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Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

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Both wonderful and strange: RIP David Lynch

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“I learned that just beneath the surface there’s another world, and still different worlds as you dig deeper. I knew it as a kid, but I couldn’t find the proof. It was just a kind of feeling. There is goodness in blue skies and flowers, but another force – a wild pain and decay – also accompanies everything.” David Lynch, the artist and filmmaker whose works include Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks  and Mulholland Drive , has died aged 78. His family announced his death on Facebook, saying 'There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, “Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.” It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.'  Lynch was an artist, his abstract canvas extending into film, music and television. His visions are imbued with a deeply haunting, dreamy quality, both wonderful and strange. From his feature debut Eraserhead - his “dream of dark and troubling things” - to the small town horrors of Twin Peak...
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The Substance (2024)

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Written, directed, co-edited and produced by French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat, The Substance is a vicious and gruesome body-horror satire about ageing, identity and the impossible standards women are held to by a society obsessed with youth and beauty. It has divided critical opinion, with some lauding it as a feminist horror masterpiece, and others accusing it of pandering to the male gaze (those lingering shots of Sue's body in her fitted Lycra leotard), and exploiting old horror tropes (rendering the female body – especially older bodies - a source of terror). It tells of Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), a faded film star, who, on her 50th birthday, is fired from her hit aerobics TV show by her producer, who wants to replace her with a younger host. A despairing Elizabeth decides to try a new experimental drug that will create a younger replica of herself, with deeply horrifying results... When Elizabeth's replica, Sue (Margaret Qualley), finds success and fame as her replac...
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Random Creepy Scene # 443: Lost Highway

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David Lynch’s beautiful, nightmarish and deeply unsettling Lost Highway contains more than its fair share of intense and disturbing moments. The opening scenes alone are, in my opinion, amongst some of the most uneasy, upsetting and creepy moments of cinema. Lynch effortlessly creates such a feeling of anxiety in these opening scenes, and all without anything much really happening. Unhappily married couple Fred and Renee Madison (Bill Pullman and Patricia Arquette) blankly wander around their dark and foreboding home. Fred appears to suspect Renee of being unfaithful and she does nothing to alleviate his suspicions. Videotapes containing footage of the outside of their house begin arriving. Eventually one of the tapes contains footage shot inside the house and reveals Fred murdering Renee. A bizarre encounter with a mysterious man at a party flings events further into overtly abstract territory. The mystery man tells Fred they've met before. Where? "At your house, remember? ...
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