“In dreams, I walk with you. In dreams, I talk to you. In dreams, you’re mine, all the time. Forever. In dreams…”

Blue Velvet first hit our screen 30 years ago. A neo-noir like no other it shocked, scandalised and seduced as Lynch explored the seedy underbelly of suburbia. Back in cinemas for brief stint it has scarcely aged; its bizarre mix of the macabre and erotic neroutica has only endured. When Jeffery Beaumont (MacLachlan) discovers an ear walking home one day he soon walks into, then is dragged through, a secret and sleazy underground of sadomasochism.

MacLachlan’s performance perfectly blends wide-eyed innocence pricked by sexual scopophilic intrigue. The object of his fascination, Dorothy Vallens (Rossellini), is a femme fatale draws him into a dysfunctional sexual rapture. Then there’s the mania of Frank (Hopper), Dorothy’s sugar-daddy torturer/tormentor. He’s captivating in the worst of ways: a walking and talking ball of bitterness and vice. After watching ‘Blue Velvet’ it will become impossible to separate listening to Roy Orbison’s ‘In Dreams‘ from Hopper’s rage and confusion-filled face.

This film proves, were it needed, that suburbia is filled with its own nightmares that haunting hover beneath the surface.  Don’t just take my word for it, ask the man in the yellow suit…

Blue Velvet opened in selected UK cinemas for a limited release in December 2016. 

Dir: David Lynch

        Year: 1987              Run time:121 minutes

Cast: Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, Hope Lange, Dean Stockwell.