Hey guys. What are some movies that either reminded you of Lynch (at least in parts) or that you think are Lynch influnces? Here are some of mine:

(Todd Browning's) Freaks (1932):

This has a similar mixture of humor, horror, melodrama, and the bizarre that is apparent in many Lynch films. Very strange and disturbing, uncategorizable film. It's very jarring the first time you see it, like Lynch's films... you don't know how to feel when it's over. Great visual style as well. It's not like Lynch ripped off it or anything; it is quite different in some ways, but also very similar in parts. A truly great film, which I highly recommend.

The Wizard of Oz (1939):

I don't think I need to explain this. A clear influence on many Lynch projects, especially Wild At Heart (duh), and Mulholland Dr.

Sunset Blvd. (1950):

Even Lynch has admitted this as an influence. Pretty obvious one. Many surreal and creepy scenes. Like the other films on this list it's a classic in it's own right, but one that should really appeal to Lynch fans, more than the average person. 

The Night of the Hunter (1955):

 Another jarringly strange film, maybe even more so than Freaks. Every scene is surprising and plays out a different way from how you'd think, like Blue Velvet and other Lynch films. A very dreamlike visual style as well. And again, the mix of humor, horror, and melodrama. The story isn't much like Lynch, but the way it makes you feel is.

Okay, those were all pretty obvious. They have similar themes to Lynch, but I've noticed that I can't think up an influence by him that's as abstract, or where the narrative is confusing. Anyways here are some less obvious ones:

The Manchurian Candidate:

This film has many extremely odd scenes. It is constantly surprising, like most Lynch movies. A karate fight comes out of nowhere, a woman appears dressed as a playing card, strangers meeting an a train speak incomprehensible dialogue... these are just a few moments in this powerful and bizarre movie. The train car meeting especially reminds me of some of Lynch's non sequitur exchanges... but even stranger.

Marnie:

This only applies to Blue Velvet. The psycho sexual aspect of it is similar to Lynch's observations in BV. I didn't think of how it was similar when I saw it, but when I read a newspaper article that pointed it out, I sawhow it's very similar indeed. Also similar to Twin Peaks in how it explores how traumatic events in early childhood can have an impact for the rest of your life.  

Please share some other films you've seen that reminded you of Lynch.

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So, we are looking at films that might have influenced Lynch. I love Marnie, but Shadow of a Doubt reminded of Blue Velvet me more than Marnie (evil in a small town and how the small town was displayed). Don't get me wrong, Marnie has the psycho-sexual stuff in it and it is a good comparison. Definitely, Manchurian Candidate, one of my favorite films and when I first saw it I was asking myself "When did this come out?" A film way ahead of it's time. 21 Grams, only because of the non-linear storytelling, so that would be a film that Lynch would have influenced. Something along the lines of Sunset Boulevard and another Billy Wilder film, Double Indemnity, Lynch is obviously a big fan of film noir. A film that came out in 1997, the same year as Lost Highway, 12 Monkeys, but then again, there are some similarities in the strangeness and visuals between Lynch and Gilliam. I think it is safe to say that Lynch has influenced some modern filmmakers such as Wes Anderson, The Coens and Quentin Tarantino, although Wes Anderson is clearly influenced by classic films more because of some of the shots he chooses and Quentin, even though he is influenced by everything from blaxploitation to grind house, I see a little Lynch in all his films.          

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

Freaks goes with The Elephant Man.

About Schmidt (post) and Bridges of Madison County (pre) goes with The Straight Story.

Many Hitchcock's mystery and obsessive flicks such as Rear Window, Psycho and Vertigo go specifically with Blue Velvet. But it also homages Tati and Bunuel absurd movies (especially the ear shots remind me a lot of Bunuel). On the contrary, BLUE VELVET has become a sort of metaphorical pilaster for a lot of movies that came out right after and it smoothed things out for a whole generation of film-making.

The hitchcockian titles numbered above can be taken again as pilasters for Lynch himself when he made both Twin Peaks, Fire walk with me, Lost Highway and Mulholland Dr.

Mulholland Dr., a very personal and nightmarish 8 1/2, but also it includes homages of Billy Wilder's Sunset Blvd and Double Idemnity (as already pointed out), as well as Ingmar Bergman's Persona. Little, inevitable homage to Tarantino's Pulp fiction.

Wild at Heart is Wizard of Oz's homages  jubilation, while it seems to me that it gave much inspiration for Tarantino's/Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers.

Other films that seem to have, in many ways, something in common with Lynch's production or homages are Eyes wide shut, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Man who wasn't there, Repulsion, Rosemary's Baby, The Tenant, Birth, The Machinist, Memento, Donnie Darko, Mystic river, Swimming pool and of course others, but I can't remember them now.

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

That god damn trailer's more popular than Uncle's Day in a whorehouse!

Felini's 8 1/2 comes to mind.

Also the more recent, DONNIE DARKO.

 I knew I was forgetting something... Donnie Darko is one of my favorite movies, I don't know how I didn't think of it. Oh yeah and it struck me that The Ring is sort of Lynch influenced. Some of the visuals are similar, particularly to his short films. Plus the presence of Naomi Watts...

PS: I know that The Ring is a remake of a Japanese movie, which I have seen, but the American version has a different, more Lynchian look and feel to it.

That god damn trailer's more popular than Uncle's Day in a whorehouse!

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

I understand the film noir LAURA, inspired TP. On another thread we talked about how early drafts of TP had Cooper and Laura getting sexual or falling in love. In LAURA, Dana Andrews is a detective who investigates Laura's death. He falls in love with her in the process. He meets a twin of hers, (Maddy!) who turns out to be Laura herself. She faked her death to escape her killer. When TP was playing 1st time on TV there was an article in TV Guide and one writer said that Laura didn't die. The killer (his name was unknown at the time of the article) killed Maddy instead. Laura returned as her cousin to solve the crime.

 One wonders that if DL and MF hadn't been distracted by other projects and kept control of TP if something like this wouldn't have played out over the course of the series.

And hell yeah, SHADOW OF A DOUBT is an influence. Hidden evil in a small town. Duality within and between characters. A young woman in love and in a mystery. Complex characters. No easy answers. Lots here to chew on.  

That god damn trailer's more popular than Uncle's Day in a whorehouse!

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

Bleep you, & bleep the establishment, and bleep all of you who are trying to make me part of the unestablished establishment.

Have you seen "Persona"?

Great film, great director (loooove Bergman)...but I disagree with your statement.  The who is really who thing is there, but it is not MH.

That god damn trailer's more popular than Uncle's Day in a whorehouse!

A lot of Bunuel's work obviously influenced Lynch such as The Exterminating Angel and Un Chien Andalou.

Meshes of the Afternoon can be viewed here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwPVmkCA1PM&mode=related&search=

Persona is obviously different but it has the splitting personality theme in common and some visuals too.

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

I love this scene with Laura (hmm, interesting name) and Waldo (hmmm again) Lydecker (hmmmmmmm). Priceless dialogue!

Susan (hmmmmmmmm)

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

 Oops, I mistyped.

I will fix it.

That god damn trailer's more popular than Uncle's Day in a whorehouse!

Lots of films are similar to each other in one way or another. I just saw a short film as my job as a film screener for a local film festival that made a connection between APOCOLYPSE (sp) NOW AND WIZARD OF OZ. And? There are lots of connections between one film and another if we sat around and thought about it. But that doesn't make one film a remake of another or even an influence. Okay, sometimes you may want to see how Lynch or Goddard did something but lots of artists in various mediums look to the masters for guidence. Doesn't make them copys of one another.

I don't think DL remakes films. DL films are a world and subject unto themselves. The only time I heard of DL being influenced by something beside WoO is that TP was inspired by LAURA a 40's film noir with Dana Andres and Jean Tiernney. I would be more interested in film makers who use DL as an inspiration. Other than the influence of TP on TV that is.