Blue Velvet (1986)

Blue Velvet (1986)

Dir. David Lynch

By chance, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) stumbles upon something very peculiar while walking through a field near his parents' home.

His desire to understand its origins leads him into a murky, suburban dream gone awry.

What unfolds drags the viewer to a place most of us pretend doesn't exist. Often unsettling, always powerful, the film is an unfurled canvas depicting a surrealist landscape that is both analogous to reality and surreptitiously real.

When Blue Velvet makes you feel afraid remember this: scratch the surface of anything shiny and you’ll likely find something less appealing underneath. The shine isn't merely an illusion, it’s one facet of the larger whole.

DUNE: The Film(s) (1984-88)

Dune (1984)

Dir. David Lynch

A flawed but visually impressive adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel (1965) of the same name. It explores the machinations of three great houses as they each attempt to gain the upper hand over the other, in the year 10,191.

The Dune of the title is a planet upon which a commodity unique to its ecology is mined. Great power is bestowed upon whosoever controls the mining and distribution of that product. But the position also breeds immense jealousy and hatred in others, making the house chosen to oversee its operations a prime target.

While the planet itself has perils and challenges to overcome, a major focus of the story revolves around that which exists within an individual, at the forefront of which is young Paul Atreides, successor to the throne of House Atreides.

Eraserhead (1977)

Eraserhead (1977)

Dir. David Lynch

Lynch is renowned for being weird and making complicated, non-linear narratives appear to work effortlessly in his favour. Eraserhead is possibly his most unhinged and surreal feature.

It sets the tone early on with a slow zoom into what appears to be some kind of landscape, but why is it terrifying? Is it because it also manages to make us feel like we're travelling through a diseased artery? Or is that just me? Whatever the case may be, it's pure nightmare fuel.

A constant industrial murmur fills the empty spaces. It plays a vital role in both making and keeping us uncomfortable, not unlike the dwarfing effect that the concrete world has on the film's main character, Henry Spencer.