By Jeremy Urquhart
Follow
Followed
Thread
Link copied to clipboard
Sign in to your Collider account
It might sound kind of wild to try and find movies that are like Twin Peaks, given how unusual and distinctive Twin Peaks was, as a show, but sometimes it’s fun to challenge oneself. Defining the first two seasons of Twin Peaks is difficult enough, as it was a soap opera, a mystery show, a crime drama, and something of a dark comedy, all the while having a ton of surreal horror. Then, its third season, 2017’s Twin Peaks: The Return, pretty much defies categorization.
David Lynch was the co-creator of Twin Peaks, and directed 1992’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, which is part prequel and part sequel to the original two seasons, and is the first movie one should watch (for obvious reasons) if one enjoyed Twin Peaks, the show. These other movies (a couple also directed by Lynch) have fewer directly comparable qualities to Twin Peaks, but do at least stand as eclectic, unusual, sometimes weird, sometimes funny, and sometimes horrifying works of fiction.
1 'Blue Velvet' (1986)
Directed by David Lynch
Twin Peaks starts with a solid hook before getting stranger as it goes along, and so for a while, you could consider it one of the least weird David Lynch works. Similarly, though Blue Velvet is intense and has its fair share of nightmarish stuff, it’s got a relatively straightforward premise by David Lynch standards, keeping the scope contained and the number of characters/tangents to a minimum.
Blue Velvet is also heavy on mystery, and Kyle MacLachlan plays the character who takes charge of investigating the respective central mysteries in both Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet. Also, both works explore evil in interesting and unsettling ways, principally through harrowing antagonists; BOB in Twin Peaks (portrayed by Frank Silva) and Frank Booth in Blue Velvet (played by Dennis Hopper).
Your Rating
Rate Now 0/10
Your comment has not been saved
Blue Velvet
R
Crime
Documentary
DramaMystery
Thriller- Release Date
- January 1, 1986
- Runtime
- 120 minutes
- Director
- David Lynch
- Writers
- David Lynch
WHERE TO WATCH
Streaming
RENT
BUY
2 'Donnie Darko' (2001)
Directed by Richard Kelly
There are more questions than answers found in Donnie Darko, at least after only one viewing, but that’s okay; it’s a feature rather than a bug here, debatably. The film feels a little cozy and nostalgic while also being unsettling, which is probably the easiest point of comparison to Twin Peaks. Also, both engage in being dark psychological thrillers, in a sense, and each feels a bit more concerned with the journey over the destination.
As for the premise of Donnie Darko, it’s about a teenager whose mind is unraveling, since he becomes obsessed with death and starts seeing a large bunny rabbit everywhere after surviving a strange accident. Things start pretty weird and only get weirder, but Donnie Darko is also entertaining alongside being unsettling and perplexing, and that’s something that can also be said about Twin Peaks.
Your Rating
Rate Now 0/10
Your comment has not been saved
Donnie Darko
R
DramaDocumentary
FantasyMystery
Sci-Fi
- Release Date
- October 26, 2001
- Runtime
- 113 minutes
- Director
- Richard Kelly
- Writers
- Richard Kelly
WHERE TO WATCH
Streaming
RENT
BUY
3 'Nope' (2022)
Directed by Jordan Peele
There’s a blockbuster scale to Nope that sets it apart from Twin Peaks by the time it reaches its extravagant final act, but the slow-burn nature of the story for at least the first half of the film’s runtime is potentially worth comparing. Also, Nope has a small-town setting and a kind of difficult-to-comprehend horror that is initially Lynchian (but eventually a bit broader and more grand in scale).
It’s an offbeat blending of the science fiction, horror, thriller, and mystery genres, and Jordan Peele makes it work for the most part, even with Nope being his most ambitious and haphazard directorial effort to date. The weirdness of it all may be off-putting in the eyes of some, but the strangeness is a big part of what makes Nope compelling, so long as you’re able to get on its singular wavelength.
Your Rating
Rate Now 0/10
Your comment has not been saved
Nope
r
HorrorSci-Fi
8 10
- Release Date
- July 22, 2022
- Runtime
- 131 minutes
WHERE TO WATCH
Streaming
Powered by
4 'I Saw the TV Glow' (2024)
Directed by Jane Schoenbrun
Exploring identity while also feeling intimate and existential all at once, I Saw the TV Glow is unsettling and oddly moving in equal measure. It’s a difficult film to define or summarize, but the feelings it inspires are undeniable; you just kind of have to see the movie itself before you can understand it. Even then, you might not understand it all in a literal sense, but you do feel it.
Also, I Saw the TV Glow is partly about older media and how it can be remembered or influential in shaping a person, or helping to define a relationship. Though it’s most explicit in its references to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there is something of a Twin Peaks influence on parts of the film, with I Saw the TV Glow’s director, Jane Schoenbrun, having mentioned how the show played a part in shaping the film.
Your Rating
Rate Now 0/10
Your comment has not been saved
I Saw the TV Glow
PG-13
Drama Horror8 10
- Release Date
- May 3, 2024
- Runtime
- 100 minutes
WHERE TO WATCH
Streaming
RENT
BUY
5 'Mother!' (2017)
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
A fairly significant part of Twin Peaks (and an especially large part of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me) is centered on the ceaselessly tragic story of Laura Palmer, whose murder kickstarts the pilot episode of Twin Peaks. Her ordeal and the sheer amount of trauma she goes through (again, especially in Fire Walk with Me) is beyond harrowing, and another fictional character who goes through a similar amount of hell is Jennifer Lawrence’s in Mother!
This is psychological horror at its strangest and most terrifying, and hits a similar unnerving note to Fire Walk with Me. Mother! is about as far from pleasant viewing as movies get, but there is a definite power to it. It might be hard to enjoy, but it is pretty easy to appreciate the sheer gutsiness of it all, and what it manages to do across approximately two mortifying hours.
Your Rating
Rate Now 0/10
Your comment has not been saved
Mother!
R
Drama Thriller Horror- Release Date
- September 13, 2017
- Runtime
- 121 minutes
- Director
- Darren Aronofsky
- Writers
- Darren Aronofsky
WHERE TO WATCH
Streaming
RENT
BUY
6 'Mulholland Drive' (2001)
Directed by David Lynch
Another film that’s largely about a woman going through a horrifying and nightmarish ordeal, Mulholland Drive is representative of David Lynch at his most absorbing, strange, and compelling. Explaining what it’s about exactly feels like it disrespects the experience of watching it and rewatching it, trying to work out what’s going on… and, rest assured, it does make a little more sense with every new viewing.
Some people online have pretty much cracked the code, too, so Mulholland Drive is far from nonsense or weirdness for the sake of weirdness alone. It’s an engaging, beautiful, and shocking film, and also has ties to Twin Peaks because it was originally shot as a possible pilot for another TV show with David Lynch at the helm (what was shot got re-edited into a feature film, though, and a largely coherent/satisfying one at that).
Your Rating
Rate Now 0/10
Your comment has not been saved
Mulholland Drive
R
Mystery
Thriller Drama9.5/10
- Release Date
- October 19, 2001
- Runtime
- 147 minutes
WHERE TO WATCH
Streaming
RENT
BUY
7 'Beau Is Afraid' (2023)
Directed by Ari Aster
Across a dizzying and honestly feverish runtime of almost three hours, Beau Is Afraid manages to be a bit of everything while also remaining distinctive and hard to pin down. It’s potentially definable as a fantastical, darkly comedic, and horrific adventure film about one man trying to attend his mother’s funeral, but that only scratches the surface and touches upon the basics.
And Beau Is Afraid is anything but basic, because even those who digested Ari Aster’s previous films, Hereditary and Midsommar, will likely feel entirely overwhelmed by this one. Because it’s so surreal and willing to operate by its own demented dream logic, Beau Is Afraid horrifies, alarms, and unnerves in ways potentially comparable to Twin Peaks at its darkest and most bizarre, but the film is ultimately more than just Aster doing his own spin on something Lynchian.
Your Rating
Rate Now 0/10
Your comment has not been saved
Beau Is Afraid
R
Comedy
HorrorSupernatural
8 10
- Release Date
- April 21, 2023
- Runtime
- 179 minutes
WHERE TO WATCH
Streaming
8 'Being John Malkovich' (1999)
Directed by Spike Jonze
This might seem like an odd pick, but just hear it out. Being John Malkovich comes from the mind of Charlie Kaufman, who wrote the screenplay… indeed, one of the boldest screenplays of its time, or maybe even of all time. Kaufman is not one-to-one similar to David Lynch, but like Lynch, everything Kaufman touches could only be from Kaufman.
Both are behind things that are unsettling, off-kilter, introspective, complex, and emotionally varied. Being John Malkovich is the right kind of trippy, and is so hard to break down and/or define in simple terms. It’s darkly funny, it’s kind of fantastical, and it unpacks plenty of complex themes while also being entertaining in a more straightforward manner. Though it’s narratively different to Twin Peaks, it’s not hard to imagine fans of one appreciating the other.
Your Rating
Rate Now 0/10
Your comment has not been saved
Being John Malkovich
R
Comedy
Drama Fantasy10/10
- Release Date
- October 29, 1999
- Runtime
- 113 minutes
WHERE TO WATCH
Streaming
9 'Synecdoche, New York' (2008)
Directed by Charlie Kaufman
So yeah, let’s keep going with Charlie Kaufman. Synecdoche, New York is one that he didn’t just write, but he was behind the direction as well. As a result, it’s even more off the wall, troubling, and singular than the already wild and unique Being John Malkovich, and, broadly, it’s about one man spending his life futilely trying to execute just about the most ambitious creative endeavor imaginable.
It’s sort of like an intensely psychological and introspective epic, playing out over many years and having a remarkable amount of ambition, but all the while feeling weird and intimate the way you’d expect a decidedly non-epic independent film to be. Again, Synecdoche, New York is one of those “impossible to describe but hugely impressive” works that’s easy to admire as a groundbreaking (relatively) recent work of art, much like the way David Lynch’s best projects can be appreciated.
Your Rating
Rate Now 0/10
Your comment has not been saved
Synecdoche, New York
R
DramaDocumentary
- Release Date
- October 24, 2008
- Runtime
- 124 minutes
- Director
- Charlie Kaufman
- Writers
- Charlie Kaufman
WHERE TO WATCH
RENT
BUY
10 'I'm Thinking of Ending Things' (2020)
Directed by Charlie Kaufman
A bit more than a decade on from Synecdoche, New York, Charlie Kaufman made perhaps his most Lynchian film with I’m Thinking of Ending Things. This one is the hardest to explain overall, but what can be said is that, yes, as you might’ve guessed from the title, it’s a pretty bleak-ass movie without much happiness, and it starts as one uncomfortable thing before morphing into something existentially troubling.
Despair is the name of the game with I’m Thinking of Ending Things, and if you can stick with it for the whole runtime, you’ll come away feeling undoubtedly troubled, depressed, and (hopefully) impressed. It’s a psychological drama that borders on psychological horror at times, and it’s also vaguely fantastical, but not in a fun way by any means. It’s mysterious and strange, and absolutely worth checking out at least once if you like the more troubling and perplexing parts of Twin Peaks.
Your Rating
Rate Now 0/10
Your comment has not been saved
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
R
Horror Thriller Drama- Release Date
- September 4, 2020
- Runtime
- 134 minutes
- Director
- Charlie Kaufman
- Writers
- Charlie Kaufman, Ian Reid
WHERE TO WATCH
Streaming
NEXT: Every Bong Joon-ho Movie, Ranked by How Anti-Capitalist They Are
- Movie
- Twin Peaks
- Blue Velvet
Follow
Followed
