YMMV / Lost Highway

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Since the film is about a man who prefers to remember things his own way, Fred's perspective of certain characters is rather questionable.
  • Is Dick Laurent a real person or an Imaginary Enemy? While Laurent doesn't show up until the second, more irrational half of the film, the other characters do mention his name in the first, more grounded half of the film, so there's a solid implication that Laurent is real unlike Pete and Alice. That said, if Laurent is indeed real, there is a good chance that Fred has never actually met him and instead invented Laurent's entire character for his delusion to work.
  • The Mystery Man is obviously symbolism but what he represents can vary depending on the viewer. Some view him as a Louis Cypher character who has trapped Fred in a literal purgatory while others see him as a representation of the truth that Fred perpetually denies.
  • How many people did Fred actually kill? It's confirmed that he killed his wife, but the other kills occur during the film's more fantastical second half, so it's unknown whether or not he killed Andy and Laurent. If one wants to draw a parallel to the O. J. Simpson murder case that inspired the film, then one may find it more plausible that Dick Laurent is dead although this still leaves Andy's death an uncertainty.
  • Did Renee actually cheat on her husband or were Fred's insecurity and paranoia unfounded?
• Awesome Music: "The Perfect Drug". Would you expect anything less from Nine Inch Nails? It would later be used as the Final Boss theme in Hi-Fi RUSH.
  • Also, "Apple Of Sodom" by Marilyn Manson, which is a dark yet awesome industrial metal song that is easily one of his best songs. Also, his equally awesome cover of "I Put A Spell On You" is on the soundtrack as well.
• Critical Dissonance: The film was initially polarizing to contemporary critics as noted by its 61% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes. In particular, Roger Ebert, who gave the film a negative review, criticized its Surrealism as confusing and pointless, a criticism shared by most negative critics. On the other hand, audiences loved the film's surrealism and unclear answers as noted by the film's 87% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes and its 7.6 rating on IMDb. That said, most modern critics tend to have a positive opinion of the film as noted below under Vindicated by History.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: The Mystery Man is easily the most popular character due to his pale, creepy appearance and supernatural abilities, but he is generally a side character as the film focuses mainly on the conflict between Fred/Pete, Renee/Alice, and Dick Laurent.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Robert Blake plays a sinister criminal called the Mystery Man in a film that is based on the O.J. Simpson murder case and subsequently is about a husband murdering his wife. He would then find himself in a similar situation. Similar to Simpson, Blake was later found not guilty, but his trial like the O.J. Simpson trial was very controversial.
  • The appearances of Marilyn Manson and Twiggy Ramirez in a sexually violent pornographic film has become a lot more uncomfortable to watch after both men were accused of multiple counts of sexual assault and domestic abuse.
• Nightmare Fuel: Has its own page.
• Signature Scene: The Mystery Man's conversation with Fred at the party is the film's most famous scene as it best demonstrates the film's Surreal Horror.
• Special Effects Failure: The moment where Fred wakes up from his nightmare to see Renee with the Mystery Man's face shoddily pasted onto hers. However, it could be argued that the blatant cheesiness of the effect makes it even creepier.
• Vindicated by History: The film initially had mixed reviews with many finding it to be incredibly incoherent and nonsensical. This changed with the release of Lynch's later work Mulholland Dr., a Spiritual Successor to Lost Highway that garnered critical success; Roger Ebert, who had panned Lost Highway, gave a positive review of Mulholland Drive as did many other critics. While still not as highly regarded as Lynch's other films, such as Eraserhead or the aforementioned Mulholland Drive, it's now considered by many critics to be an intriguing neo-noir film ahead of its time and an important forerunner for some of Lynch's later work. What also has helped is that Mind Screw movies became more common after the release of Lost Highway, and most modern viewers don't find the film as incomprehensible as earlier critics did.

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