TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (1992) review & retrospective, "The last seven days of Laura Palmer..."

...better late than never?

TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME was the return to the titular town, where no one is innocent - the same goes for the critics and fans like who watched the film upon its release. No one liked it. Released in 1992, a year after the show had run its course and David Lynch at the helm once more...

What happened, and why is it celebrating critical reappraisal 20 years past its release?

The curious case with this film and the point that everyone has with Fire Walk With Me is a simple one: it has little to do with Twin Peaks, at least in style or tone. Instead it plays like standard Lynch fare - more akin to his features, with some quaint and odd echoes to his past films such as Blue Velvet, handling similar themes. It's non-linear structure and seemingly incoherent narrative lost fans, including myself on a first viewing, baffled by the images that had passed my retina. It takes a deeper look to fully appreciate what Fire Walk With Me is, which is not Twin Peaks, the goofy, loveable and ever so slightly uncomfortable look into a small town, but Twin Peaks, the horrifically dark and sinister place with the façade of an idyllic small town. The literal fourth wall breaking moment at the very beginning with the smashing of a TV screen should be enough evidence to suggest that this is to subvert expectations and play with it's own space, the big screen, not the small.

It touches upon all of the elements that would have been in Twin Peaks if it weren't on TV or more appropriately, a network looking to play it by the books, not taking any risks. Drug abuse, violence and psychological torment play key roles in this film, at the centre of it - a girl who is about to give into said torment and end her own life. It goes back to fill in the blanks, Lynch himself coining the story as not the obvious death (or at least it should be obvious) of the lead, but when. When is Laura going to die? It's this uncertainty which is what Fire Walk With Me hinges upon, it constantly unnerves you. It's that feeling that many horror films attempt to replicate - that sense of dread, you know something is going to happen, but when? When it does happen, it feels like a great release, like a burden has been lifted from your shoulders because you know that Laura is free from her torment, from the killer BOB, from her revolting nightmare.

As ultimately, when I think of this film, I have a horrible feeling inside: a feeling I have for no other film, this film disgusts me... but that's what I love about it. That's what keeps me coming back. It's taken several years for people to realise this - Fire Walk With Me exists as its own entity, detached from the TV show to show Twin Peaks from a different perspective: the disgusted and haunted perspective of Laura Palmer and how she sees it before her untimely demise. I feel as Laura does and I'm not alone in this feeling.

Looking forward now, onto the already covered subject of a revival, most fans will be clamouring for that same old goofy Twin Peaks, that is what shouldn't be expected of the return and I believe it's third season will be much more akin to this misunderstood prequel, a much, much darker approach. Either way, be it like the show or the film, or even perhaps a mix of both, I look back to Fire Walk With Me and can't help but love it, and look forward to the small screen eagerly for the return of the cult classic - but maybe in a darker light.

Under the sycamore tree...

I'm not alone in seeing past Fire Walk With Me's undeserved hatred: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/11153925/Fire-Walk-With-Me-the-film-that-almost-killed-Twin-Peaks.html

TWIN PEAKS revival in 2016... scratch that... 2017: what made it so special to begin with?

I'll see you again in 25 years...

Twin Peaks was and still is a pretty perfect example of a cult phenomenon - still maintaining a large enough following over 25 years later, rife for a comeback, which is indeed happening after a brief scare involving David Lynch's departure and subsequent boycott. Crisis averted.

Enough baseless appraisal. What is it that made Twin Peaks so memorable? How is it that such a short-lived stint on America's then third place broadcast network could attract such a following?

One simple thing: character, for me at least. Everything within Twin Peaks reeks of character, even it's idyllic setting, but from the moment you're introduced to the FBI's Dale Cooper, you are succumbed to intrigue as he blabbers away diligently to his tape recorder also known as Diane. This quirk alone builds the charm that is ultimately Cooper, a charisma so great it becomes nigh impossible not to like him. This follows onto each of passing characters and their locale, crafting a sense of nostalgia, this coming from a viewer whom only stumbled upon this show in recent years.

It is simply Lynch's masterpiece, as together with partner Mark Frost, the two created a balance, notably restraining Lynch's abstract nature in his films, allowing the show to have a goofy quality that adds to its unique nature. On the note of restrictions, the restrictions of the show being on ABC and of course the show's downfall due to the network's incompetence more than anything is what hampered it's progress, in addition to the waning interests of both of the show's creators during the second season and horrific anti-climax during said season. This lead to that 25 year unsolved cliffhanger (that I thankfully wasn't even in existence to wait for), which will finally be resolved with the show's return, with the passage of time hopefully being manipulated to the show's benefit, seeing these bizarre and often juvenile characters pushing the envelope of grand or great grandparents.

Leading onto the cultural impact Twin Peaks brought, it's had countless references and parodies as well as influenced all forms of media, ranging from it's habitat of television, film and video games, with video games taking up a large percentage of the influence with such lovely titles as Alan Wake, Deadly Premonition or a ham-fisted reference in Gone Home that take liberties from the series whilst being their own unique property. It's not only what Twin Peaks brought to it's audiences from it's own face-level existence, but the aforementioned director behind it: David Lynch, but not his own individual talent, but the prospect of a big screen director coming to the small screen. Whilst now you have directors such as Martin Scorsese behind shows such as Boardwalk Empire and going so far as to praise television as the next great medium, it was a different story with this show's conception in 1990. Television was largely avoided by film makers up until that point, opting to stick with the one-time feature-length experience, missing out on the benefit of a lengthy continuous story that can grow over time, instead of being condensed into one sitting.

There is oh so much more that can be said about Twin Peaks, with it's return to be welcomed by the collectively open arms of it's fan base, with a final note to the fan base being: don't be surprised if the new series is more in the vein of Fire Walk With Me, which I myself would not be all too saddened by. Only more excited.

"Diane, 11:30 A.M. February, 24th. Entering the town of Twin Peaks..."