David Lynch, the renowned film director and writer, has passed away aged 78.
Known for his influential works like Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive, The Elephant Man, and so many more, Lynch leaves behind an extraordinary, inimitable legacy that has had an enormous impact on movies, TV, and games.
Notably, he also wrote and directed one of PlayStation's surreal advertisements. The Third Place is an ad for PlayStation 2, a black and white short starring a man who discovers and enters the otherworldly realm:
Of course, Lynch's contributions to the world are mainly celebrated in TV and film, but it's impossible to deny the clear influence he has had on games. Lynchian inspirations can be found in countless games throughout the years, with many developers citing Twin Peaks in particular as a touchstone.
Games like Alan Wake (and most of Remedy's output, actually), Kentucky Route Zero, Deadly Premonition, and so many more owe much of their atmosphere and themes to Lynch's body of work.
Our condolences go out to his family and friends.
Comments 39
He was a real visionary. I absolutely loved Twin Peaks back in the day, and it was one of those shows that you couldn't wait to watch each week (and it before the days of being able to record TV, or watch it on demand or catch up, so if you missed an episode, that was it!). Very strange, and mind-bending series...
I read about his passing last night and had that feeling like the air left the room. Everything was a little worse than it was a moment before. I think I can say that David Lynch changed how I experienced movies and TV. From watching the Twin Peaks broadcast as a stunned middle schooler to getting lost in classics like Mulholland Drive or Inland Empire as an adult, the style and atmosphere he created was unparalleled.
A legendary man and such a massive influence. I'm playing Alan Wake 2 at the moment and the game simply wouldn't exist without David Lynch, it's basically Twin Peaks the game.
If anyone has any interest and hasn't done so already I would recommend Twin Peaks, but especially the recent 3rd series, Twin Peaks: The Return which was written and directed by Lynch in conjunction with Mark Frost. It was genuinely the most brilliant strangest thing I've ever seen. I was also convinced that Kyle Maclachlan is one of the greatest actors of the generation.
Anyway, great man, great body of work, have a great day!
The objective contents of thoughts
My favourite director of all time, Mulholland Drive is my #1 film (if I had to put my hat on one) and Twin Peaks (at least season 1) is possibly the best TV drama ever made!
All my opinion of course but the guy was a genius and there really is no one else quite like him. Legend - RIP.
Strangest... and best. The untouchable Twin Peaks theme is extra haunting today. RIP.
Blue velvet..Dennis hopper was superb. One of my favorite movies. Such sad news.
RIP Mr Lynch. Sad news indeed.
@Fiendish-Beaver - VCR's were very much a thing when Twin Peaks aired.
Another great man taken from us,😞 RiP David Lynch.
I need to re-watch Twin Peaks again.
It's so sad. I grew up with Blue Velvet and later followed Twin Peaks and the rest of the films. Already ordered the ultimate Twin Peaks: from Z to A, Blu-ray box, so I'll mourne with that series during the winter.
@Mostik I second this, all true!
Zelda links awakening on the gameboy was apparently influenced by the teams obsession with twin peaks
Still the best PS advert but I love Lynch so I am a bit biased.
@Shigurui But VCRs didn't have series link though and the timer function on them was a pain as well so you rarely set anything other than later that day if you were going out. It was a much bigger effort back in the day to keep up with TV shows.
They were, @Shigurui, but they were beyond the means of someone such as myself at that time. They were extremely expensive by today's standards, and they weren't particularly efficient or easy to use. It wasn't a device you found in the homes of most ordinary people..
@Fiendish-Beaver very true, around that time I was renting a vcr from radio rentals (remember them?) 😀
@Deljo Visionhire > Radio Rentals 😄
@Fiendish-Beaver - I lived through the entirety of my teens in the 80's on a sh*thole council estate and everybody I knew had a VCR, more so by the early 90's when Twin Peaks was airing. We were all piss poor but we all had one in the house.
There was a rental shop on the precinct and every paper shop in the area had a rack of vids to rent out. VCR's weren't unicorns.
@Enigk - Series link was a weekly note for a parent or sibling to hit the record button at the correct time.
Lynch as an absolute legend and, for me personally and artistically, an inspiration in so many ways. He lived loud, proud, weird, and with no regrets, and he will be greatly missed.
My all-time favorite director and one of my favorite humans in general. I was selfishly hoping he would pull it together enough to complete one more project, but I am so glad for what he's left behind. A legacy of dreams and nightmares and imagination.
Blue Velvet is a realistic movie, almost a documentary of the American life! When I see the opening sequence, it just looks like the town where I live...
I started rewatching Twin Peaks randomly the year before season 3 was announced, and I’ve watch all three every year since. I was going to skip it this year, but not now.
I loved how he didn’t give people what they wanted, he gave them what they needed.
Season 3 really divided the fan base, but for my money, I loved it. My favourite of his works (and Flatland of course)
@Jrs1 😂. Think I could have bought 3 or 4 with the money I spent renting that thing. It did have a remote control though (attached buy a 1m long cable so I still had to get up). Good times 🤣
@B0udoir , the naked woman on the lawn in Blue Velvet was based on his real life experience (I guess in Missoula Montana). That seedy underbelly is everywhere!
Probably the greatest living American artist. What a terrible loss.
@Deljo Ferguson Videostar was the bollox 👍
@DrVenture69 Although I wasn't sold on the change of tone for season 3 I now think it's his true masterpiece. I honestly feel like it's a super long film. It also made fire walk with me feel essential as well, it's far closer to that tone-wise than the og series.
Lynch’s death is a huge blow. He’s responsible for some of the best films and TV shows ever. Nothing could scare me, excite me and move me like a Lynch movie/show. Personally I regard his 90s/early 00s output highest
Mulholland Drive stands out as his finest movie. The fantastic Winkie’s Diner sequence featuring the best jump scare of all time. The Silencio nightclub scene that still brings tears to my eyes. And Naomi Watts delivering the performance of a lifetime, just watch the scene where her character auditions for a role in some corny soap opera.
Same thing with Fire Walk with Me and Lost Highway, just amazing films I can watch again and again.
But in the end, Twin Peaks towers above them all. Lynch was making prestige television before the term was invented. I remember curling up in front of the TV once a week, never knowing if I was going to be scared witless, solving riddles using dream logic or just watch some soapy comedy. Of course, Lynch was held back by idiotic US network TV “standards & practices” and was forced to tone it down (just watch Fire Walk With Me for a glimpse at Lynch’s true vision). And, of course, Lynch only directed a handful of episodes.
So when Twin Peaks: The Return was announced I was ecstatic and boy did it live up to my expectations. This was Lynch unleashed, directing almost 20 hours of pure bliss. It was no cynical cash-in, instead Lynch delivered something totally unexpected. Freed from network TV censorship, this was dark, experimental, very funny and absolutely amazing.
So while Mulholland Drive was his cinematic masterpiece, Twin Peaks The Return was his magnum opus.
What a way to end a career! And, yes, I know he did some small scale experimental shorts and music after Twin Peaks but I know which show I’m watching tonight…
The grief is real, the loss heavy. A legend is gone.
@Fiendish-Beaver yeah I couldn’t wait each week for the next episode of twin peaks, what a show!
RIP David Lynch
The funny thing is, I wouldn't afford one, @Shigurui, and I was in the Police at the time. The same was true of Sky. Indeed, the only people that I knew who had Sky were on the dole or had nicked them! We used to drive around a really rough council estate known as Swilly and see all the Sky dishes, and always comment on the fact that it meant we could tell who was working, and who wasn't... 🤣
@Fiendish-Beaver For a second I had to think "Sting uses Push Square?".
(sorry!)
@Shigurui yeah i was gonna say the same thing about vcr
@Fiendish-Beaver if they was working, sky was only 7 quid a month in the 90s ,im sure they could afford that , i highly doubt every satellite dish was nicked, and if they was, probably useless, they're not firesticks.
One of the best. He and Lars Von Trier are some of the best directors ever. Pure Geniusses!
No, @lazarus11, you missed my point. The assumption was that those with Sky TV on this particular estate had either nicked it, or, more likely were not working and were on the dole, meaning they had enough money to afford Sky because they were not affected by things such as mortgage rates.
Back in 1993 when Sky came out, I was taking home £720 a month as a Copper. I had two kids, a wife that was not working and a mortgage. In 1990, mortgage rates hit 15% in the UK. At that time, my monthly take home, in the Police, was £620. My mortgage was costing £650 a month...! They did come down from that peak, but it was slow, and it was not until about 1994 that my monthly take home pay exceeded my mortgage. So I can assure you that luxuries such as Sky and a VCR were just that. Luxuries. Not essential. And not something that I could afford...
Just don't stand next to me, @MrPeanutbutterz. Alright...! 🤣
He was a wonderful soul. What an absolute gem of a human being.
This looks like a parody of a David Lynch directed ad.
@Fiendish-Beaver - Your assumption of dolites and thieves having things you didn't is quite sickening tbh. My father worked 60+ hr weeks as a truck driver, my mother had 2 jobs as a cleaner and school dinner lady. My sister and I both had part time jobs while in school and college. We paid for what we had, as did many others where I was brought up.
Yeah, @Shigurui, you completely misunderstood my post, as that is not what I said. I said it was one particular housing estate where basically no one worked. It was an absolute nightmare place to police, though that made it a lot of fun too. Let's put it this way, we had daily and nightly car chase around the estate, daily drugs and handling stolen goods warrants. Any time a Police car attended an incident on the estate, two cars would have to attend, with one parked behind, and with one double-crewed car remaining in the second car so as to ensure no damage was caused the first vehicle, because if not we would return to the vehicle to find all the wheels having been slashed or stolen, the car trashed, or even set on fire, or even the car stolen.
Every November the locals would build a bonfire that was higher than the nearby houses. The locals would go to properties surrounding the estate and steal their wooden fences to put on the fire, and would also cut down telegraph poles to place on it too.
They would also put gas canisters within the bonfire, and also drove a stolen car into it one year (whilst it was ablaze). So big was the bonfire, that one year it melted the aluminium window frames of the surrounding houses.
Then when the Police or Fire Brigade attended, they would throw rocks at them, and also place fireworks on the ground and fire rockets at them.
So, I was not passing judgement on all Council estates, just my experience with one in particular. I'm sure that the vast majority of Council estates are nothing like Swilly, which had been building these enormous fires years but no longer do now, and it really was a hotbed of crime, though things have got much better there in recent years...
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