Twin Peaks features some of David Lynch’s most singular and ambitious storytelling, following the residents of a small town in rural America after the death of a young schoolgirl named Laura Palmer. What begins as a pretty familiar police procedural turns into a much darker and unpredictable story about supernatural forces and surrealist conspiracies that only somebody as talented as Lynch could have pulled off. There are many great shows like Twin Peaks, but this very unique style has also bled over into some feature-length movies.

The best episodes of Twin Peaks are those that take advantage of the story’s surface-level mundanity, blending the small-scale murder mystery with the much bolder, more ambitious story of the Black Lodge and the supernatural creatures that live within it. This is something that Lynch was always incredibly good at, using the normality of everyday life to bring audiences face-to-face with the darkness of the world around us. Although this quality is often ᴀssociated with the late filmmaker, there are plenty of other directors who’ve been inspired by this approach over the years.

10

Donnie Darko (2001)

Directed By Richard Kelly

Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko is a much darker and grittier story than most of the subplots in Twin Peaks, but it deals with much of the same surrealism and absurdism that’s so prominent in David Lynch’s works. The film centers around a young boy named Donnie, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, whose imaginary friend informs him that the world is going to end in less than a month.

The pair develop a strange relationship that forces Donnie to reconsider the world around him and his role within it. Donnie Darko has a very complex ending that requires several watches to fully understand.

9

The Invisible (2007)

Directed By David S. Goyer

The Invisible follows a teenager who is stranded somewhere between life and death following a spontaneous attack on his life. This supernatural thriller explores the fragility of life and the incomprehensibility of what happens afterward, drawing inspiration from concepts such as the Black Lodge in Twin Peaks to prove how little we may understand about the universe around us. The film blends aspects of horror, science fiction, and psychological thrillers to create a wholly unique murder mystery.

8

Nope (2022)

Directed By Jordan Peele

Nope is the third feature from actor-turned-director Jordan Peele, and the one that relies least on traditional horror storytelling to get its message across. The film follows two siblings as they investigate a mysterious presence living in the clouds above their cattle ranch, seeking help from an eccentric carnival owner who believes he can communicate with the alleged aliens. There’s a very effective blend of dark comedy and visceral horror in Nope that’s reminiscent of the creepiest scenes from Twin Peaks, but Jordan Peele really takes this in his stride and makes it his own.

7

Being John Malkovich (1999)

Directed By Spike Jonze

Both David Lynch and Charlie Kaufman were two of the leading voices in surrealist filmmaking throughout the 1990s, and Being John Malkovich is arguably the latter’s most Lynchian script of them all. The film centers around a puppeteer named Craig Schwartz who discovers a mysterious portal that seemingly leads directly into the mind of Hollywood actor John Malkovich. The film effortlessly blurs the lines between fiction and reality in ways that very few filmmakers would have dared, but the result is something totally unique and singular.

6

Under The Skin (2013)

Directed By Jonathan Glazer

Starring Scarlet Johansson as the unnamed protagonist, Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin is a very patient and methodical thriller about an alien creature that seduces lonely men from the streets of rural Scotland. Much like Twin Peaks, Glazer’s film revels in keeping the audience at a distance and relying solely on atmospheric storytelling to keep the momentum pushing forward. The story is almost entirely up for interpretation, with several clues sprinkled throughout the narrative that allow viewers to draw their own conclusions. It’s one of the weirdest sci-fi movies ever made, but that’s exactly what makes it stand out.

5

I’m Thinking Of Ending Things (2020)

Directed By Charlie Kaufman

Another surreal drama from Charlie Kaufman, I’m Thinking of Ending Things follows a young woman who travels with her new boyfriend to spend the winter at his parents’ farm. Again, the film really takes its time with some very slow, patient storytelling that intricately sets the scene for the absurdist twists in its final act. There’s a real sense of the uncanny in Kaufman’s film that’s reminiscent of the most jarring scenes in Twin Peaks, with quirky characters whose odd personalities constantly remind audiences that something isn’t quite right – even if they don’t know what it is.

4

The Lighthouse (2019)

Directed By Robert Eggers

Starring Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe as two isolated lighthouse keepers, Robert Eggers’ major breakthrough feature feels strongly influenced by David Lynch’s works in the most effective ways imaginable. The filmmaker uses plenty of surreal imagery and atmospheric storytelling to suck the audience into this world despite not fully understanding what’s happening and then lets everything loose in a final act that requires some serious analysis to understand fully. The Lighthouse strikes the perfect balance of slow-paced storytelling that’s mind-blowing at times, which David Lynch essentially mastered.

3

Coherence (2013)

Directed By James Ward Byrkit

Coherence is much more sci-fi inspired than anything in Twin Peaks, taking sci-fi concepts like time travel and alternate timelines to their logical extremes, but the atmosphere that James Ward Byrkit manages to create is very similar to Lynch’s work. The movie follows a group of friends who come together for a dinner party on the night of a comet’s journey through the sky, but the astronomic event has disastrous consequences on the flow of time. With captivating performances, quippy dialogue, and a fearless screenplay, Coherence is one of the most inventive and creative sci-fi movies ever made.

2

Black Swan (2010)

Directed By Darren Aronofsky

Black Swan is widely regarded among the most mind-bending psychological thrillers in recent memory, starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis as two talented dancers who find themselves in fierce compeтιтion for the leading role in a ballet performance. The film explores themes such as self-image, loss of control, and female autonomy in a way that’s very reminiscent of Twin Peaks’ female characters; there are sprinkles of Laura Palmer in all of these characters, and the supernatural elements are very Lynchian in practice.

1

The Shining (1980)

Directed By Stanley Kubrick

Based on Stephen King’s famous novel of the same name, The Shining tells the story of a man named Jack Torrence who takes a seasonal job with his family at the Overlook H๏τel, looking after the building during its off-season. What begins as a simple narrative of loneliness and isolation quickly transforms into something more sinister when the man’s young son Danny develops a supernatural gift that brings forth the dark spirits of the haunted H๏τel.

While there are plenty of great books like The Shining, there are very few movies quite like Kubrick’s cinematic adaptation. The way he blends the eerie, clinical atmosphere of the Overlook H๏τel with the darkness of the spirits within is very reminiscent of Lynch’s treatment of the Black Lodge in Twin Peaks, and his presentation of madness and possession through Jack Torrence’s character is also similar to the way Lynch tells Leland’s story in the second season of the show.