The Bottom Line
Lynch's wicked exploration of suburbia's underbelly has lost nothing of its power to disturb.
Pros
- Classic David Lynch stands the test of time
- Surprising, freakish, frightening
- In-depth documentary, deleted scenes, Siskel & Ebert review
Cons
- No commentary track
Description
- Special Edition includes documentary, trailers, reconstruction of deleted scenes, and a clip from Siskel & Ebert's review.
- Cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern,
- Director: David Lynch
- Theatrical Release Date: 1986
Guide Review - Blue Velvet Review: It's Still a Strange World
A lot has happened since David Lynch's Blue Velvet first send shockwaves through the world of movies in 1986. We have since seen Pulp Fiction, Natural Born Killers, and Lynch's own subsequent freak-fests Twin Peaks, "Wild at Heart, Lost Highway, down to Mulholland Drive and INLAND EMPIRE. I may be excused, then, for expecting the original to have somewhat less of an impact than it had nearly two decades ago. But repeated viewing of this well-produced DVD makes it clear that nothing could be further from the truth -- the cut-off ears, the haunting title song, the haunting showtunes, dancing midget prostitutes and strange obsession with logs has not diminished in the least. It's still a strange world, even if some of Lynch's tricks have become predictable.
As the couple drawn into a hellish mystery, Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern are young and wonderfully innocent foils for Isabella Rossellini's mix of knife-brandishing mania and naked vulnerability, and Dennis Hopper brings a hailstorm of cursewords to his best performance. Blue Velvet is still a hallucinatory experience, and it is still more satisfying than some of Lynch's less shapely films. The seamy underbelly of Lumberton, U.S.A. is still a fascinating place to visit, whether you are returning after many years or looking for a place to start exploring the twisted universe of David Lynch.
