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Blue Velvet
Blue Velvet
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Blue Velvet

Blue Velvet

1986
Suspense/Thriller, Mystery
2h 0m
Set in a small American town, Blue Velvet is a dark, sensuous mystery involving the intertwining lives of four very different individuals. The film's painful realism reminds us that we are not immune to the disturbing events which transpire in Blue Velvet's sleepy community. There is a darker side of life waiting for us all. (De Laurentiis Entertainment Group Inc.)

Blue Velvet

1986
Suspense/Thriller, Mystery
2h 0m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 68.87% from 8250 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(8337)
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Rated 14 Aug 2007
97
99th
Greatest American film of the 1980s. There's a sense in which this film is about America, but it also seems, in some strange way, a response to the American involvement in Vietnam. More fundamentally, the undecidable question is whether the ear is attuned to the unconscious or to something more ontological. So influential that it's now difficult to look back and realise how original it was when it was released.
Rated 14 Oct 2008
95
98th
Strange movie but very good, fantastic performance of D.Hopper. Brilliant !
Rated 27 Jan 2010
93
91st
Surreal perversity at its finest. A college boy tries to solve the mystery of a severed ear he finds in a field, thus beginning a journey into the dark heart of America. Eventually, the evil is purged, and all is well . . . or is it? The new America looks like the old, but the smiles are a little false, and the colors just a little too bright.
Rated 19 Oct 2009
85
95th
HEINEKEN? FUCK THAT SHIT!
Rated 28 Jul 2023
95
91st
The quintessential college road trip movie. Let's go for a ride.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
33
17th
I don't know why Blue Velvet is held in such high regard. Everything here that's made by Lynch to look mysterious and shocking, just didn't really shock me at all. It's sort of a mediocre drama, with nothing much to say, disguised as a mystery.
Rated 21 Dec 2016
93
94th
David Lynch's subconscious presents Francis Bacon's The Hardy Boys in "Lust For Life: The Mystery of Sexually Confused America"
Rated 19 Dec 2006
98
99th
Lynch divides the world sharply into good and evil -- those are those who are infallibly good and those who are unredeemably evil. Only the Dorothy Vallens character straddles the line, her essential goodness corrupted by prolonged exposure to Frank Booth and his underworld cronies. Blue Velvet doesn't run terribly deep, but it's always an interesting journey, both unsettling and amusing.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
6
98th
The world presents Jeffrey Beaumont with two paths down which he can travel on his journey towards manhood: the way of light and of love, or the way of jealousy, primal urges and despair, as exemplified by Frank Booth. He ultimately chooses light, but not before traversing a bit of each. Lynch's arch and richly symbolic portrait of suburban kitsch and urban degradation has been unimaginably influential on the last thirty years of film.
Rated 21 May 2010
6
35th
(2nd viewing) A mysterious trip determined to capture our crazy little world, though this is not the Lynch I know and admire. By the end of the film, I haven't come to cheer for the main characters and it fails to build upon its early momentum, undone by its overwhelming melodrama. Unfulfilling, unfortunately.
Rated 12 May 2008
10
98th
Creepy, unnerving, weird and totally inspiring.
Rated 23 Mar 2020
100
98th
Probably Lynch's most linear film narratively, but still packs so much psychosexual weirdness. This feels like the (oh god, I am going to say it) BLUEprint to Twin Peaks. This may be the one film I choose as a litmus test to see if me and another person will ever agree on film.
Rated 23 Sep 2018
60
51st
David Lynch movies are not my style but even so I found parts of this odd and fascinating. David Lynch films tend to ride the fine line between fascinating and annoying and annoying usually wins, here though I'm torn.
Rated 08 Feb 2012
96
97th
Absolutely flawless direction by Lynch. MacLachlan represents the fleeting innocence of an America-gone-by as his character is drawn into a seedy underworld by a well-natured, but naive curiosity. A fairly straightforward mystery plot is thickened by the unforgettable characters he encounters. Hopper's turn as the psychopath Frank is disturbing in all its sick glory and Rossellini's performance screams of twisted desperation. Topped off with a great soundtrack and sharp visuals, it's hypnotic.
Rated 10 Nov 2011
48
17th
David Lynch apparently lives in some kind of world where no social interaction or personal decision makes the least bit of sense. The characters in this movie don't really feel like people. I'd say they feel like cartoon characters due to how ridiculous they are, but cartoon characters at least tend to be logical.
Rated 27 Apr 2009
90
92nd
Suburban nightmare
Rated 26 Jul 2008
98
93rd
This is the best Mystery since Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, and it's the most essential film of the 80s. Lynch created something here, something that cannot be touched on camera these days. Totally inspiring in every quality of filmmaking, and it's possibly the weirdest and freakiest movie ever to come out. Definitely not for all tastes.
Rated 20 Jul 2015
100
99th
This is the ulitmate psychoanalitic cinema structured like unconscious and dreams. Jeffrey's odyssey from childhood to adulthood starts when his father goes "mute" and "disfunctional" and he discovers a cut off ear which is covered by insects; symbolically the ear is a door between the "real" and the "symbolic" and contains erotic connotations. Dorothy is his "anima" in the sense that she guiides him from darkness of his unconscious to the light and clean "reality" of his adulthood.
Rated 30 Dec 2014
95
91st
A complex, surreal and thrilling Pabst Blue Ribbon advertisement.
Rated 01 Feb 2012
100
99th
This is pure Lynch, a bizarre story with very dark and compelling characters, Dennis steals the show with one of the most terrorific villains of movies. There are some quite great scenes, great music, great pace and great writing. I just love it.
Rated 25 Sep 2010
74
90th
Utterly fucking creepy. Lynch's best work. So many bizarre or frightening (or both) characters.
Rated 16 Feb 2010
98
99th
Spellbinding, funny, sinister and moving. It's a good film that can provide such a range of reactions, and a great film that intensifies those feelings on repeat viewings. It's about the transition from innocence to experience. Jeffrey's dad has a stroke at the beginning, leaving him without a father figure. In steps Frank Booth, the raging id, who wants to fuck mommy. The root scene in the film is where Jeffrey spies Frank and Dorothy perverted sexual ritual.
Rated 09 Nov 2009
40
5th
Maybe I'm too young to understand this movie or the movie is too old... in my eyes it's a peace of crap!
Rated 07 May 2009
82
81st
A fascinating collection of characters. Dean Stockwell, Isabella Rossellini, and Dennis Hopper dwarf the lowly MacLachlan and Dern. It moves at a relatively slow pace, but when any of the aforementioned actors are on screen it is inspired. Undoubtedly a fresh reinvention of the thriller, but time has dulled its edge.
Rated 21 Jan 2008
95
95th
A great look at the dark things that exist within us all. The acting (especially Dennis Hopper's performance) is incredible.
Rated 27 Feb 2020
70
76th
Very stylistic/atmospheric but also got quite boring for a bit until the bad guy shows up and takes Kyle MacLachlan for a ride. I was drifting away from the movie up to that point. Then things got more exciting. Probably the most mainstream David Lynch except for the sex scenes. Fav scene: ending with hiding the closet and using the police radio. He sure was lucky the revolver was loaded.
Rated 20 Aug 2019
85
84th
On rewatch: Never realized how linear and clear this film was. Probably the best way to lure somebody into Lynch's house of nightmares, where his lucid drifting between dream worlds only comes in small peaks.
Rated 22 Mar 2018
90
94th
This is one of those films that I feel like I've seen from reading and hearing so much about it along with all the pop culture references that popped up over the last 30 years. I at least thought I had a grasp on the basic plot. I was completely wrong.
Rated 12 Nov 2014
93
99th
Retrograde Americana as a Freudian coming of age fairy-tale. The tone can be hard to handle if you think about it too much since Lynch's absurd and surreal style seems to play with horrific psycho-drama, cheesy satire and sincere melodrama all at once. If you can just let go of these distinctions and sink into its boundless dreamlike world it's an exerience like no other in cinema.
Rated 02 Aug 2014
94
90th
Beautifully crafted effort from Lynch is a hypnotic, seductive and horrifying journey into the seedy underbelly; a film of broad, jagged contrasts between the conservative 1950s idyll of surburban life, and the fetid ugliness swarming like cockroaches beneath, and personified in a legendarily intense and terrifying performance by Hopper, and an equally committed effort from Rossellini. MacLachlan and Dern seem almost insubstantial -- no doubt the very clear point that Lynch is trying to make.
Rated 16 Jun 2014
86
59th
Look!!! My ranking is the same as the year:) COOL BEANS...haha...that's not funny.
Rated 02 Sep 2012
30
12th
This is my 5th David Lynch film. I'm long done with saying "I don't get all the hype." I get it. I just don't like David Lynch. I disagree with every aesthetic choice he makes. His camerawork, sets, colour schemes, performances, scores, editing, and general sensibility repels and annoys me.
Rated 18 Jun 2012
95
93rd
A wonderful film on so many levels. It works perfectly as a straight-ahead mystery. It's believeable as a film noir pastiche. It's effective as a paean to an old-fashioned America that no longer exists (and perhaps never did); it's a meditation on the "bugs" that lurk within us all. It's a dark, dark musical; it's the devastating underbelly of a romantic comedy. It's one of the most disturbing horror films you'll ever see, and it's David Lynch's crowning glory.
Rated 12 Apr 2012
90
90th
This movie did for small town America what The Shining did for giant empty hotels.
Rated 31 Mar 2012
83
86th
Well this was quite a surprise. A Lynch film that is easily understood and has a happy ending (or does it?), I would have never guessed he had it in him. Hopper is the best thing here as the unhinged and perverted villain. The story is interesting, but nothing that really blew me away. Lynch does a good job in his direction.
Rated 15 Jan 2012
80
83rd
A decidedly odd movie with a haunting story that resonates. My least favorite parts were anytime Dennis Hopper was on screen, his character did not feel genuine and he was mostly just creepy.
Rated 04 Apr 2010
48
7th
Most amazing part of this movie is Dennis hopper. Worst part of this movie is the rest of it.
Rated 16 Dec 2009
10
97th
Creepy, bizarre, strange, keep throwing words along the same lines to describe this. I saw this after seeing a few other Lynch works so knew what sort of mood to be in and wasn't disappointed. Hopper also plays a great villain. Left unsettled, a tad amused and totally satisfied.
Rated 11 Aug 2009
96
98th
The sexual suburban horror and ironic loveable naïveté blend perfectly. Hopper, MacLachlan, and Rossellini give some of the bravest performances I’ve ever seen, while as with all other Lynch flicks the cinematography and production design is GOAT.
Rated 01 Jan 2009
90
91st
It's ugly, it makes you uneasy, parts of it are shocking yet you can't stop watching. It's an excellent presentation of voyeurism. Yet, it's somehow accessible. Dennis Hopper does a great job in creating a memorable character. The scene with Stockwell is one of my favorites.
Rated 05 Sep 2008
96
82nd
The master of film noir returns. David Lynch's surrealistic direction adds a subconscious layer lying beneath the perfunctory activities of suburbia. A perfect depiction, juxtaposing innocence of the 50s to the everyday depravity found in common life; utilizing over thematically in Mulholland Dr. Also, deadpan humor and subtle sexual innuendos echo the Freudian oedipal complex. And classic Hopper, as Frank Booth embodies the wanton aggression and drive as a self-expression of true masculinity.
Rated 01 Mar 2008
90
95th
David motherfucking Lynch.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
90
88th
FUCK THAT. LET'S DRINK TO MY FUCK.
Rated 14 Jul 2007
89
90th
Sort of like "The Godfather" for total freaks and weirdos---a classic. This film is deeply odd and sexual in the most uncomfortable of ways. As macabre now as it must've been in 1986, there has been nothing like it since.
Rated 06 Mar 2007
97
98th
The atmosphere is quite an experience. Lynch created something really special with Blue Velvet.
Rated 06 Jul 2022
100
96th
It's a beautifully constructed film that benefits immensely from the really fortuitous casting of Dennis Hopper. Fresh from a decade of drug abuse, violence and intense paranoia, the now reformed Hopper commits to playing Frank with frightening intensity. There are a lot of really great performances in this film, but Hopper dominates.
Rated 06 Apr 2021
30
7th
this film is like the dinner your kooky friend prepares with her "own recipe". "is it good?", she asks, while you're desperately trying to hold it down, you say "it's great" with mouth half open. it's a shitty dish, served in a shitty plate, put on a shitty desk by a shitty friend. lynch would have been an academic footnote if hollywood hadn't decided to stop making films and become a hasbro subsidiary.
Rated 19 Jul 2020
95
73rd
Mommy
Rated 27 Feb 2020
92
96th
Ben is one suave fucker. I think it's how he uses his eyes
Rated 23 Jul 2019
81
63rd
The film that convinced major studios to let Lynch indulge in weirdness for weirdness' sake, this is still watchable despite some arthouse pacing. He hasn't descended into total inscrutability yet: there's a coherent story here w/ identifiable themes about the darkness underneath the surface & how we're drawn to it. There are also visual & soundtrack flourishes that reference the past, so no wonder critics loved it. The weirdness, for once, also makes sense as its a result of nutjobs & junkies
Rated 06 Oct 2018
70
61st
I do think that Lynch's portrayal of small town Americana and the darkness that lurks within is done better both in Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive. Those works just feel a bit more subtle and earnest in their commentaries. Additionally, many of the scenes in Blue Velvet made me feel uncomfortable, in a certainly intentional but dubiously necessary way. Still, it's obviously a great film, teeming with excellent Lynchian imagery, and featuring a standout performance by Dennis Hopper.
Rated 09 Sep 2018
95
99th
I know Lynch's soundscapes have been praised enough but I can't get over the shots in the apartment where you can't see the door but Lynch always remembers to include the door closing and opening. I also can't get over how hot shirtless Kyle MacLachlan is
Rated 19 Aug 2018
85
74th
PBR > Heineken.
Rated 26 May 2018
100
94th
This is the most uncomfortable a movie has made me in a long time.
Rated 01 Feb 2018
30
6th
David Lynch is great for making high students feel intellectual.
Rated 12 Aug 2017
90
95th
Hard to express how Lynch manages to keep these level of mystery. However it's easy to express how he keeps us our emotions and nerves under control.
Rated 13 Sep 2016
10
98th
Frank Booth makes for a more distressing manifestation of the inherent pathological chaos of our brains than anything Thomas Ligotti could conjure (not to denigrate a great writer or anything). Disturbingly, his sickness comes across as an expression of the same irrationality that enables us to love. It's a strange world alright, and no one knows this better than Lynch.
Rated 17 May 2016
91
82nd
David Lynch's hauntingly surreal Blue Velvet is a dark, mysterious, and unforgettable film that turns the coming-of-age formula on its ear.
Rated 03 Jun 2015
8
71st
Straightforward in story yet complexly layered thematically, "Blue Velvet" immerses and unnerves viewers with its ominous atmosphere, shocking imagery, and perplexing characters, played with notable intensity by Hopper and Rossellini.
Rated 19 Oct 2014
30
18th
Obviously David Lynch style is not for me. I assume this must have been a really impressive movie when it come out, but it just doesn't work for me. I don't get all the hubhub about it.
Rated 06 Aug 2014
90
82nd
"Play Frank? I am Frank." - Dennis Hopper
Rated 21 Jul 2014
85
64th
Ultimately, "Blue Velvet" is the type of movie that goes in one ear and out the other.
Rated 26 May 2014
92
98th
While Blue Velvet does a wonderful job of illustrating how evil can and does exist everywhere, even more importantly, it shows us that love and happiness has the same ubiquitous quality. Just as love isn't an emotion reserved for the perfect, hatred and evil aren't reserved for the broken. David Lynch continues his track record of astounding directoral vision to bring home one of the most satisfying and surreal experiences I've had in a while.
Rated 20 Dec 2013
92
80th
If audiences walk away from this subversive, surreal shocker not fully understanding the story, they might also walk away with a deeper perception of the potential of film storytelling.
Rated 08 Apr 2013
90
94th
I watched this for the first time almost 5 years ago and wasn't too impressed. During this time it kind of stuck with me and I've finally given it another chance, and I loved it. Perverse but compelling, and one of the frightening things about it is that it seems completely plausible in reality.
Rated 24 Mar 2013
85
86th
.
Rated 11 Jan 2013
84
76th
Heineken isn't so good that it deserves the stare of nostalgia and longing that MacLachlan gives it, but neither is it so bad that it's necessary for Hopper to curse it so angrily.
Rated 10 Jan 2013
95
96th
Like some sort of huge power play with its audience. Making you think you're in control and then pointing out that you most definitely aren't. Making everything seem real one moment, with us completely safe, and then plunging us in to a dream or a nightmare - by the end we aren't sure which it is with the blending of reality and the almost euphoric usage of Mysteries of Love on the soundtrack making even normalcy seem dreamlike. Deeply voyeuristic. Isabella Rossellini is amazing here.
Rated 28 Dec 2012
80
77th
this is great Lynch. this is before Lynch jumped the shark and stop making MOVIES in favor of annoying video-collages who nobody in their right mind can honestly understand or enjoy. yes you heard me.
Rated 12 Dec 2012
90
88th
Frank Booth is the most terrifying villain I've ever seen. What a creepy, chilling and disturbing performance by Dennis Hopper. Yikes. And yet somehow he also has some of the most hilarious lines - maybe it's that unpredictability factor that you just don't see it coming. Isabella Rossellini is also fantastic in a very controversial performance. With Mulholland Dr being one of my favourite films, I kinda knew what to expect, and I've been looking forward to seeing this. This did not disappoint.
Rated 02 Sep 2012
100
98th
What's a boy to do when it's 1'986 already and the fairy-tale world of Lumberton is so close to the most alarming horror film you were never allowed to see? With many other Lynch films before and since, it was not possible to explain the obscure inward action. But with Blue Velvet it was impossible not to try. And it emerged seemingly from nowhere, not just a vision, not just a materpiece, but as American as Casablanca (though less safe).
Rated 19 Aug 2012
75
61st
I didn't expect to see this from David Lynch: Blue Velvet is surrealistic and and weird, but it's also coherent and watchable. Also, Dennis Hopper is awesome in this.
Rated 06 Dec 2011
87
91st
The most coherent Lynch film, and by far the best.
Rated 04 Jul 2011
80
71st
I'll admit, I wasn't as enthusiastically captivated by this as most of the world seems to be, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy it. It's pretty much the best Hardy Boys story ever composed, twisted and mature, but still strangely wholesome in its own way. If anything, it's certainly unique. It's got plenty of the kind of stuff I love in a Lynch movie: baffling yet somehow appropriate elements.
Rated 07 Mar 2011
92
87th
My most favorite voyeur movie ;-)
Rated 11 Feb 2011
95
98th
A beautiful and nightmarish film that only becomes more appreciated upon further viewings.
Rated 13 Oct 2010
91
95th
Frank Booth is one of the scariest movie villains around, any scene that he's not in suffers as a result. Overall, the movie is very creepy and memorable.
Rated 08 Sep 2010
70
57th
Watching "Blue Velvet" is a rather hypnotic experience. David Lynch is a talented director and he proves it several times during "Blue Velvet". The acting is fine and the soundtrack is excellent. However, something feels wrong. Lynch obviously wants to say something, but "Blue Velvet" is too symbolic and weird to have any true resonance. Somehow, it's not endearing enough to get us emotionally involved, and thus care for whatever message its creator tries to convey. Interesting watch, though.
Rated 11 May 2010
10
3rd
I hate this movie. It is trying to hard to be something that it never actually becomes.
Rated 03 May 2010
95
97th
Like other Lynch films, it's unsettling, daring, and surreal. The local radio show reminds us that this is set in Lumberton, the town of "wood", "logs logs logs!", so expect both explicit (as in RAPE) and subtle sexual imagery/undertones. I love that the ending is left open to interpretation. Did this whole mystery adventure really happen, or was everything between the two "ear shots" entirely Jeffrey's Oedipal fetishistic fantasy? Also, Dennis Hopper absolutely kills in his role.
Rated 30 Jan 2010
85
82nd
Creepy and disturbing are the words that come to mind when I think of Blue Velvet. Dennis Hopper plays one of the sickest characters ever portrayed on screen.
Rated 10 Jan 2010
97
99th
Release the helium cut.
Rated 02 Nov 2009
100
99th
So you find an ear in a vacant lot while home from college. Now what are you going to do?
Rated 07 Aug 2009
3
79th
Here's to Ben. HERE'S TO BEN.
Rated 31 Jul 2009
85
83rd
Creepy, weird, original. What else can I say?
Rated 13 May 2009
85
90th
pretty damn great. dennis hopper is so good in this it's scary
Rated 30 Apr 2009
89
81st
Wonderfully bizarre.
Rated 31 Mar 2009
100
97th
I think calling David Lynch's films psycho noir is a big mistake. Doing that muddies the water. Why is this an important film? I'll sum it up in one sentence: This film expresses the derangement of the primitive parts of our brains, as they try to deal with the modern world.
Rated 23 Mar 2009
73
85th
still like a roidy vertigo, but i liked it more after my twin peaks initiation. those alan splet rumblings///
Rated 31 Jan 2009
50
36th
I keep trying to like David Lynch films, but I just don't care for them. I appreciate parts of them, and Dennis Hopper is great as a severely disturbed and scary gangster in this movie, but overall, Lynch just doesn't do it for me.
Rated 30 Jan 2009
100
97th
Pabst.. Blue.. Ribbon!!!!
Rated 03 Jan 2009
58
30th
Maybe I just didn't get it, but this movie was just alright to me. Dennis Hopper was awesome, but that's all I really got out of it. The beginning scene with the guy collapsing and the close ups of bugs underneath just completely threw me off. Unless I missed it I don't think any of that was referred to later. I wasn't totally sure what was going on in the end, and I really didn't get that much out of the movie. I was really hyped up by my friends and dad, maybe I just expected too much.
Rated 08 Sep 2008
83
90th
Chilling, unnerving and convincing all at the same time, this movie picks up the stone that is small-town America and peers at the creepy-crawlies which run around underneath it. This horror movie is carefully plotted and looks great. Probably Lynch's most accessible effort. Lynch also proves that a good director can get a performance out of anybody (Dennis Hopper is actually good in this, if you can believe that)
Rated 27 Jul 2008
91
92nd
The movie rules. Dennis Hopper is genuinely terrifying in the most incredible performance of a bunch of great ones. The way that the worlds of Frank and Jeffrey, that start off so disparate, end up merging together makes for a fantastic ride.
Rated 22 Jun 2008
80
67th
This is one strange and trippy movie. Such a unique and strange movie by David Lynch. The film is sexual and violent, but mostly surreal. Watch the film for the bizarre and psychotic performance by Dennis Hopper. Believe me, you won't forget it.
Rated 17 Apr 2008
100
98th
A brilliantly terrifying twist on the coming-of-age story. Hindsight makes it fun to see Lynch plant the seeds of his other small town epic, "Twin Peaks." Dennis Hopper creates of the most frightening film villains of all time. I can't ever hear Roy Orbison's "In Dreams" the same way again. This is Lynch's very best film.
Rated 26 Mar 2008
32
12th
Utterly forgettable. Literally! A week after seeing it I was unable to recall how it ended, and still cannot to this day. I've never had this happen with any other film. I guess I just didn't care a whit about any of it.
Rated 18 Feb 2008
100
98th
Both beautiful and unnerving, with one of the most entertaining screenplays. Frank Booth is probably my favorite villain. To your fuck.
Rated 23 Jan 2008
60
20th
I haven't seen one David Lynch movie that I like.
Rated 05 Jan 2008
98
94th
Lynch really comes into his own with this film and it defines the next ten years of his career. The themes are later explored in Twin Peaks to a greater degree, but it's still very exciting here, and Frank Booth is more terrifying then any backwards talking little person.

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