The Elephant Man (1980)

David Lynch's second film is about Joseph 'The Elephant Man' Merrick and although the 1980 movie has a black-and-white schlock horror look, Merrick, not a ghoul, really did exist, really did suffer a congenital disorder that left him deformed from an early age, and really was exploited and abused by a freakshow exhibitor before a kind doctor introduced him to (Victorian-era) London high society.

★★★★☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Blue Velvet (1986)

David Lynch's neo-noir cult classic from 1986 pre-dates Twin Peaks and his increasingly mind-bending films of the 90s and is remarkable for its hideous gas-sucking, dry-humping villain, its uniquely Lynchian imagery, its dreamlike scenes - like the one with the dancer on the car rooftop, and the standing lobotomee ' and for helping salvage Kyle MacLachlan's career after the director's much-maligned Dune.

★★★★☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Lost Highway (1997)

Time, identity and memory are at issue in this cryptic headf-, um, puzzle from David Lynch, one in which a terrifying harlequin mystery man (Robert Blake) taunts jazz saxophonist Fred Madison (Bill Pullman) and his 'other', mechanic Pete Dayton (Balthazar Getty) with cryptic messages that hint at personality schisms and dark fears.

★★★★☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEW