Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40349 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-09-17
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 129 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Fire Walk With Me is a rare spin-off that refuses to repeat what worked on TV. Despite mannerisms and "draggy" spots, Twin Peaks emerged as one of the wonders of American TV: scary and funny, erotic and serious, offensive and freakish. It meandered in an always interesting but sometimes frustrating way through two seasons, then signed off with a cliff-hanger upon cancellation. When Lynch announced he would continue the saga with a theatrical movie, fans assumed he would: (a) pull out the stops to show what evils really lurked behind the pretty façade of that small town, and (b) wrap up a storyline which tailed off with Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) possessed by the evil spirit "Bob". As it happens, Lynch delivered on (a) but refrained from fulfilling clause (b), opting to do a prequel--adapted in part from The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, a tie-in novel by Jennifer (Boxing Helena) Lynch--which sets up the series by following the last week in the life of the "prom queen from Hell".

Fire Walk With Me assumes you will be familiar with the series (some bits are incomprehensible unless you paid attention while other bits are just incomprehensible), making it most accessible to Twin Peaks initiates though sometimes deliberately offensive to them. It then omits several of the show's stars (Michael Ontkean, Richard Beymer, Joan Chen, Sherilyn Fenn) and a great many of the "lovable" aspects (wry jokes, damn fine coffee), relegating MacLachlan to a walk-on since the story happens before Cooper was assigned to Twin Peaks. Some instances of joyless sex and violence exceed anything Lynch could do on television, but for the most part he creates an atmosphere of dread through edgy performances, unsettling lighting and sound effects and sheer grimness. Without the catchphrases and the quirky charm, the film never feels cuddly in the way the TV show did, but it is one of Lynch's finest works and, though deeply uncomfortable, a TV spin-off which ranks with the best in both media.

On the DVD: The DVD is Region 0 with a widescreen print, augmented for 16x9 televisions. It holds a better-looking transfer than previous video or laserdisc releases and offers an eerie red room/blue rose menu. However the disc offers absolutely no notes, trailers, crib sheets, bios, or other extra features. --Kim Newman

Special Features
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital Stereo English
Dolby Digital Stereo

Synopsis
Director David Lynch returns to the Pacific Northwest territory that helped to change the face of television in 1990, making him a household name all across America. A predecessor to that series, FIRE WALK WITH ME recounts the final week in the life of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), a sparkling teenager who finds herself caught up in a seedy underworld and is eventually murdered. As Laura abuses cocaine and performs sexual favors for a series of shady characters, she also must balance her day-to-day affairs, which include a best friend, Donna (Moira Kelly), an ex-boyfriend, James (James Marshall), and her parents, Leland (Ray Wise) and Sarah (Grace Zabriskie). Screenwriters Lynch and Robert Engels raise more questions than they answer, keeping the film's mystery ambiguous even by the film's conclusion. While this will most certainly appeal to die-hard fans of the series, it isn't necessary for the viewer to have any prior knowledge of the characters in order to follow the story line, for Lynch's unique vision is enough to keep audiences engaged even when they aren't able to put the pieces together. Haunting, humorous, and strange, FIRE WALK WITH ME is another work of artistry from the mind of David Lynch.

Customer Reviews

We wanted a sequel not a prequel
Twin Peaks was definately groundbreaking TV back in the late 1980's early 1990's. David Lynch created a world in which the audience cared about all the characters and the result was pure magic as most fans of Twin Peaks agree. FIRE WALK WITH ME is a prequel to the TV series charting the last seven days of Laura Palmer's life.
The film as a whole is good but could be so much better. A high percentage of the TV cast aren't used, basically because it's not there story, however, leaving out Michael Ontkean's/Harry Trueman and Richard Beymer's/Ben Horne does raise the question as to why these popular Twin Peaks characters/important to the storyline were infact left out of this prequel?
Sheryl Lee is fantastic as the troubled Laura Palmer and troubled is a mild way of describing here life. She's in her late teens, smokes, drinks, uses drugs and sleeps around, but despite her flaws the audience will sympathize with her character because she uses these vices to survive. The films is basically broken down into 2 perhaps 3 parts.
Starting with Kiefer Sutherland/FBI Agent Sam Stanley and Chris Issac/FBI Agent Chester Desmond, they are investigating the murder of a similar character to Laura, Teresa Banks. Secondly, we cut to Dale Cooper, our Twin Peaks hero - but only for minutes, as his role is that of cameo apperance only. Finally we move to Twin Peaks and from the word go you'll see that Laura Palmer is a tourmented sole struggling to survive in a dark and evil world. Ray Wise is brilliant as Leyland Palmer and all Twin Peaks fans know his role in the proceedings - Killer Bob is also brought to the fore-front and he indeed makes one memorable bad-guy if that's the right word to decribe the character.
The audience know Laura Palmer is on borrowed time, and her end is inevitable. David Lynch dosen't stray from past Twin Peaks folklore in this film at all and we see the events unfold on the night of Laura's death in detail - but's it's more a case of the things we don't see scare us more than the things we do! Watch it and buy it. But all these years later and we still are left with an unresolved cliffhanger from the Tv series which will probably never be resolved. I would have prefered a sequel not a prequel. Great viewing none-the-less.

Outstanding
One of the greatest films i've ever seen. David Lynch does a fantastic job of transfering the TV series to the big screen. I don't really want to go into any details about the plot because it is so complex.

The only reason that this does not get 5 stars is because of the quality of the DVD. It seems as though they have just transfered it directly from video because the picture is very grainy. Another problem is that there are no subtitles and this causes a problem for one scene in particular. In America when the film was released this scene and several others were supposed to have subtitles however they are missing from this version.

So it's a shame that such a brilliant film is let down by a poor quality DVD. Hopefully a better version will be released sometime in the future.

Don't look for too many answers, you may be disappointed
For all fans of David Lynch, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is truly mandatory viewing, not least because it is by far his most surreal and puzzling work. The movie begins with Kiefer Sutherland and Chris Isaak investigating the murder of Teresa Banks. As this begins the dialogue between the two reveals the secret to the thinking required to decipher this movie by analysing the appearance of a strange woman presented to them by their superior and the symbolic nature of all her actions. BUT BE WARNED this type of thinking may not be enough to unravel this enigma of a movie, as the Teresa Banks story soon concludes and the rest of the movie focuses upon the last days of Laura Palmer, essentially the pre runner to the TV series.
Lynch requires you to think in a very perculiar way, and although this may discourage many viewers, don't let the perplexity of it all dissuade you, or you'll miss a treat. The imagery is nothing short of unique, and certain scenes just and story lines are truly baffling, such as the scenario involving placing the picture on the wall. What all this has to do with a girl who eventually gets murdered may seem complex, but that's where the pleasure lies, in working it out yourself. Even if you can't unravel it all, the pleasure lies in the uniqueness of it.
A must for Lynch fans and recomended to any fans of alternative cinema, or those dissatisfied with regular cinema and long for something less straightforward.