Lost Highway is a 1997 surrealist neo-noir psychological thriller horror film directed by David Lynch and co-written by Lynch and Barry Gifford. It stars Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, Balthazar Getty, and Robert Blake in his final film role. The film follows a musician (Pullman) who begins receiving mysterious VHS tapes of him and his wife (Arquette) in their home. He is suddenly convicted of murder, after which he inexplicably disappears and is replaced by a young mechanic (Getty) leading a different life.
Lost Highway was financed by the French production company Ciby 2000 and was largely shot in Los Angeles, where Lynch collaborated with frequent producer Mary Sweeney and cinematographer Peter Deming. The film's surreal narrative structure has been likened to a Möbius strip, while Lynch has described it as a "psychogenic fugue" rather than a conventionally logical story. The film's soundtrack, which was produced by Trent Reznor, features an original score by Angelo Badalamenti and Barry Adamson, as well as contributions from artists including David Bowie, Marilyn Manson, Rammstein, Nine Inch Nails and The Smashing Pumpkins.
Upon release, Lost Highway received mixed reviews and grossed $3.7 million in North America after a modest three-week run. Most critics initially dismissed the film as incoherent, but it has since attracted a cult following and critical praise, as well as scholarly interest. Lost Highway is the first of three Lynch films set in Los Angeles, followed by Mulholland Drive in 2001 and Inland Empire in 2006. The film was adapted as an opera by the Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth in 2003.
Plot
Fred Madison, a Los Angeles saxophonist, receives a message on his house intercom: "Dick Laurent is dead." He hears tires squealing and sirens blaring past his house immediately afterwards. The next morning, his wife Renee finds a VHS tape on their porch containing a video of their house. After having sex, Fred tells her he had a dream about someone resembling her being attacked. He then sees Renee's face as that of a pale old man. Another tape arrives, showing shots of them asleep in their bed. Fred and Renee call the police but the detectives offer no assistance.
Fred and Renee attend a party being thrown by her friend Andy. The Mystery Man that Fred dreamed about approaches Fred, claiming to have met him before. The man then says he is at Fred's house at that very moment and answers the house phone when Fred calls him. Fred learns from Andy that the man is a friend of Dick Laurent. Terrified, Fred leaves the party with Renee. The next day, a tape shows him hovering over Renee's dismembered body. He is sentenced to death for her murder.
While on death row, Fred is plagued by headaches and visions of the Mystery Man and a smoldering cabin in the desert. During a cell check, the prison guard finds that the man in Fred's cell is now Pete Dayton, a young auto mechanic. Although Pete is released into his parents' care, he is followed by two detectives who are trying to uncover more about him. Pete returns to work where gangster Mr. Eddy asks him to repair his car. Mr. Eddy takes Pete for a drive, during which Pete witnesses Mr. Eddy beat down a tailgater.
The next day, Mr. Eddy returns to the garage with his mistress, Alice Wakefield, and his Cadillac for Pete to repair. Later, Alice returns to the garage alone and invites Pete out for dinner. When Pete and Alice begin an affair, she fears that Mr. Eddy suspects them, and concocts a scheme to rob her friend Andy and leave town. Alice also reveals to Pete that Mr. Eddy is actually an amateur porn producer named Dick Laurent. Pete receives a phone call from Mr. Eddy and the Mystery Man, which frightens Pete so much that he decides to go along with Alice's plan. Pete ambushes Andy and accidentally kills him, before he notices a photograph depicting Alice and Renee together. Later, when the police are at the house investigating Andy's death, Alice is inexplicably missing from the photo.
Pete and Alice arrive at an empty cabin in the desert and start having sex outside on the sand. Alice taunts Pete and enters the cabin while Pete turns back into Fred. Fred searches the cabin and finds only the Mystery Man, who tells him that there is no Alice, only Renee, and starts chasing him with a video camera. Fred escapes and drives to the Lost Highway Hotel, where he finds Mr. Eddy and Renee having sex.