Director David Lynch follows up 1984's DUNE with this electrifyingly original thriller. After returning to his hometown of Lumberton, North Carolina, in order to visit his sick father, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) discovers a severed human ear in a vacant field. He befriends Sandy Williams (Laura Dern), the daughter of the detective assigned to the case, and uses her information to investigate the situation himself. This leads Jeffrey to Dorothy Valence (Isabella Rossellini), a sexy nightclub singer whose involvement with a raving psychopath named Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) begins to answer some important questions. Unfortunately, it also draws Jeffrey one step closer to Frank, a menacing figure who inhales from a nitrous-oxide tank and preaches the pleasures of drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. The film contains such a unique blend of comedy, drama, and suspense that the line between the three is blurred, making for an unsettling yet highly invigorating viewing experience. Lynch manages to create a world onscreen that is superficially normal but tinted with a weirdness that is all his own. It is this twisting of reality that makes BLUE VELVET an oddly familiar yet completely unique motion picture, featuring an unforgettable performance by Dennis Hopper.
A deeply shocking and insidiously funny film, David Lynch's offbeat vision uncovers the nasty underside of small-town America. When a young man finds a human ear in a field, he embarks on an investigation into the dark world of a dangerous psychopath, which leads him to a beautiful nightclub singer. Truly an auteur film, if there is such a thing, BLUE VELVET is a bizarre, disturbing work that stands as one of the best films of the 1980s.
Theatrical release: September 19, 1986.
BLUE VELVET was shot on location in Wilmington, North Carolina.
David Lynch had it scripted for Frank Booth to inhale from a helium tank, but Dennis Hopper convinced him to change it to nitrous oxide in order to lessen the comic effect.
When informed of his Academy Award nomination as Best Director for BLUE VELVET, David Lynch said, "I'd like to thank Woody Allen."
The film was awarded the Belgian Plateau Prize as Best Foreign Film in 1986-87.
BLUE VELVET was shown in competition at the Montreal Film Festival.
Excerpt: "I'm seeing something that was always hidden...I'm in the middle of a mystery, and it's all secret."--Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan)
"The town that knows how much a woodchuck chucks."--Lumberton radio deejay
"Why are there people like Frank?"--Jeffrey
"It's a strange world, isn't it?"--Jeffery
DVD Features:
Region 1
Keep Case
Anamorphic Widescreen - 2.35
Single Side - Dual Layer
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
Stereo 2.0 - French
Dolby Digital Mono - Spanish
Additional Release Material:
Featurettes - 1. MYSTERIES OF LOVE
2. ARE YOU A PERVERT
Review - 1. SISKEL AND EBERT
Text/Galleries:
Stills/Photos - 1. Photo Gallery
2. Promotional Material
Director of Photography
Frederick Elmes: Director of Photography, THE HULK (2003)
Production Designer
Patricia Norris: Costume/Prod. Designer
Costume Designer
Gloria Laughride:
Review 1:
"...A visionary masterpiece..."
Source: Rolling Stone
p.23 12/14/1989
Review 2:
"...An instant cult classic....It confirms [Lynch's] stature as an innovator, a superb technician, and someone best not encountered in a dark alley..."
Source: New York Times
p.C12 09/19/1986
Review 3:
Included in the New York Times "10 BEST FILMS OF 1986"
Source: New York Times
p.II,19 12/28/1986
Review 4:
"...The most brilliantly disturbing film ever to have its roots in small-town American life. Shocking, visionary, rapturously controlled, its images of innocence and a dark, bruising sexuality drop straight into our unconscious where they rest like depth charges..."
Source: Los Angeles Times
p.C1 09/19/1986
Review 5:
"...The movie hasn't lost its power to shock as well as mesmerize..."
Source: Entertainment Weekly
p.53 06/07/2002
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