Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (4K UHD Review)
Director
David LynchRelease Date(s)
1992 (October 7, 2025)Studio(s)
New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. (The Criterion Collection – Spine #898)- Film/Program Grade: A-
- Video Grade: A+
- Audio Grade: A+
- Extras Grade: A-
Review
It’s difficult to put into words just how earth-shattering Twin Peaks was when its first season aired in the spring of 1990. There was nothing like it at the time and it inspired countless TV shows thereafter, forever cementing itself as one of broadcast TV’s most unique experiences. For its creators, David Lynch and Mark Frost, it was also a roller coaster of emotions since they were put in the awkward position of not having as much creative control as they would have wanted, particularly after the success of the first season. While Frost initially was done with Twin Peaks when the series ended, Lynch was keen on returning, longing for the freedom to explore its world in a more abstract manner. With 1992’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, he got what he wanted.
Fire Walk With Me is not, in any way shape or form, an easy film to approach, for beginners or seasoned Twin Peaks veterans. It’s a dark tale with little to no levity, almost the opposite of what the TV show was. Even my own initial knee-jerk reaction to it was not a positive one, yet like a lot of dense and interesting works, I find myself being drawn back in over time and learning new things about it, especially after the conclusion of the third season which has more in common with this film than it does the original show (not to mention after the untimely passing of David Lynch).
Fans were initially divided upon its release, much like they were with the show’s third season, at least at first. Instead of simply continuing the story after the much-talked about series’ cliffhanger (where is Annie?), Lynch opted to do a prequel of sorts, which more fully explored Laura Palmer’s life and the events that led up to her death. It also touched on the F.B.I. and the investigation that pulled them into Twin Peaks in the first place, partially by showing us a semi-alternate version of Twin Peaks with a completely different feel. It’s complete foreshadowing for what we’re about to experience, to say the least.
Fire Walk With Me was also something of a tough film to lock down for Lynch during editing. Nearly five hours of material was shot, which include moments with characters from the original show that never make an appearance in final film, but much of it was cut in favor of storytelling through aesthetic—something that Lynch has now come full circle with in the new series. Thankfully, all of that deleted material was eventually unearthed in 2014, an hour and a half of it actually, carefully put together as The Missing Pieces, which fans now consider an invaluable companion to the film. It informs the main narrative in a way that few deleted scenes manage to do, fleshing out characters and pivotal moments that make the final film feel more full bodied.
Less talked about in relation to Fire Walk With Me is Sheryl Lee’s fearless performance, one that should have warranted her some awards, as well as a more prolific career than she wound up having. Other great performances include Ray Wise who returns as the troubled (to say the least) Leland Palmer, Chris Isaak as bizarro Twin Peaks Special Agent Chester Desmond with a much more subdued demeanor than his zealous Dale Cooper counterpart, and Grace Zabriskie as Sarah Palmer, who goes to even greater extremes in the show’s third season. Special mention must also be made of David Bowie as Special Agent Jeffries, whose performance was severely cut down in the theatrical version to almost nothing, but rescued entirely in The Missing Pieces.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, for many fans of Lynch, is a masterpiece of sorts, but there are some obvious reservations that go along with that opinion. It’s almost a think piece, or an art film if you will, and if anything came out of the disappointment of its release, it was that we should never underestimate David Lynch. The man was a true artist in every sense of the word, and one must leave expectations at the door when approaching his work. Questions will be left unanswered with almost no intention of answering them, which is why when Fire Walk With Me originally premiered in 1992, it left more than a few folks scratching their collective noggins. But if the ending of the third season is any indicator, Lynch wasn’t interested in giving anyone that they wanted, but exploring stories in a more conceptual and thought-provoking manner.
Cinematographer Ron Garcia shot Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me on 35mm film (Fuji F-64T 8510, F-64D 8520, F-250T 8550, F-250D 8560, F-500T 8570) with Panavision Panaflex Platinum cameras and Panavision Primo spherical lenses. The results were finished photochemically and presented theatrically in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The Criterion Collection debuts the film on Ultra HD for a second time worldwide with a 2017 4K digital restoration of the original camera negative, which was scanned by MK2 at Eclair Laboratories in Vanves, France and restored at CBS Television City in Hollywood, California under the supervision of David Lynch. The final results were encoded to a triple-layered BD-100 disc. No High Dynamic Range grade was ever performed on this restoration, meaning that it’s the same exact picture as before, but with the additional clarity and higher data rates that UHD can provide. Detail is much tighter in the frame with solid levels of grain and bitrates that soar into the 80 to 100Mbps range. The palette is rich with blue, green, and red hues, which are clearly showcased in the hot red of Lil’s outfit, as well as the shades of blue on the rose attached to it. Contrast is excellent with deep blacks and the picture is stable throughout, with only mild speckling visible in the frame. Like Criterion’s 2017 Blu-ray, this is the authoritative quality of picture for the film on home video going forward.
Audio is included in English 2.0 and 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, also supervised by Lynch, with optional subtitles in English SDH. The 7.1 track is phenomenal with incredible depth and nuance in every scene. Dynamics and ambient activity, as well as moments with low frequency, are all astounding, enveloping you at every turn. Dialogue is also perfectly audible, aside from the “Partyland” club scene when we’re not meant to hear everything clearly, simulating an environment in which the music is louder than the conversation. A mixing error found in the early 2000s-era 5.1 mix of the film that raised the volume of the dialogue above the music is now long gone. Also included is the original stereo mix, which is great in its own right, but the 7.1 is near definitive.
The Criterion Collection 2-Disc 4K Ultra HD release of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is presented in digipak packaging, which contains the 2017 Blu-ray disc with a slipcase that features a version of the original theatrical artwork re-designed by Fred Davis, who also created the rest of the digipak’s inner artwork. Inside the package is a 48-page booklet containing cast and crew information, excerpts from the book Lynch on Lynch entitled Suddenly My House Became a Tree of Sores: A Tale of Twin Peaks by Chris Rodley, restoration details, special thanks, acknowledgments, and production credits. The following extras are included on the Blu-ray only:
- The Missing Pieces (HD – 91:23)
- Interviews:
- Sheryl Lee (HD – 22:16)
- Angelo Badalamenti and the Music of Twin Peaks (HD – 20:15)
- Between Two Worlds (HD – 28:24)
- Trailers:
- US Theatrical Trailer (Upscaled SD – 1:48)
- International Theatrical Trailer (SD – 1:43)
- The Missing Pieces Trailer (HD – 2:06)
For the supplemental materials, Criterion has included The Missing Pieces, which as previously mentioned is an hour and a half of deleted scenes. It’s fascinating viewing and gives you a glimpse of what the film could have been like if Lynch had created a much longer version of it. Next are two interviews with Sheryl Lee and composer Angelo Badalamenti, both of which are terrific. Badalamenti even tells an enchanting story about the Queen of England telling Paul McCartney that she wouldn’t be able to attend his performance that night because Twin Peaks was due to air in just a few minutes. Also carried over is Between Two Worlds, a great roundtable discussion between David Lynch, Sheryl Lee, Grace Zabriskie, and Ray Wise, produced by Charles de Lauzirika. Last are three trailers: the US theatrical trailer, the international theatrical trailer, and the trailer for The Missing Pieces.
There’s quite a bit of material from releases of Fire Walk With Me all over the world that hasn’t been included here. The 4K UHD release by StudioCanal in Germany contains an audio commentary with Professor Dr. Marcus Stiglegger and the 1992 featurette Walk with Me. The Limited Edition From Z to A and The Entire Mystery boxed sets feature a set of 1992 interviews with Ray Wise, Sheryl Lee, Moira Kelly, and Mädchen Amick; the Palmer Family Interview portion of Between Two Worlds; the 2014 documentary Moving Through Time: Fire Walk With Me Memories; the 2000 documentary Reflections on the Phenomenon of Twin Peaks; a photo gallery; a series of audio Atmospherics montages; and a pair of Easter eggs, one being an interview with assistant director Deepak Nayar, and the other being interviews with actor Gary Bullock and director of photography Ron Garcia. The Prestige Edition Region B Blu-ray released by mk2 in France features the film’s Electronic Press Kit, an interview with David Lynch, Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game music video, a set of soundtrack excerpts, and a set of Film Analysis notes. The Limited Edition Region 2 DVD by Cameo Media in Spain contains an audio commentary with Sitges Film Festival director Ángel Sala and the 1997 documentary Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch. That documentary was also released in the US on DVD by Image Entertainment, which contains additional interview segments with artist Bushnell Keeler, production designer Jack Frisk, artist Peggy Reavey, the Log Lady, author and screenwriter Barry Gifford, and Mel Brooks; as well as a Lynch Family Photos montage. And just as a small side note, also missing are the film’s original TV spots, some of which can be found on Youtube.
Criterion has delivered another outstanding release of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, this time on 4K Ultra HD. The film could have been the start of a series of films about Twin Peaks, but its poor reception put the nail in the coffin on that idea. Thankfully, Lynch did return once more, and we now have three equally-compelling on-screen excursions into the world of Twin Peaks.
- Tim Salmons
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