The miracle here is that after Lynch’s singular debut, Eraserhead, he gets pulled into the Hollywood system. He’s hired by Mel Brooks to make The Elephant Man, he gets brought on to helm Dune. But then after those two experiences he manages to pull himself out of the machinery somehow and make this perfect film. And it’s that left turn back to his original voice that makes all the difference.
Blue Velvet is all coiled tension. The violence that lives…