David Lynch Dies at 78: These Are the Essential Works to Watch by the Director

David Lynch, the groundbreaking director whose works include Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive, Eraserhead, Blue Velvet and more, has died at age 78, according to a statement made on the artist's social media channels.

"It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch," the statement reads. "We would appreciate some privacy at this time. There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, 'Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.'"

The statement went on to reference Lynch again, ending with, "It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way."

Lynch is considered perhaps the most notable neo-noir surrealist film pioneer, his works often floating in a space between dreams and a stark, cold reality. He knew the power of leaving intentional, quiet spaces in scenes to underscore tension — notably in Mulholland Drive or the famous sweeping and atom bomb scenes in Twin Peaks: The Return. Most of all, he explored good and evil, how they intertwine within humanity like a Gordian knot. There's a reason why, any time I feverishly attempt to get friends (or strangers) to watch his works, I refer to him as "the Dostoevsky of film." Just like the Russian existential master pinned down the strife as well as joys of being human, so did Lynch, with the same mystical qualities and gritty attitude.

Many artists' lives were altered by Lynch's vision; mine certainly was. I'll never forget when my friend Jessica McMillan showed me Twin Peaks, which I now watch yearly and whose soundtrack, by Lynch's frequent collaborator Angelo Badalamenti, always appears in my Spotify Wrapped. His oeuvre, which seemed to recall other existential writers such as Jean-Paul Sartre or Albert Camus, defines the undefinable, veering viewers into unchartered dimensions that make us question the very idea of reality. He addresses the gruesome vicissitudes and vices of life without any whitewashing or tempering, from sexual-sadistic psychopaths and incest to greed and murder. The subject matter isn't always pretty, but the beauty with which it's filmed makes it palatable.

Yet without fail, you'll end the first watch of most of his films with a lot of questions. Fortunately, Lynch left those unanswered; he famously wanted the art to speak for itself.
"The film is the thing," he told an interviewer for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. "You work so hard to get, you know, after the ideas come, to get this thing built, all the elements to feel correct, the whole to feel correct, in this beautiful language called cinema. And the second it's finished, people want you to change it back into words. And it's very, very saddening. It's torture."

He later added, "You have everything in the film. It doesn't matter what I say — zip!"

In the meantime, the director also was a very public proponent of Transcendental Meditation and founded the David Lynch Foundation in 2005 to proliferate its teachings. He began as an extraordinary painter and practiced that art form throughout his life.

Lynch's impact will be enduring. If you haven't seen any of David Lynch's works, start with these six essentials (we have lumped the Twin Peaks universe into one entry). And let's just ignore that Dune (1984) ever happened.

Eraserhead
Eraserhead is David Lynch's first major film that he wrote, produced, edited and directed (he also lived on the set). While it had a mostly negative reception from critics, who labeled it as pretentious or distasteful, after it was released in 1977, it became a midnight-movie favorite at theaters and received a cult following of Lynch loyalists. Filmed in black and white, Eraserhead also marks the beginning of Lynch's longtime working relationship with Jack Nance, who plays the titular character, Henry Spencer. In a dystopian world, Spencer and his girlfriend, Mary X (Charlotte Stewart), have a baby — but it's not human by any means. What follows is a surrealist, body-horror interpretation of the human spirit and insular society. The film was selected by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry in 2004.

The Elephant Man
Mel Brooks enlisted David Lynch to write and direct The Elephant Man, although the 1980 movie is certainly different than the comedy Brooks was known for producing via Brooksfilms (his executive-producer credit isn't listed on the film for that reason). The Elephant Man, which is based on the true story of John Merrick, is more commercial than the other works listed here, but it still is imbued with Lynch's indelible touch, fraught with emotions that dig into the core of what it means to be a human being. It received eight Academy Award nominations and won BAFTA awards for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Production Design. 

Blue Velvet
Starring Lynch regulars Laura Dern, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper and Isabella Rossellini (who was dating Lynch at the time), Blue Velvet is a neo-noir film that delves into psychological and sexual horrors in a small, North Carolina lumber town. Lynch received his second Academy Award nomination for Best Director after this 1986 thriller, which sees Jeffrey Beaumont (MacLachlan) return home only to discover a dismembered ear. He takes the ear to a police detective, whose daughter, Sandy (Dern), informs Jeffrey that the ear has something to do with a lounge singer named Dorothy (Rossellini). What follows is a graphic horror story that sees Hopper's most gruesome performance ever, as the sadist drug dealer Frank Booth. Tip: Grab some Heinekins before you start streaming.

Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me
Twin Peaks: The Return
Twin Peaks gripped America when it debuted in 1990, and became the most ground-breaking TV show in history, covering taboo topics and leaning into surrealism and mysticism heavily influenced by Eastern religions. Written by Mark Frost and Lynch, the series was Lynch's first foray into commercial television, but he refused to compromise his surrealist ways — sometimes to the chagrin of ABC. At eight episodes, the first season sets up a detective show interlaced with dreamscapes, with FBI special agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) visiting the town of Twin Peaks, at the border of Washington and Canada, to uncover the murder of high school prom queen Laura Palmer, who is played by Sheryl Lee of Boulder. With a first-season finale that had everyone watching at the edge of their seats, Twin Peaks entered a less-successful second season, which had 22 episodes. While the second season may be a bit of grind after episode three, it is still worth continuing on to discover the series is not about who killed Laura Palmer. It's about so much more, and the penultimate and final episodes showcase the best work in television. (And fun fact: The first character you see in the show, Josie Packard, was meant to be played by Isabella Rossellini.)

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is a prequel film to the series, famously booed after its screening at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. But as Marty McFly would say, "I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it." The film is a pristine example of Lynch's signature blend of horror and supernatural, and answers several questions that Twin Peaks left for viewers. (It also sparked a debate of which Donna is best; IYKYK.)

Then, 25 years after the debut of Twin Peaks, Lynch resurrected the series with Twin Peaks: The Return, as it was implied in the original series when Laura Palmer whispers: "I'll see you again in 25 years." The show also proved no one should have expectations of Lynch: He forgoes the more structured storytelling of the original series for a far more surreal, art-house plot. It may not be the Twin Peaks we're familiar with, but The Return is exactly about what the original covers: the good, the evil, the supernatural, time and space, and doppelgängers.

Mulholland Drive
Originally conceived as a TV series, Mulholland Drive is a must-watch for anyone who wants to understand — or be confused by — the Lynch ethos. The 2001 film, which earned Lynch awards for Best Director at Cannes and the Academy Awards, is a masterpiece thriller, with Los Angeles almost a character of its own. It begins with Laura Harring, portraying the character Rita (or so we know her for now), who is almost shot by her chauffeur on the winding Mulholland Drive; a car crash stops the attempt. Rita stumbles to the apartment of an aspiring actress named Betty Helms (again, as we know her for now), portrayed by Naomi Watts, and says she has amnesia. The cast members — who include Justin Theroux and, oddly, Billy Ray Cyrus — all do a phenomenal job of portraying a sinister undertone. Unfortunately, we can't say much more, but this film will leave you mystified.

Lost Highway
Starring Patricia Arquette, Bill Pullman, Balthazar Getty and Robert Blake, Lost Highway is another neo-noir thriller that sprang from Lynch and co-writer Barry Gifford in 1997. The plot unfolds like a fugue state, something Lynch intended, almost forcing viewers into a hypnosis to be able to follow its shape, which is formed like a Klein bottle or Mobius strip, as many critics compared it to at the time. Moments of fear are palpable in this horror/thriller, which follows Los Angeles saxophone player Fred Madison after he receives a voicemail stating that someone named Dick Laurent is dead. A murderous fever dream plays out, riddled with terror and surrealist orientations. For those who love L.A. films noir such as Chinatown as well as surrealism, Lost Highway has that and more.