The filmmaker David Lynch prefers not to explain himself. His body of work demands patience and punishes anyone who hopes for a plot that can be solved. Collider has ranked his five greatest masterpieces, and the list moves from a tender biopic to a mind-bending mystery that took decades to finish.
The Elephant Man
- Year: 1980
- Type: Classical biographical drama
- Key fact: Produced by Mel Brooks, who hired Lynch after seeing his directorial debut
This gentle drama centers on Joseph Merrick, a man whose face bore terrible deformities and who was seized and shown off as a circus freak before a kind doctor (Sir Anthony Hopkins) came to his aid. The film boasts makeup effects that surpassed anything else at the time. John Hurt delivers a deeply moving performance, rendered with complete respect, discovering genuine pathos in a man who met the world with grace even after everything he suffered.
Mel Brooks produced the film, wanting to tell the story himself yet fearing audiences wouldn’t treat it seriously if his name were on it. After seeing Lynch’s directorial debut, he hired him. The makeup effects were so well received that they prompted the Academy to create the ‘Best Makeup’ Oscar (later renamed ‘Best Makeup and Hairstyling’) for the next ceremony.
Eraserhead
- Year: 1977
- Type: Directorial debut
- Key fact: A cult classic that played on the midnight circuit
This startling, formally daring debut became a cult classic almost immediately. Jack Nance plays a lowly factory worker whose wife gives birth to a horrifically monstrous child. The film is frequently very funny, functioning equally well as an absurdist comedy as it does as a body horror film.
Many directors tend to work with the same actors across multiple films, and David Lynch is no exception. Like Wes Anderson and Quentin Tarantino, he has built his career around a recognizable cast. Eraserhead gains real meaning for audiences once they learn something about Lynch’s personal circumstances during the making of the film.
Blue Velvet
- Year: 1986
- Type: Surreal odyssey
- Key fact: Returned two years after Dune flopped at the box office
Two years after Dune failed to become the next Star Wars and flopped at the box office, David Lynch came back with Blue Velvet, a true breakthrough and reclamation. The film tears apart the myth of the American dream, exposing the grime and worms hiding beneath the white picket fences and red roses of a picture-perfect suburb. It is a surreal odyssey that shows what lies hidden beneath the surface of an idealized neighborhood.
A young man named Jeffrey becomes involved with a shadowy criminal underworld while trying to save a seductive femme fatale. The film contains numerous references to The Wizard of Oz, a movie that ranks among David Lynch’s all-time favorites. Few villains in screen history match Frank Booth for unpredictability and terror, with Dennis Hopper delivering one of the wildest performances of his career as the character.
Mulholland Drive
- Year: 2001
- Type: Cinematic masterpiece
- Key fact: Started as a TV pilot before becoming a feature
Lynch’s career-long build toward a cinematic masterpiece culminated in Mulholland Drive, which began life as a TV pilot before expanding into a feature. The film is a labyrinthine mystery that repays multiple viewings.
A woman searches for herself following a car crash, and a mysterious blonde becomes her friend. The first thirty minutes lay out everything that follows. The closing portion answers the questions raised earlier.
The Ranking
- Blue Velvet (1986)
- Mulholland Drive (2001)
- Eraserhead (1977)
- The Elephant Man (1980)
This ranking is built on how well each film was received by critics and how much it shaped popular culture. Blue Velvet came after Dune, which flopped, and marked a real turning point. Mulholland Drive stands as the high point of Lynch’s career, the film he had spent years working toward. Eraserhead, his first movie, grew into a beloved underground hit. And The Elephant Man remains a gentle story about a real person’s life that still holds up as a classic biographical film.
Lynch’s films stand apart from any single genre, combining elements of grotesque horror, strange comedy, and striking beauty into works of formal invention that capture the feeling of dreaming. He has always pursued his own vision without bending to convention or needing to satisfy an audience, which has helped his work endure over time.
Don’t go into a Lynch film thinking that it can be “solved,” because that is the wrong way to approach it. Lynch simply lets the audience make up their own minds on what his stories mean, and that has allowed them to endure.
Source material: “David Lynch's 5 Greatest Masterpieces, Ranked,” Collider.
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