 

His film is unsettling from beginning to end, but it never feels shocking just for the sake of being shocking. 

Dennis Hopper’s Frank Booth is one of the greatest villains ever put on film: terrifying, unpredictable, comic, and strangely mesmerizing every time he’s on screen. 

Hopper reportedly fought hard for the role, even telling Lynch, “I am Frank Booth,” and his contribution of Frank’s gas-huffing ritual helped create one of cinema’s most unforgettable characters. 

Isabella Rossellini gives a particularly strong performance as the nightclub singer under his thumb; Kyle McLaughlin and Laura Dern are a little bland in their roles, but it suits the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew energy they bring to the story. 

The terrifying evening that McLaughlin’s Jeffrey spends in the company of Hopper's Frank and his associates is a stretch of electric insanity pulsing at the heart of this surreal masterpiece. 

Some scenes have such raw emotional intensity that they remained etched in my mind for decades. 

Stylistically, the film owes a great deal to 1950s film noir, but Lynch transforms those influences into something uniquely his own.

 Critical opinion was mixed when it was released, but it appears to have solidified its position as a cult masterpiece over the years. 

I miss David Lynch.