Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me: Tromeric's Drunken Love Fest

The first time I ever remember watching this, I was like twelve years old. I hadn't really watched the show, and I was expecting a more straight forward horror film. I know, I know. I was twelve. I remember not having a fucking clue what was going on, but kind of being intrigued by it. Jump ahead to a few years later. I got the VHS box set, and Gabe Nye and I watched the entire thing in two or three days. I had been told not to watch this until after I was done with the show, as it was a prequel, it would spoil the mystery of Laura Palmer, and her death. Luckily I didn't really remember anything from my first experience, so I popped it in, and it finalized my love for Lynch, and Twin Peaks.



* All of the spoilers are about to come at you. In the off chance you have not watched Twin Peaks....Stop reading now!!!!!


Fire Walk With Me starts with a fucking television, being smashed to smithereens. David Lynch called up David Pryor, and borrowed a sledgehammer, and smashed that bitch like it was a face. The haunting score playing is completely different than the theme we have come to love, from the TV show. I feel like this is Lynch telling you right off the bat. "This is not the TV show. This is going to be darker, weirder, and more insane than that show I made where a dude is possessed by a dark spirit, and rapes his daughter, and the entire town fucks each other." That is how I interpret it anyways. My point being, Fire Walk With Me has always been its own monster, in my opinion. Sure it has all the connections to the show, but it is a stand alone movie. It is dark, hypnotic, brutal, beautiful, surreal, hilarious, and sparks emotions in me, that I am not even aware are there, until this film happens, and it happens often.

The first forty five minutes or so, don't even take place in Twin Peaks. We are dropped into Deer Meadow, with Sam Stanley(Keifer Sutherland) and Special Agent Chester Desmond(Chris Issak). They are working the case of Teressa Banks, which is a throwback to the show. Deer Meadow is the antithesis of Twin Peaks. It's almost like looking through a wormhole, into an alternate dimension. A few friendly faces show up during this sequence. Lynch himself reprises his role as Gordon Cole, and Albert(Miguel Ferrer) and Coop(Kyle Maclachlan) have small scenes. These are all accented by amazing performances from newcomers such as Carl Rodd(Harry Dean Stanton), and Sheriff Cable(Gary Bullock). 

After this, we hear the familiar theme, and we are back in Twin Peaks. I love the Deer Meadow sequence, but this is when we get back to the town I have dreamed of living in my whole life.  We meet up with Laura(Sheryl Lee) and Donna(now played by Moira Kelly), and run into some other show favorites. 

Initially, it is just another day in Twin Peaks. Some sex, some drugs, some Julee Cruise. Then shit gets crazy. Even for Twin Peaks. Bobby kills someone, Laura and Donna whore themselves out, Leland starts really letting his Bob shine through, and a lot more time is spent in the red room/black lodge. It would be impossible for me to give an accurate overview of this, but that was my drunken attempt.

Fire Walk With Me isn't just one of my favorite films based off of a TV show, it isn't even just one of my favorite Lynch films, it is one of my favorite films, period. It takes a subject that I was already familiar with, and makes it its own. It is two hours of the most hypnotic film put in my retinas. The range of emotions it draws up, the excitement, the fear, the laughter, the sadness. It also has, possibly the best ending of any film, ever. After such a brutal attack on Laura, it manages to end with the most beautiful, blissful, peaceful moment put to celluloid. It is an emotional roller coaster,and one that I am always happy to take.  

-Tromeric






Tromeric can be found sitting in a dark room watching Homeward Bound, followed by A Serbian Film.  He found a secret potion called the grog.  It is similar to The Gummi Bears Gummibear Juice, but instead of making him bounce from here to everywhere, it gives him the ability to endure movies such as Blood Freak, and The Room, on a regular basis. When he drinks the grog, he also has the ability to have more references that you don't understand, than Wikipedia.  In the off chance he is taking a break from the grog, you can find him drinking coffee from a cup with half of the Black Dahlia pictured on it, eating Count Chocula, and making lists about whether The Taint has a better soundtrack than Voyage of the Rock Aliens.