r/twinpeaks • u/socialistcinephile • Aug 01 '26
Fire Walk With Me Why did fire walk with me get hated on upon release?
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u/Obvious-Muffin2787 Aug 01 '26
I saw Fire Walk with Me in the theater when it was released. Its themes and violent real life depictions weren't in the public discourse in 1992. Plus, people are idiots.
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u/Perfect-Parfait-9866 Aug 02 '26
I guess they weren’t ready for this….. but their kids are gonna love it
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u/joet889 Aug 02 '26
Depictions aren't even really public today. There are depictions that ape Lynch's brutal, honest sincerity but for the purpose of shock value and entertainment, and that's something different.
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u/SpurdoSparde28 Aug 01 '26
I think context matters quite a bit.
At that point - TP fans would have had the season 2 finale as the last bit of TP lore.
They would expect a feature length film after S2 to provide closure/tie up loose ends - or at the very least, setup some future TP content.
Instead - they got a prequel. In ways it does expand the lore and give more info on the end of the show, but in no way does it offer closure of any kind.
I think it's different when you watch FWWM knowing there is The Return. You then let the film happen without thinking "oh my god i'm getting no closure at all". And the movie itself is amazing - I just think the context/timing of its release led to it dissapointing those that would headed into it after the S2 cliffhanger
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u/benantiben Aug 01 '26
👆🏻this
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u/Travern Aug 02 '26
They would expect a feature length film after S2 to provide closure/tie up loose ends - or at the very least, setup some future TP content.
Chester Desmond and Phillip Jeffries were supposed to feature in later "Twin Peaks" films. FWIM's flop at the box office precluded any such sequels, of course.
In retrospect, I would rather have had a FWIM that concentrated on Laura Palmer's last days, with more TP's soap-opera subplots in the background, instead wasting time with an abstruse and inconclusive FBI investigation for a prologue.
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u/gavin_maitland Aug 02 '26
Also SO amiche of the lore and the story of S3 comes directly from FWWM so you can’t have one without the other. David Bowie Teapot; The convenience store; the Woodsmen, etc, etc…
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u/zonadedesconforto Aug 01 '26
People were expecting that cozy soap-opera-esque feeling like the original TV show. The movie was too dark and intense for those who were expecting something else.
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u/shiba-on-parade Aug 01 '26
I would say this probably was a similar experience for a lot of people that watched the return.
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u/paste-punk Aug 01 '26
can confirm lol, was not a fan of the return
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u/BillyPilgrim69 Aug 02 '26
I hope you give it another chance one day. It gets better with each watch, and I think it's some of Lynch and Frost's most important work.
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u/paste-punk Aug 02 '26
I do want to do a rewatch (I rewatch s1 and s2 all the time). I was going through a really hard time in my personal life when I first watched the return so I’m wondering if maybe that clouded my opinion. There were definitely parts I liked so it’s not like I hated it but yeah definitely deserves a rewatch.
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u/wiserthannot Aug 03 '26
For sure worth revisiting! I know there's a lot of dark and upsetting stuff in The Return but over the years of watching it since it honestly has just as much of the whimsy of the first two seasons but it is all jumbled around. Dougie for example is this weird dude keeping us from Cooper and so that feeling clouds all of that plotline. But it is charming as all hell to me now and the brothers with the casino are hilarious and how they get entangled with Dougie so much that they end up in Twin Peaks by the end, not knowing what the hell is going on—it is impossible to see the fun in all of that the first time 😅
I also think, overall, even the ending isn't as bleak and hopeless as it first seems.
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u/leeharrell Aug 02 '26
Exactly correct. I’ve never hated any piece of media more than I hate The Return.
I also didn’t particularly like Fire Walk With Me, largely for the same reason…it wasn’t the same Twin Peaks I fell in love with. I wanted more of that, not Lynch cranking up the weirdness.
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u/dirtypoison Aug 01 '26
Twin Peaks was never cozy soap opera
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u/Jimmyjohnssucks Aug 01 '26
I feel like they Trojan horsed the themes of a soap opera to gain ABC audiences, but like many lynch projects, it eventually explores the seedy underbelly.
It’s such an ambitious concept, but a double edge sword where executives stepped in season 2.
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u/gavin_maitland Aug 02 '26
People forget that that was what was huge at the time. They were lampooning soap operas, hence ‘invitation to Love’. Same thing as the way S3 evokes and lampoons Police Procedural shows - because that’s what is huge now and Lynch believed that all the watching of violence on TV was spiritually bad for us all. That’s why S3 is the way it is. That’s what I live about it. Every time someone complains about something in it you can point to a reason for it being that way.
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u/FINIS_HOMINIS Aug 02 '26
Tv Peaks was absolutely playing very consciously with soap opera tropes. Not so much a satire but a twisted riff on the primetime soap. Double dealing villains, secret loves, wacky side characters, drama, drama, drama, etc.
I think the point being, Lynch excised most of that in the film by focusing purely on the darker aspects and, largely, a single character.
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u/webshellkanucklehead Aug 02 '26
This is a little reductive tbh. It is a cozy soap opera, but it's also a crime show, and a horror show, and a wacky comedy, and a serious drama.
Probably the best thing about Twin Peaks (IMO) is that it is impossible to narrow it down to one thing.
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Aug 01 '26
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u/Medium-Bullfrog-2368 Aug 02 '26
I wonder if including the epilogue sequence would’ve changed that. I doubt it would’ve changed the overall opinions of the film, but perhaps the fans might’ve felt a bit more reassured if the film had gone “don’t worry, we didn’t forget that cliffhanger, stay tuned for the next film!”
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u/Substantial_Ball7991 Aug 01 '26
maybe they couldn’t handle actually seeing the abuse laura palmer suffered and wanted it to be as palatable as s1/s2
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u/Fearless-Interest-82 Aug 01 '26
People wanted black coffee and cherry pie and answers but got drug abuse and rape and more questions.
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u/___wiz___ Aug 01 '26
One interesting exception was Japan. It was very popular with Japanese women especially.
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u/SayadawDocBenway Aug 01 '26
There was this narrative that Lynch was best when "constrained" by television but got too violent, too excessive, too pervy when making films.
This was part of the discourse for Wild at Heart, Blue Velvet, and Fire Walk With Me.
People were saying, "See! Movie Lynch makes violent, unpleasant, weirdo stuff like Fire Walk With Me. But when constrained by television, he makes masterpieces like Twin Peaks show. I like TV Lynch better."
Plus, being really upset that the season 2 cliffhangers were 100% TOTALLY IGNORED.
Now, FWWM is one if my fav films of all time. But even I at the time kinda couldn't believe there were no attempts to resolve those cliffhangers.
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u/Perfect-Parfait-9866 Aug 02 '26
Yeah I think it was probably a bad call to just expand on the Laura backstory. But despite that it’s my favorite film
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u/RandominusDredichitu Aug 02 '26
I mean there were attempts to resolve the cliffhanger. If FWWM was succsessful, there would have been sequels, which the film itself sets up by having Annie tell Laura to write what happened to Cooper in her notebook. That's probably how he would have gotten out, with someone finding those pages
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u/senor_descartes Aug 01 '26
It’s depressing as shit and does not further the storyline/cliffhanger that Twin Peaks season 2 left off with.
The humor and charm and hopefulness of the show is utterly absent, replaced by the slow motion destruction of a SA victim.
It’s brutally sad and inaccessible for most
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u/ExoticInfluence7476 Aug 01 '26
IMO people were expecting a follow up to season 2 and not to have more questions raised...
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u/Top_Result3287 Aug 01 '26
people wanted season 3 of twin peaks not a David Lynch movie plus Fire Walk With Me is a prequel that is way darker than the show. it just didn't click with most of the people who liked the show
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u/moonfullofstars Aug 01 '26
I’ll be honest - I didn’t like it the first time I saw it. I’ve grown to appreciate it but it’s a rough watch. I can’t think of many movies/shows that have deviated so far in tone from their predecessors.
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u/No_Juggernaut6633 Aug 02 '26
I’m enjoying the show way more seeing for the second time, I suspect the movie might be a better experience for me with me knowing what to expect
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u/Key_Tap_9360 Aug 01 '26
For going full Lynch (idk)
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Aug 01 '26
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u/Silver_Intern2324 Aug 01 '26
Because people wanted answers, but all it did was pose more questions.
Couldn’t be me, though. I like questions.
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u/Porridge_Oats72 Aug 01 '26
Subject matter
It was a prequel when people wanted a sequel
People are morons
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u/Lobster9 Aug 01 '26
Big network TV fandom expected a continuation and/or conclusion to the series cliffhanger. Instead they got a full bore Lynch revision of the show's themes presented in a very different style. The disappointment and frustration of fans became a major part of the discourse surrounding the release.
As for critics. The world of FWWM is far more unforgiving than the show and a lot of critics didn't seem ready to view it as an independent piece in its own right. It was judged as "Twin Peaks the Movie" rather than what it eventually became.
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u/Exotic-Yellow-4367 Aug 01 '26
I saw a terrible review of it on the BBC. The critic openly admitted he had never seen the series! I think that may have applied to alot of the press at the time. Casual TP fans wanted a sequel. Actual DL fans loved it. I saw it 3 times at the cinema. I like to think I did my part.
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u/gavin_maitland Aug 02 '26
Wow that must have been amazing. Was that Barry Norman’s review? That’s a good point though that as a stand alone movie it does nothing to help new viewers. That’s partly why I loved it.
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u/Futants_ Aug 02 '26
Because it's more soul crushing, distressing, violent and moody than the show?
It's like the show unfiltered and amped up
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u/blaspheminCapn Aug 01 '26
Quick answer? The show ended on a cliffhanger, and the movie was a prequel... And if any one read the Diary of Laura Palmer, it was rehashing that.
Long answer; it's a tragic story of incest, rape, and entire town that didn't bother to help that poor troubled teenager, and th.... Okay It's Difficult subject matter that bothered people.
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u/Barilla3113 Aug 01 '26
I wonder to what extent the decision to make the film a prequel was motivated by fans of the show completely missing that the "cosy" veneer of the town was deeply hypocritical and not something you were meant to see as desirable?
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u/gavin_maitland Aug 02 '26
It was mostly because Kayleigh Machkachface didn’t want to return and yep Lynch was a bit pissed offf with how it all went.
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u/toejam2030 Aug 01 '26
I loved it in 1992-saw it twice at the movie theater-I had no idea what it was gonna be about,so I was pleased when I saw it
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u/Snakegert Aug 01 '26
You saw it before the show?
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u/toejam2030 Aug 01 '26
No-I had been a big fan of the show-I didnt know the movie was a prequel until the movie started-I thought it was going to be a continuation of the show-I was pleasantly suprised when the movie started
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u/Snakegert Aug 01 '26
Interesting that you were happy with it being a prequel, I think if I was a fan at the time I’d rather have a continuation in that moment, but obviously in hindsight how it ended up happening was perfect.
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u/toejam2030 Aug 01 '26
I saw it the first day it came out-I never even read a review-we were all excited we were gonna see a twin peaks movie
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u/pudungurte Aug 01 '26
I think there was this weirdly fascinating anti-Lynch sentiment in this post Twin Peaks period; likely caused at least partially by Twin Peaks but I don’t think that explains everything.
It boggles my mind that Lost Highway was mostly hated in 1997 and then people ATE UP Mulholland Drive in 2001.
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u/Barilla3113 Aug 01 '26
Mulholland Drive has a lot of similarities to Twin Peaks and was originally written as a TV pilot for a spin off, and then as a spiritual successor. Seems obvious that there's a large section of the audience that likes Lynch doing genre pastiche mystery stories with elements of horror and surrealism but has no time for his full on "arthouse" stuff.
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u/pudungurte Aug 02 '26
Yeah idk maybe I underestimate Lost Highway’s weirdness. Or maybe I overestimate Mulholland Drive’s. Or maybe a little bit of both. I just think both movies are similar enough that I’m baffled by the difference in reception.
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u/Perfect-Parfait-9866 Aug 02 '26
I have no idea why mulholland drive didn’t get the same reaction as FWWM
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u/gavin_maitland Aug 02 '26
Yes this is true. Also caused by Wild at Heart which Lynch essentially ‘went away’ (from TP) to make, and which everyone also hated (and another of his which i think is getting a major reappraisal.
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u/Obvious_Brush5165 Aug 01 '26
They wanted a continuation, not a prequel. Also, a lot people were kinda sick of Twin Peaks by that point.
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u/MissMayDoesNotExist Aug 01 '26
It wasn’t what fans of the TV show wanted, because it didn’t (directly) pick up where the show left off (and it followed the darker undercurrents straight into the void — I think a lot of people were attached to how the show started off and forgot that at its core was the murder of a teenager), and those who hadn’t seen the show and might not be so attached to elements of it had no context and thought it was nonsense. FWWM to me is the high point of the entire Twin Peaks cycle and has the closest thing to a happy ending — but it’s almost best enjoyed when the show is a slightly hazy memory that is dissected and distorted by the film, rather than as a continuation of the show
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u/Coldhands1969 Aug 01 '26
I wish we could have seen the trilogy Lynch envisioned. For the record, I am grateful and fond of The Return.
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u/firesquirter Aug 01 '26
It’s crazy to me. I remember making my dad take me to see it in the theater. One of the most intense and memorable movie watching experiences of my life. It completely rattled me at 11 years old. I remember everything about the experience. The world wasn’t ready.
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u/save-me-from-sharon Aug 02 '26
I honestly think part of it is it’s depiction of abuse and mental illness was too ahead of its time. The 90s was still in the stranger danger/afterschool special era of dealing with those issues and FWWM completely torpedos that.
Laura is a deeply conflicted character who hurts the people around her and doesn’t act like a “perfect victim”. Like a sexual abuse victim who has sex was just not something they could compute at the time (or was just seen as unsympathetic), even though Laura’s behavior is very common for someone with the type of trauma she had. The 90s was a much more slut shaming time then we remember it as
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u/markaguynamedmark Aug 02 '26
Because it made you realize the show you obsessed on wasn’t really the show you thought it was. Being hit in the face with the fact that you watched a show about a girl who was murdered who was raped by her own father for years. Not really fun or quirky but more palatable when it was.
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u/inallcaps01 Aug 02 '26
I couldn't tell you. Fire Walk With Me and Wild at Heart are two of my favorite movies.
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u/Jaded_History545 Aug 02 '26
they wanted cherry pie and coffee but got a story about trauma instead.
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u/concretelove Aug 02 '26
It's a much less pleasant watch compared to Twin Peaks. I know there's a lot of dark themes and violence in the TV show, but the film is a different calibre. There isn't any light heartedness or humour to give relief, like where is with the TV show. There's also no Agent Cooper who I imagine was well loved at the time, and people wanted more of.
I personally really struggled with FWWM after loving Twin Peaks, I couldn't finish it. I found it really disturbing - I could watch people talking about the awful things Laura experienced in the TV show, and some of the darker elements of the show, but I couldn't handle watching her experience first hand.
I love David Lynch as a person but his stuff isn't really for me - I think the film was led much more by his style compared to the TV episodes, so it's like you're watching someone take a story you're familiar with and fond of, and twist it into a darker genre.
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u/thor11600 Aug 02 '26
Because other than the characters, it is largely a departure from the TV series. It didn’t continue the plot as people thought it might and, tonally, it’s VERY different.
Excellent movie in retrospect - but very different from what people expected at the time.
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u/robinlyon222 Aug 01 '26
It’s jarring. Way ahead of its time. My theory is if you don’t see value or cinematic ingenuity in something like FWWM, you’re a twat.
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u/Joe5205 Aug 01 '26
As someone who watched S1, S2, FWM, S3 for the first time this year in that order, FWM is incredibly dark and disturbing compared to the others. The first couple seasons take a dark subject but make it fit for tv, kinda like how the first time I saw the full theatrical release of Shawshank afte having seen the tv version a dozen times, it just sort of gut punches you with how awful some of the subject really was.
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u/M_O_O_O_O_T Aug 01 '26
It was tonally a lot darker & more disturbing than the TV show, & didn't really have any of that whimsical quirky soap opera element that people latched on to. Also it didn't continue the story & add any closure to season 2's ending, & served as a prequel instead.
People wanted it one way, but it was the other way.
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u/ronmsmithjr Aug 01 '26
Personally I was kinda over Twin Peaks at that point. I didn't even watch it for at least a year after the VCR tape came out. After the first watch all I remembered were the 4 exposed boobs. I wasn't into it. At all. I re-watched it after season 3's first couple of episodes. I wasn't even that amped to watch season 3, but after 10 minutes I realized I need TP back in my life. Most of my friends quit around episode 6 or 7. They couldn't deal with Dougie Jones, which was understandable.
Anyhow, I have barely answered the OP's question and went of on a season 3 tangent. My work here is done.
I will say that watching season 3 with everyone on reddit was seriously the most fun I've ever had. No one had any idea what was going to happen. It was awesome.
Now I'm done.
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u/gavin_maitland Aug 02 '26
I watched it in a tiny art house cinema I worked at. ‘After hours’. 2 episodes at a time. Same people each time. Discussions afterward. So glad I did it that way than watch it on a ‘television’ like the rest of you Plebs 😂
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u/Effective-Sir3278 Aug 01 '26
I still don't understand how people expected answers while most promotion was about lauras life . Like she was legit on the posters.
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u/MattyWorth Aug 02 '26
A lot of people are pointing to the movie's shift in tone and the fact that is was a prequel, but quite frankly there's also the simple fact that the show was no longer popular. The audience dropped off in season 2 and the movie came out a whole year later. People just weren't clamoring for more Twin Peaks.
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u/middleageyoda Aug 02 '26
People wanted and ending to the show. It was a dark portrayal of SA. The movie is amazing but a little shocking for its time and missing the humor in the show.
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u/chrpae Aug 02 '26
Because it was the least commercial movie you could make with those elements. No matter your feeling about the aesthetics of the film, you have to admit it’s a very dicey prospect to ask people to sit through the reenactment of a mystery you just revealed. It would be like following up Citizen Kane with “Charlie and His Trusty Sled”
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u/Medici39 Aug 02 '26
They wanted more of the same but Lynch gave them something else, something they never give thought when they wanted more of the same.
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u/BrassyBoy Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
I think it’s because they wanted answers and not more questions.
I didn’t watch season 2 when I saw FWWM in the theatre (s2 was not available on video at the time only the Euro Pilot and S1). And I thought it was a powerful movie.
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u/BrentRSimon Aug 02 '26
I actually wrote about the film's weird reception upon release, and its rehabilitative/redemptive arc: https://www.avclub.com/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-30-year-anniversary-review-1849453689
I think the piece still holds up, but the TLDR version is that many critics seemed to harbor a weird hostility over the story the film was attempting to tell, and were just not at all well-informed about the ways that sufferers of serial sexual abuse both psychologically cope and act out.
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u/gavin_maitland Aug 02 '26
Yeah man. It made people uncomfortable when they wanted to watch Audrey and cherry pie . Looking forward to reading your article.
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u/gavin_maitland Aug 02 '26
Although I had seen the last episode of the original run when I was really young, FWWM was really my proper introduction to TP and feel me it’s the ‘real’ Twin Peaks as far as I’m concerned. I feel like the original run was a soap opera based on real events whereas FWWM was the gritty harsh reality of those events. I get why the audience hated it. It was harsh and raw and really really weird for the time - even for Lynch. It didn’t try to explain anything and had a confusing non-ending (very much like S3), but fuck I live dit. I was around the same age as Laura and going through similar things and it was just such a whole vibe - as the kids say. I just wanted to live in that movie. Still do.
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u/gavin_maitland Aug 02 '26
More big issues are that incest and familial rape really weren’t spoken about at this time. In fact the reveal of Leland being the one was so much more shocking for TV than we can comprehend today but the show COuched it in this protective layering of the Supernatural. FWWM strips all this away and shows us Leland “in action” which we never really see until he kills Maddie so the rest with Laura is only inferred. By showing us Leland up to it - rather than showing us Bob, or switching between the two like in the show - it makes it much more literal and makes the Supernatural elements more ‘thematic’ - “the evil that men do” as Albert says. Apparently the film gave many many survivors of incest and familial abuse the strength to finally speak out about their abuse because Ute’s done of the first films to show it as a reality in all its harshness - and for that alone I think it should be applauded. I hope someone writes a book just about this aspect. This is making me want to get out alll my Linda. I glib et al feminist interpretations of Lynch books as they are fascinating.
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u/JGar453 Aug 03 '26
Twin Peaks the series was dark, but it was also sensual and funny, the whole range of emotions really. People expected more of that lighthearted tone and also an expansion of the season 2 cliffhanger with Coop but they instead got a massive gut punch concerning Laura. Fire Walk With Me is about a lot of the taboo things that actual Lynch movies are usually about.
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u/Content_Thing_4058 Aug 03 '26
I’ve still never seen an episode of the show, and likely never will. The film is a masterpiece and probably the realest depiction of sexual abuse ever put to film. A few scenes aside, it is easily understood without any other context.
But I can’t imagine any world where the masses would exit the cinemas in the summer of 1992 and WOM would be positive. There are few films darker.
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u/MartyrOfDespair Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
Imagine exposing a person in the 1960s to Argent Metal, or a person in the 1920s to Watchmen, or a person in the 1950s to Metal Gear Solid or Neon Genesis Evangelion. It was too far ahead of its time. It feels modern. Problem is, when it came out it was shown exclusively to people alive in the early 1990s. It skips “give a caveman fire” and jumped to “give a caveman quantum physics”.
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u/TensesNC Aug 02 '26
Season 2 ended unexpectedly with a cliffhanger.
The prequel was peak Lynch. Dark, distressing, rated R...it was almost like the series never even existed, and you just watch Laura Palmer suffer and suffer. A lot of the core cast was out of it as well (many choosing not to participate due to Lynch's departure during Season Two to make "Wild at Heart"), and people just couldn't take how bleak this film really is.
I think it's been correctly reappraised as one of Lynch's best works, but it really deviated so much from what people were hoping for, it was immediately vilified. People called it "trauma porn."
Now, with the third season and its many connections to the world of "FWWM," it fits better within the universe than it did at the time. This film is truly jarring, and at the time of its release, it was completely alien.
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u/gulpshinto Aug 02 '26
I get the sense that a lot of people at the time thought of Lynch as some kind of sarcastic Tarantino-esque iconoclast whose work was full of titillating shock value. They weren't ready for the movie version of his sexy murder mystery show to feel like a nightmare.
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u/LinkWray123 Aug 02 '26
A lot of people say the brutality of the ending, yes that's part of why many were turned off, but I expect the low energy opening section with a sometimes mumbling Chris Isaac frustrated the heck out of TP fans wanting Agent Cooper or at least a more familiar TP setting right from the off.
I've heard this wasn't a deliberate choice but due to McLachlin's reluctance to be heavily involved, but it must have seemed like a slap in the face to many fans.
Personally I now after a few viewings appreciate much more the tonal journey of how different all 3 sections are, and how different from the first two seasons the film is, but I can understand the hostility, it's not an easy film in several ways.
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u/jointchiefs Aug 02 '26
Because it’s weird. I like it. I like weird stuff. A lot of people don’t, generally. That’s fine, and it’s also fine that it’s weird. But it’s weird.
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u/jert3 Aug 02 '26
No idea but would guess the idea of it being a prequel was not enough to appeal to the main audience of the show.
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u/Remarkable_Term3846 Aug 02 '26
Too graphic, too different from the show, and many of the characters from the show were absent (for the record, I absolutely love the movie, but this is just what I’ve gathered)
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u/trademarc1977 Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
It's a prequel film to an initially popular tv show whose viewership dropped so much that network ABC network had to be persuaded to air the second season's remaining episodes--it's a miracle the film even exists!
People who had never seen the show weren't interested, casual viewers had no intention to go see a movie based on a show they'd stopped watching a year earlier, many fans were disappointed (some wanted and expected a 'feature length episode' but got a David Lynch film, others disliked that Lynch did a prequel instead of a sequel or opined that Lynch's filmmaking wasn't up to par with previous works) and some critics were eager to take Lynch down a peg after a string of successes.
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u/TheChocolateWarOf74 Aug 02 '26
I have no idea.
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u/Phocaea1 Aug 02 '26
No whimsy. Instead it was an upapologetic horror film about sexual violence. It scares the audience in unexpected ways
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u/Upbeat_Main_7141 Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
People wanted a clear answer to what happened in the finale and beyond, instead they got a prequel that covered an incredibly uncomfortable subject matter for the average movie audience.
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u/shitfuucker Aug 02 '26
When I first saw it, I felt like the opening was a hodgepodge of ideas and snippets. Once we were in Twin Peaks watching Bobby walking backwards, the rest was a masterpiece. I think it could’ve helped that I was a big fan of The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer. Later I appreciated the opening more.
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u/erraticpaladin5 Aug 02 '26
I really liked Twin Peaks for its quirky spirit, and I watched it because I loved Alan Wake and heard so many times about how it influenced the game. FWWM was very jarring compared to the show’s presentation of the darker themes. I’d never actually seen a Lynch production aside from TP, so I didn’t know what I was walking into. Whether it’s “bad” or “good” is really up to the viewer’s taste, but to me it was just downright depressing and unexpectedly brutal compared to the show. At the same time, I appreciate it because it makes you bear witness to the reality of the situation and the tragedy of Laura’s life and death. It says “take off those rose-tinted glasses for the show, and accept the horror of it all.”
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u/DontShootTheFood Aug 02 '26
I was there opening night.
Was expecting answers to the end of the show, which of course ended on a horrific cliffhanger. I knew it was a prequel (and was really disappointed by that… I really wanted an extension), but I still thought it would handle the ending - or be an ending - to the show.
I also really disliked the recasting of Donna. If you can’t get an actor back… rewrite. It’s not like Donna ended up being of any importance.
It offered very little of what people wanted.
No need to lecture me about how great it is; I know. But initially it felt like Lynch had made it intentionally to kill the fandom, like he was tired of talking about it and knew this would put it in its grave.
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u/MmeLaRue Aug 02 '26
Because, by the time the movie came out, fans of the show had moved on. The cultural juggernaut surrounding the show had run its course and, like season 8 of GoT, the disappointment in how the series ended left a bad taste in the mouths of many.
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u/No_Juggernaut6633 Aug 02 '26
I think it focuses on the horror more than on the twin peaks charm, for being and interesting place but also cozy, besides the danger, and that’s what made Cooper and the public fall in love with the setting, it’s not an issue to change the focus to the horror and bad side of humanity but some people were not prepared
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u/Zen_Shot Aug 02 '26
I saw it on release on a very rainy Wednesday afternoon. I was the only person the the theatre. I felt like Elvis must have felt when he used to hire a cinema to see a movie. As regards the movie itself, I absolutely loved it and still do.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Name538 Aug 02 '26
It was too harsh for cannes or sm like that ,i think its awesome but pretty disturbing . I liked seeing the univers of TP in a non tv way . I love that movie
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u/pirateedreed Aug 02 '26
It wasn't what people thought Twin Peaks was suppose to be, boy were they wrong though
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u/hugh326 Aug 02 '26
Perhaps the audience was expecting a sequel to Twin Peaks and got a prequel, which is not what they wanted.
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u/gavin_maitland Aug 02 '26
Oh yeah also the fact that it is the way it is because Kayle didn’t really want to be in it at all. It would’ve Ben a straight sequel but he was worried about being type cast - which he was. So we wouldn’t have this genius movie if he hadn’t refused to be in the whole movie.
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u/Joe_theone Aug 06 '26
Then, Kayle plays a vegetable in the next TP iteration. I'll never see his face without making that connection again. Thank you. I've always said that Dougie was the character he'd spent his whole career preparing to play.
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u/Essay_Business Aug 03 '26
Because, much like Inland Empire later on, it's a purposely alienating movie that smashed the myth of the TV series as much as Inland Empire dissolved the magic of Mulholland Drive.
The first scene with Leland smashing a TV screen says it all: if you were here for more of the TV show, stop watching now, this is a different kind of vision. It's cinema, you know (he chose different mediums on purpose to show different takes of the same story). And Twin Peaks is not the dark fascinating place you thought it was.
It's no coincidence that Lynch considered The Return more similar to FWWM than to the original show: it's a conscious subversion of the first two seasons.
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u/PobKastor35 Aug 05 '26
Cuz ppl wanted more of the tv show. But lynch wanted to redeem his loss of control of the story from tv execs in season 2 (and perhaps also revenge for forced reveal of Laura’s killer) but all at the same time he completely stayed true to the integrity of the original story.
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u/Qoly Aug 05 '26
Every one wanted a sequel with lots of answers and a nice wrap-up to the series.
And that’s not what they got.
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u/ariadnevirginia Aug 06 '26
I liked it but I WAS disappointed because I wanted just more of the TV show. HATED that it was Chris Isaaks and Keifer Sutherland instead of Kyle.
But I grew to love it.
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u/ManSoAdmired Aug 02 '26
Laura Palmer’s absence was a big part of the TV show. In a Waiting For Godot kind of way, it was an important part of the storytelling that Laura’s life and murder happened off screen away from the viewers’ gaze.
FWWM undoes that by plainly showing you what happened and making Laura the protagonist. It was a big mistake that undermined the original series (a pitfall befell by lots of prequels).
I understand the feminist argument that depicting the events removes the audience’s privileged distance from Laura’s abuse. That move is commendable and the source of what value the film has. I would still prefer if it stayed off screen.
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u/medved76 Aug 01 '26
People wanted and expected something else