Lost Highway (film)

Lost Highway is a 1997 surrealist neo-noir horror film directed by David Lynch, who co-wrote it with Barry Gifford. The film stars Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, and Balthazar Getty, as well as Robert Blake, Jack Nance, and Richard Pryor in their final film roles. It follows a man who receives unmarked VHS tapes showing footage of his home before he is abruptly arrested for his wife's murder, at which point he mysteriously disappears and is replaced by a young man leading a different life.

Financed by French production company Ciby 2000 and Lynch's own Asymmetrical Productions, the film was largely shot in Los Angeles, where Lynch collaborated with cinematographer Peter Deming and frequent producer and editor Mary Sweeney. 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. Angelo Badalamenti and Barry Adamson scored the film, while the soundtrack, produced by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, features selected songs by David Bowie, Lou Reed, and Rammstein, as well as new recordings from Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, and the Smashing Pumpkins.

Lost Highway received mixed reviews upon release, with most critics initially dismissing it as incoherent; it has since been reappraised, garnering a cult following and scholarly interest. It was a box office failure, grossing $3.8 million on a budget of $15 million after a modest three-week run. It is the first of three Lynch films set in Los Angeles, followed by Mulholland Drive (2001) and his final film Inland Empire (2006). The film was adapted into an opera by Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth in 2003.