Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

A man smashes a television as a woman screams.{{Efn|This is later revealed to be the scene where Leland Palmer kills Teresa Banks.}} In Deer Meadow, Washington, police discover the body of Teresa Banks.{{Efn|Teresa's body is discovered under similar conditions as Laura Palmer's body in the pilot of the TV series: floating down a river, wrapped in plastic, with a piece of paper lodged underneath one fingernail.}}

The FBI's Gordon Cole sends Agents Chester Desmond and Sam Stanley to investigate. Unlike the town of Twin Peaks, the locals are cold and unhelpful and the police are hostile. While searching Teresa's home, the agents see a photo of her wearing a strange ring, which has disappeared. Desmond finds the ring, but himself disappears.

At FBI regional headquarters in Philadelphia, Cole and Agents Dale Cooper and Albert Rosenfield are interrupted by the long-disappeared Agent Phillip Jeffries, who recounts a vision of mysterious spirits before vanishing. Cooper searches for Desmond, but learns nothing.

One year later, Laura Palmer juggles her double life. Popular and beautiful, she is Twin Peaks High School's homecoming queen. However, she is traumatized by BOB, a malevolent spirit who has been "having" her since she was twelve. To fuel her cocaine addiction, she dates her drug dealer Bobby Briggs and moonlights as a prostitute. She also cheats on Bobby with James Hurley.

Laura finds that someone has ripped out her diary entries about BOB. She entrusts the diary to Harold Smith.{{Efn|Laura's diary is further discussed in episode 11 of the TV series.}} After two spirits from Jeffries' vision warn her that the "man behind the mask" is in her bedroom, Laura witnesses BOB searching her diary's usual hiding place. When she runs outside, she sees her father Leland instead of BOB, but does not want to believe BOB is her father. At dinner, Leland seems free of BOB's influence, but badgers Laura to tears. After dinner, he tearfully apologizes to Laura.

In a dream, Laura visits the Red Room and meets a future version of Cooper{{Efn|In episode 29 of the TV series, Cooper is trapped in the Red Room and is replaced on Earth by a doppelgänger possessed by BOB.}} and The Man from Another Place, who cryptically calls himself "the arm".{{Efn|In episode 13 of the TV series, BOB's rival MIKE explains that he cut off his human host's arm to rid himself of BOB's influence.}} The Man offers her Teresa's ring, but Cooper tells her to reject it. Annie Blackburn instructs her to write down that "the good Dale is in the Lodge and cannot leave."

Laura travels to Canada with her pimp Jacques Renault and two clients. Her best friend, Donna Hayward, naively follows her to support her. Despite Laura's misgivings, she lets Donna come along. After a client spikes Donna's drink and takes her top off, Laura drags her away. She begs Donna not to become like her.

BOB's rival MIKE confronts Leland in front of Laura. After MIKE brandishes Teresa's ring, Leland recalls killing Teresa, an underage prostitute who resembles Laura. Teresa once recruited Laura to have sex with Leland, but he backed out after seeing Laura.{{Efn|After Teresa's death, Ronette Pulaski tells Laura that Teresa was trying to blackmail someone and wanted to learn more about Laura's father. It is implied that Leland killed Teresa to stop this scheme. Two deleted scenes show Teresa inquiring about Laura's father and giving Leland a phone call. Although the film does not state what Teresa tells Leland, he is visibly disturbed and upset on the other end.}} MIKE tries to tell Laura that Leland is BOB, but Leland causes a din that mostly drowns out MIKE's words. That night, Jacques dispatches Bobby and Laura to pick up some cocaine, but it is actually a sting operation. Bobby kills the policeman responsible.{{Efn|A deleted scene reveals that the package of white powder the policeman was carrying was actually baby laxative.}}

At night, Leland hands his wife Sarah a spiked drink. She hesitates, but finishes the drink at Leland's urging. While Sarah dreams of a pale horse,{{Efn|In episode 14 of the TV series, BOB drugs Sarah again to set up the murder of Maddy Ferguson, and Sarah has a similar vision.}} BOB rapes Laura, and his face turns into Leland's.

The next day, a distressed Laura can barely think. She has a vision in which an angel disappears. She breaks up with James, and Bobby realizes she only dated him for cocaine.

Jacques summons Laura to his cabin for a sex party with Leo Johnson and another underage prostitute, Ronette Pulaski. Jacques rapes Laura. Leland arrives and knocks Jacques unconscious while Leo flees the cabin, then drags the girls to an abandoned train car.

Laura watches her captor's face flicker between Leland and BOB. BOB says that he wants to possess her. Leland shows her the diary pages he tore out and says, "I always thought you knew it was me." A guardian angel helps Ronette escape, while MIKE tosses Laura Teresa's ring. Laura puts on Teresa's ring, distressing Leland. Leland/BOB kills her and throws her body into the river.

In the Red Room, BOB and Leland meet MIKE and the Arm, who demand "garmonbozia" (translated in subtitles as "pain and sorrow") from BOB. In response, BOB draws blood from Leland (who is unaware of his surroundings{{Efn|In episode 16 of the TV series, Leland only appears to regain consciousness of his own actions after he is mortally injured and BOB leaves his body.}}) and spatters it on the floor.

Laura's body floats down the river, where it will be found in the morning. Cooper comforts Laura's spirit in the Red Room. She sees an angel and cries tears of joy.

{{Further|List of Twin Peaks characters}}{{Cast list|

• Sheryl Lee as Laura Palmer
• Ray Wise as Leland Palmer
• Kyle MacLachlan as Special Agent Dale Cooper
• Mädchen Amick as Shelly Johnson
• Dana Ashbrook as Bobby Briggs
• Phoebe Augustine as Ronette Pulaski
• David Bowie as Special Agent Phillip Jeffries
• Eric Da Re as Leo Johnson
• Miguel Ferrer as Special Agent Albert Rosenfield
• Pamela Gidley as Teresa Banks
• Heather Graham as Annie Blackburn
• Chris Isaak as Special Agent Chester Desmond
• Moira Kelly as Donna Hayward
• Peggy Lipton as Norma Jennings
• David Lynch as Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole
• James Marshall as James Hurley
• Jürgen Prochnow as Woodsman
• Harry Dean Stanton as Carl Rodd
• Kiefer Sutherland as Special Agent Sam Stanley
• Lenny Von Dohlen as Harold Smith
• Grace Zabriskie as Sarah Palmer
• Frances Bay as Mrs. Tremond / Mrs. Chalfont
• Catherine E. Coulson as Margaret Lanterman ("The Log Lady")
• Michael J. Anderson as The Man from Another Place
• Frank Silva as Killer BOB
• Walter Olkewicz as Jacques Renault
• Al Strobel as Phillip Michael Gerard / MIKE
• Gary Hershberger as Mike Nelson
• Andrea Hays as Heidi
• Carlton Lee Russell as the Jumping Man
• Rick Aiello as Deputy Howard
• Gary Bullock as Sheriff Cable
• Chris Pedersen as Tommy
• Victor Rivers as Buck
• Calvin Lockhart as The Electrician
• Julee Cruise as Roadhouse Singer

}}

The following actors and characters appear only in deleted scenes, later released as Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces:{{Cite web |last=Cronk |first=Jordan |date=2014-09-16 |title=A Place Beyond the Pines: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, the Missing Pieces, and the Legacy of Brutality |url=https://cinema-scope.com/features/place-beyond-pines-twin-peaks-fire-walk-missing-pieces-legacy-brutality/ |access-date=2025-04-23 |website=Cinema Scope |language=en-US}}

{{Cast list|

• Michael Ontkean as Sheriff Harry S. Truman
• Warren Frost as Dr. Will Hayward
• Everett McGill as Ed Hurley
• Jack Nance as Pete Martell
• Kimmy Robertson as Lucy Moran
• Joan Chen as Josie Packard
• Harry Goaz as Deputy Sheriff Andy Brennan
• Michael Horse as Deputy Sheriff Tommy "Hawk" Hill
• Russ Tamblyn as Dr. Lawrence Jacoby
• Wendy Robie as Nadine Hurley
• Don S. Davis as Major Garland Briggs
• Charlotte Stewart as Betty Briggs
• Mary Jo Deschanel as Eileen Hayward

}}

ABC canceled the Twin Peaks TV series after its second season. The series' production company, Aaron Spelling Productions, considered footing the bill for a third season and distributing the episodes by itself, but balked at the $500,000-an-episode cost.{{Cite web |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/59421 |access-date=June 21, 2021 |website=American Film Institute |archive-date=June 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612011542/https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/59421 |url-status=live }} In February 1991, shortly before Twin Peaks was canceled, David Lynch signed a three-picture deal with French distributor CIBY 2000.{{sfn|Woods|1997|p=142}} Lynch asked CIBY to make a Twin Peaks film, saying that he was "not yet finished with the material".{{cite book |last=Müller |first=Jürgen |title=Best Movies of the 90s |publisher=Taschen |year=2003 |isbn=3-8228-4783-6 |location=New York |pages=64–66}} He also called the film "my cherry-pie present to the fans of the show – however, one that's wrapped in barbed wire".{{Cite web |last=Jackson |first=Matthew |date=March 23, 2017 |title=Why Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is one of the most powerful prequels ever |url=https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-david-lynch |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628041817/https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-david-lynch |archive-date=June 28, 2021 |access-date=June 21, 2021 |website=SYFY WIRE |language=en}}{{cite news |last=Collin |first=Robbie |date=October 13, 2014 |title=Fire Walk With Me: the film that almost killed Twin Peaks |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/11153925/Fire-Walk-With-Me-the-film-that-almost-killed-Twin-Peaks.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/11153925/Fire-Walk-With-Me-the-film-that-almost-killed-Twin-Peaks.html |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |access-date=November 6, 2016 |newspaper=The Telegraph}} Fire Walk with Me was announced just a month after the series was cancelled,{{sfn|Hughes|2001|p=158}} and Lynch finished the film less than a year after it was greenlit.{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=184}}

The film was beset by behind-the-scenes production drama, with CIBY and Spelling fighting over the film rights. Ultimately, Spelling retained most of the international distribution rights, and CIBY acquired distribution rights in France and North America. Although the Los Angeles Times initially reported that Fire Walk with Me would be the first phase of Lynch's three-film deal with CIBY,{{Cite web |last=Dutka |first=Elaine |date=1991-08-18 |title=Lynched: 'Twin Peaks' Meets 'Eraserhead' ... (Well, Kind of) |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-08-18-ca-1090-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205085308/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-08-18-ca-1090-story.html |archive-date=February 5, 2023 |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} the film was removed from the deal and produced separately.{{Cite web |date=1998-08-19 |title=Lynch Law |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/lynch-law/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250220021812/https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/lynch-law/ |archive-date=February 20, 2025 |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=Empire |language=en}}{{sfn|Woods|1997|p=159}} The film had a budget of either $10 or $12 million. By contrast, Lynch's original CIBY deal called for an outlay of $70 million for three films.{{sfn|Woods|1997|p=142}}

Although Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost received an executive producer credit on the film, he was not involved with the film, as he and Lynch disagreed on whether to make a prequel or sequel.{{Cite web |last=Diaz |first=Eric |date=2015-08-30 |title=Twin Peaks Revisited: 'Fire Walk With Me' |url=https://nerdist.com/article/twin-peaks-revisited-fire-walk-with-me/ |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=Nerdist |language=en-US |archive-date=January 19, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250119185926/https://nerdist.com/article/twin-peaks-revisited-fire-walk-with-me/ |url-status=live }} Lynch wanted a prequel because "I was in love with the character of Laura Palmer and her contradictions: radiant on the surface but dying inside".{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=184}} Frost wanted a sequel because he "felt very strongly that our audience wanted to see the story go forward".{{Cite news |last=Canfield |first=David |date=2017-05-04 |title=Between Two Worlds |url=https://slate.com/culture/2017/05/twin-peaks-creators-david-lynch-and-mark-frosts-strange-sublime-collaboration-a-history.html |access-date=2025-02-18 |work=Slate |language=en-US |issn=1091-2339 |archive-date=January 16, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250116220905/https://slate.com/culture/2017/05/twin-peaks-creators-david-lynch-and-mark-frosts-strange-sublime-collaboration-a-history.html |url-status=live }} He proposed starting the film right where the final episode left off.{{Cite web |last=Bahiana |first=Ana Maria |date=2022-08-28 |title=David Lynch's "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me" – 30 Years in the Scary Dream Universe |url=https://goldenglobes.com/articles/david-lynchs-twin-peaks-fire-walk-me-30-years-scary-dream-universe/ |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=Golden Globes |language=en-US |archive-date=October 8, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008100910/https://goldenglobes.com/articles/david-lynchs-twin-peaks-fire-walk-me-30-years-scary-dream-universe/ |url-status=live }} Lynch's vision won out, as CIBY wanted Lynch to be involved. Frost had already grown tense with Lynch during the troubled production of the second season of the TV series. He left the production team, and Lynch hired Robert Engels, who had previously written several episodes of the TV series, to co-write the script. Frost later said that he was impressed by how the film's non-linear narrative managed to combine elements of both prequels and sequels.{{Cite web |last=Tyley |first=Jodie |date=2012-10-18 |title=Twin Peaks: The 45 minutes you never saw |url=https://www.scifinow.co.uk/interviews/twin-peaks-the-45-minutes-you-never-saw/ |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=SciFiNow |language=en-GB |archive-date=February 12, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240212060236/https://www.scifinow.co.uk/interviews/twin-peaks-the-45-minutes-you-never-saw/ |url-status=live }}

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Lynch planned to start filming in August 1991, but Kyle MacLachlan (Dale Cooper) prompted a delay by threatening to pull out. MacLachlan provided various reasons for his reluctance to participate. He was worried about being typecast as a Cooper-esque figure in future productions. In 2000, he added that he "felt a little abandoned" by Lynch and Frost during the second season of the TV series, as the two were simultaneously working on their own projects. He said that he blamed himself for souring his relationship with Lynch.{{Cite news |last=Tozer |first=Paul |date=2000-12-10 |title=I, Claudius |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/dec/10/features.magazine |access-date=2025-02-19 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712 |archive-date=February 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207204604/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/dec/10/features.magazine |url-status=live }} After a month, MacLachlan agreed to return, on condition that he would only appear for five days of shooting. This forced Lynch and Engels to rewrite the first act, which originally had Cooper investigating Teresa Banks' murder.{{Cite web |last=Pappademas |first=Alex |date=2012-08-29 |title=Anatomy of a Fascinating Disaster: Fire Walk With Me |url=https://grantland.com/features/twenty-things-david-lynch-fire-walk-its-20th-anniversary/ |access-date=2025-02-19 |language=en-US |archive-date=February 2, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250202013658/https://grantland.com/features/twenty-things-david-lynch-fire-walk-its-20th-anniversary/ |url-status=live }} MacLachlan later explained that he reduced his involvement because Lynch did not agree to "have a meaningful discussion [with him] about some of those scenes", without providing specifics. Lynch filled in the gap with Chris Isaak, a singer whose songs he had previously used in Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart.{{Cite web |last=Greiving |first=Tim |title=Twisted Nostalgia: Chris Isaak in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me |url=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7652-twisted-nostalgia-chris-isaak-in-twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=The Criterion Collection |language=en |archive-date=December 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241204022751/https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7652-twisted-nostalgia-chris-isaak-in-twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me |url-status=live }} He also cast Pamela Gidley to play Teresa Banks, the young woman whose murder starts the film's narrative; she had previously auditioned for the role of Shelly Johnson that eventually went to Mädchen Amick.{{sfn|Thorne|2016|p=251}}

The film was made without Twin Peaks series regulars Lara Flynn Boyle (Donna Hayward), Sherilyn Fenn (Audrey Horne), and Richard Beymer (Benjamin Horne).{{sfn|Thorne|2016|p=250}} The character of Donna was recast with Moira Kelly, who had worked with Sheryl Lee on Love, Lies, and Murder.{{sfn|Thorne|2016|p=251}} Boyle and Fenn's absences were initially attributed to scheduling conflicts, which Fenn repeated in 2014.{{cite web |url=https://www.avclub.com/article/sherilyn-fenn-talks-david-lynch-and-how-twin-peaks-200898 |title=Sherilyn Fenn talks David Lynch and how Twin Peaks should have ended |work=The A.V. Club |first=Will |last=Harris |date=January 22, 2014 |access-date=January 22, 2014 |archive-date=January 22, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122074412/http://www.avclub.com/article/sherilyn-fenn-talks-david-lynch-and-how-twin-peaks-200898 |url-status=live }} However, Fenn added in 1995 that she did not want to return because she "was extremely disappointed in the way the second season got off track".{{sfn|Hughes|2001|p=158}} A 1997 biography of Lynch said that according to rumor, Boyle declined to return because she felt Lynch's treatment of female characters was misogynistic.{{sfn|Woods|1997|p=149}} Beymer declined to appear, remarking that he was dismayed by a scene in which Ben Horne offers Laura Palmer cocaine for a kiss,{{Cite web |last1=Lynch |first1=David |last2=Engels |first2=Bob |date=1991-08-08 |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Teresa Banks and the Last Seven Days of Laura Palmer – Shooting Draft |url=http://www.lynchnet.com/fwwm/fwwmscript.html |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=www.lynchnet.com |archive-date=June 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190629083441/http://www.lynchnet.com/fwwm/fwwmscript.html |url-status=live }} which he said reduced Ben to "just a coke dealer".{{sfn|Thorne|2016|p=250}} He added that he expected Lynch to cut his "token" appearance from the final edit anyway.{{sfn|Thorne|2016|p=250}} Fenn and Beymer eventually returned to the franchise for Twin Peaks: The Return.{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Frazier |title='Twin Peaks': Too weird, now not weird enough? |url=https://www.augustachronicle.com/story/lifestyle/2017/05/20/twin-peaks-too-weird-now-not-weird-enough/14260152007/ |access-date=2025-02-20 |website=The Augusta Chronicle |language=en-US}}

File:2004-09-05, Twede's Cafe, North Bend, Washington.jpg, but the film was shot on location in Washington state, using many venues from the pilot episode, such as the original Double R Diner.{{Cite magazine |last=Rife |first=Katie |date=2024-03-16 |title=Where was 'Twin Peaks' filmed? The top 5 filming locations from the iconic David Lynch series |url=https://ew.com/where-twin-peaks-was-filmed-8609942 |access-date=2025-04-21 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |language=en}}]]

Principal photography began on September 5, 1991, in Snoqualmie, Washington and lasted for two months, until the end of October. The shoot spent four weeks shooting on location in Washington and another month shooting in the Los Angeles area. In addition to existing filming locations from the TV series, a Seattle building doubled for the FBI office in Philadelphia; the scene in Jacques' cabin was shot at an actual cabin in Angeles National Forest;{{Cite web |title=Filming Locations for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992), in Washington State. |url=https://movie-locations.com/movies/t/Twin-Peaks-Fire-Walk-With-Me.php |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations}} and the scene where Laura dies in the train car was shot on a Los Angeles soundstage. Lynch had scheduled Laura's death scene for the Seattle shoot, but after the shooting went over schedule, the crew had to film Laura's death in Los Angeles on October 31, the last day of shooting.{{cite journal |last=Ferrante |first=Anthony C. |title=The Fire Walkers of Twin Peaks |journal=Fangoria |date=October 1992 |issue=117 |pages=55–57, 68 |url=http://www.davidlynch.de/fangoriafwwm.html |access-date=August 5, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130328110125/http://www.davidlynch.de/fangoriafwwm.html |archive-date=March 28, 2013 }}

Sheryl Lee appreciated the chance to play Laura as she lived, since the TV show had mostly asked her to play Laura in flashbacks. She said that filming the prequel "allowed me to come full circle with the character".{{sfn|Hughes|2001|p=159}} Moreover, according to Lee, she was so intensely focused on the character that she did not start "having my own thoughts again" until two weeks after shooting wrapped.{{Cite web |last=Peterson |first=Blake |date=2023-01-24 |title=How Sheryl Lee Remembers 'Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me' |url=https://www.southsoundmag.com/arts-entertainment/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-capitol-theater-olympia-sheryl-lee-review/article_8dd4ac92-9c14-11ed-b814-2751f8cd735e.html |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=SouthSoundMag.com |language=en |archive-date=January 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240114223546/https://www.southsoundmag.com/arts-entertainment/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-capitol-theater-olympia-sheryl-lee-review/article_8dd4ac92-9c14-11ed-b814-2751f8cd735e.html |url-status=live }}

In addition to MacLachlan's limitation of five days on set, Lynch insisted on casting Gidley even though she was shooting a different film at the same time; she shot her Fire Walk with Me scenes on her free days.{{sfn|Thorne|2016|p=251}} Kiefer Sutherland reportedly sustained facial injuries during the shoot, forcing his scenes to be delayed, although the producers and police denied the claim. David Bowie shot his scenes in four or five days because Tin Machine needed to rehearse for their upcoming tour.{{Cite web |last=Macdonald |first=Patrick |date=1991-12-20 |title=Beaming Bowie Excited About Current Direction Of His Life, Music |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19911220/1324047/beaming-bowie-excited-about-current-direction-of-his-life-music |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Seattle Times |archive-date=February 17, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250217192336/https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19911220/1324047/beaming-bowie-excited-about-current-direction-of-his-life-music |url-status=live }} He was not pleased with his Southern accent, and asked Lynch and Frost to overdub his lines when they used archive footage from the film in Twin Peaks: The Return.{{Cite web |last=Cook-Wilson |first=Winston |date=2017-09-19 |title=David Bowie Asked David Lynch to Overdub His Southern Accent in the New Twin Peaks |url=https://www.spin.com/2017/09/david-lynch-david-bowie-twin-peaks-southern-accent/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=SPIN |language=en-US |archive-date=December 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231205053821/https://www.spin.com/2017/09/david-lynch-david-bowie-twin-peaks-southern-accent/ |url-status=live }} In addition, Lynch himself was dealing with a hernia "during the entire shoot"; he had injured himself while laughing too hard at something funny that Angelo Badalamenti did.{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=184-85}}

Lynch originally shot more than five hours of footage, which he cut down to two hours and fourteen minutes.{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Kevin P. |date=March 2002 |title=Still Burning Strong: The Cast of Fire Walk With Me Wakes Up To Find The Twin Peaks Phenomenon Is Not A Dream |url=http://www.lynchnet.com/fwwm/tmfwwm.html |access-date=August 5, 2012 |publisher=Total Movie and Entertainment Magazine |via=Lynchnet.com |archive-date=June 1, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120601005740/http://www.lynchnet.com/fwwm/tmfwwm.html |url-status=live }} There were also rumors of a 220-minute cut.{{Cite web |last=Phipps |first=Keith |date=2014-08-05 |title=The unfixable enigma of Twin Peaks |url=https://thedissolve.com/features/exposition/690-the-unfixable-enigma-of-twin-peaks/ |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=The Dissolve |archive-date=November 6, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241106180942/https://thedissolve.com/features/exposition/690-the-unfixable-enigma-of-twin-peaks/ |url-status=live }} The deleted scenes were more lighthearted than Laura Palmer's story,{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=185}} and mainly featured supporting characters from the television series.{{cite web |last=Horowitz |first=Josh |date=August 22, 2007 |title=David Lynch On His Empire, Turning Down Jedi — And Cooking Quinoa |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1567556/david-lynch-on-turning-down-jedi-8212-cooking-quinoa.jhtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110207031005/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1567556/david-lynch-on-turning-down-jedi-8212-cooking-quinoa.jhtml |archive-date=February 7, 2011 |access-date=August 5, 2012 |publisher=MTV}} Lynch said that "you'd like to have everybody there" and that he felt "a little bit of a sadness" about removing the scenes,{{cite news |last=MacInnis |first=Craig |date=August 28, 1992 |title=Panned at Cannes: Peaks prequel proves it was Lynch who killed Laura |newspaper=Toronto Star}} which were eventually released in 2014 as Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces.

Lynch, who had final cut on the film,{{Cite web |last=Wise |first=Damon |date=2018-08-20 |title=Encore: David Lynch Refuses To Explain 'Twin Peaks: The Return' — "Ideas Came, And This Is What They Presented" |url=https://deadline.com/2018/08/twin-peaks-the-return-david-lynch-interview-showtime-emmys-news-1202407985/ |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=Deadline |language=en-US}} denied making the cuts for runtime reasons.{{sfn|Lynch|2018|p=324}} However, he recognized that there was a "limit on the running time", and opted to focus the film on Laura Palmer, explaining that the deleted scenes "were too tangential to keep the main story progressing properly".{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=185}} At the film's premiere, he said that someone who had not watched the TV series should still be able to understand the film. He argued that while a first-time viewer might not have the same understanding as a TV watcher, "abstractions are a good thing and they exist all around us anyway".{{Cite web |last=Thompson |first=Jay Daniel |date=2005-07-22 |title=David Lynch Interviews edited by Richard A. Barney – Senses of Cinema |url=https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2011/book-reviews/david-lynch-interviews-edited-by-richard-a-barney/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |language=en-US |archive-date=December 5, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241205135153/https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2011/book-reviews/david-lynch-interviews-edited-by-richard-a-barney/ |url-status=live }} Film critic Keith Phipps questioned this view, explaining that although "the movie demand[s] to be seen on its own terms", a person who had not seen the series would find the film "nearly incomprehensible".

According to Lynch, the movie is about "the loneliness, shame, guilt, confusion and devastation of the victim of incest."{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=185}} After the film's release, Lynch told Chris Rodley that he received many letters from victims of parental sexual abuse, who "were puzzled as to how he could have known exactly what it was like."{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=xii}} Rodley said that although the character of BOB was an abstraction of Laura's story, "it was recognized as faithful to the subjective experience."{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=xii}} Sheryl Lee said that many victims of incest told her they were "glad that [the film] was made because it helped them to release a lot."{{sfn|Hughes|2001|p=179}}

Lynch also highlighted the parents' role in Laura's trauma. He wanted to show Leland's internal conflict about his crimes, explaining that there was a "war in him."{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=185}} The series implies that Leland had been sexually abused as a child and that he is "repeating a cycle of abuse," which only Laura manages to stop.{{sfn|Hallam|2018|p=85–94}} Lynch also wanted viewers to "put [themselves] in [Sarah Palmer's] place," as the film suggests that Sarah may have had some awareness of her husband's crimes.{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=186-87}} Grace Zabriskie, who portrayed Sarah, said that her character "stood there and watched" and "said nothing," as "she knows she can't protect Laura."{{Cite book |last=Stallings |first=Courtenay |title=Laura's Ghost: Women Speak about Twin Peaks |title-link=Laura's Ghost |date=2020 |publisher=Fayetteville Mafia Press |isbn=978-1-949024-08-1 |edition= |location=New York |pages=204–206}} Lynch suggested that Sarah may have felt that "it's better just to wait and hope that it stops, or that he's caught by someone else."{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=186-87}}

The film highlights the use of storytelling and dreaming as a way to process trauma. Several critics have noted that the film is more ambiguous than the TV series about what BOB is and how much power BOB actually has over Leland. According to Keith Phipps (The Dissolve), Dennis Lim (Film at Lincoln Center), and Owen Gleiberman (Entertainment Weekly), BOB can be interpreted as Laura's "elaborate fantasy system protecting her from realizing her father is her abuser," although Phipps caveats that BOB is also "a real, malevolent force being investigated by the FBI."{{Cite book |last=Lim |first=Dennis |url= |title=David Lynch: The Man from Another Place |publisher=New Harvest/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-544-34375-7 |location=Boston |pages=119–20}} An alternative explanation, suggested by Alex Pappademas (Grantland), is that Leland Palmer is schizophrenic and that BOB is a manifestation of one side of his personality. Jeff Jensen (Entertainment Weekly) simply says that the film tries "to re-mystify" Leland's relationship with BOB, which was "too literal or specific" on television.{{Cite magazine |last=Jensen |first=Jeff |date=2017-05-16 |title=The Unfulfilling Twin Peaks Movie Holds a Key to the Showtime Revival. Here's Why. |url=https://ew.com/movies/2017/05/16/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-david-lynch-showtime-revival/ |access-date=2025-02-28 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |language=en}} Laura Plummer (Indiana University) wrote that Fire Walk with Me draws on a much older strand of fairytales, including Giambattista Basile's 1636 story "Sun, Moon, and Talia" (an ancestor of Sleeping Beauty), which, she argues, also has undercurrents of parental incest.{{Cite journal |last=Plummer |first=Laura |date=1997 |title="I'm Not Laura Palmer": David Lynch's Fractured Fairy Tale |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43796811 |journal=Literature/Film Quarterly |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=309 |jstor=43796811 |issn=0090-4260}}

Regardless of BOB's specific nature, Pappademas and Lindsay Hallam (University of East London) argue that the film's ambiguity about BOB is more satisfying than the interpretation offered by the series, because by squarely attributing Leland's crimes to demonic possession, the series appears to absolve him of responsibility for them.{{efn|Ray Wise said that Lynch's initial plans for Leland's death scene on the TV series involved Leland seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, where Laura was waiting to forgive him.{{Cite web |last=Shoemaker |first=Allison |date=2017-07-11 |title=Ray Wise Revisits Twin Peaks and Sings "Mairzy Doats" |url=https://consequence.net/2017/07/ray-wise-revisits-twin-peaks-and-sings-mairzy-doats/ |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Consequence |language=en |archive-date=June 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605230444/https://consequence.net/2017/07/ray-wise-revisits-twin-peaks-and-sings-mairzy-doats/ |url-status=live }} In the broadcast version, the dying Leland tells Dale Cooper that he sees a vision of Laura in light and that Laura is "beautiful," but the vision is not depicted on screen.}}{{sfn|Hallam|2018|p=27–74}} Pappademas hypothesizes that the series treated BOB as a supernatural being because Fire Walk with Me{{'}}s version of the story was "too bleak for television." Hallam adds that in the film, Laura rejects BOB's invitation to become his host, thereby showing that Leland had "a choice ... in allowing [BOB] and the forces of evil to overtake [him]."{{sfn|Hallam|2018|p=75–84}}

According to David Foster Wallace, the film portrays Laura as a "complex, contradictory, real" person, "both sinned-against and sinning," which "required of us an empathetic confrontation with the exact same muddy bothness in ourselves."{{Cite journal |last=Franke |first=Damon |date=2020 |title=Nostalgia and the Kiss of Ulysses in Twin Peaks |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/48717967 |journal=European Joyce Studies |volume=29 |pages=141–42 |jstor=48717967 |issn=0923-9855}} Wallace suggested that one of the reasons Fire Walk with Me performed poorly at the box office was that American mass audiences were uncomfortable with Laura's moral ambiguity and wanted Lynch to condemn her for the various crimes she commits in the film. He argued that filmgoers generally go to the movies for a respite from the ambiguity of real life, which Fire Walk with Me does not allow.

The film incorporates Christian iconography but also questions it. Early in the film, a depressed Laura predicts to Donna Hayward that angels will abandon her. Ron Garcia, the film's cinematographer, explained that he shot the scene at a high angle, as though "an unseen angel [was] looking down on the evil events below."{{sfn|Hughes|2001|p=159}}{{sfn|Hallam|2018|p=27–74}} In a portion of the scene that was removed from the final cut and released in 2014, Donna's father Will reassures Laura that "the angels will return, and when you see the one that's meant to help you, you will weep with joy."{{Cite web |last=Yoor |first=Kelsey |date=2025-01-23 |title=David Lynch's Most Violent And Mournful Film Was A TV Series Prequel |url=https://www.cbr.com/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-david-lynch-most-violent-film/ |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=CBR |language=en |archive-date=January 26, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250126125446/https://www.cbr.com/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-david-lynch-most-violent-film/ |url-status=live }}{{Efn|Matt Fagerholm (RogerEbert.com) believes that the scene was cut because while Hayward "explicitly states the meaning" of the film's ending, "Lynch wants us to intuit its meaning, as a true artist does."{{Cite web |last=Fagerholm |first=Matt |date=2022-05-12 |title=The Space Left on the Screen is For You to Fill: Scott Ryan on Fire Walk With Me: Your Laura Disappeared |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/the-space-left-on-the-screen-is-for-you-to-fill-scott-ryan-on-fire-walk-with-me-your-laura-disappeared |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=www.rogerebert.com |language=en-US |archive-date=January 24, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250124062712/https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/the-space-left-on-the-screen-is-for-you-to-fill-scott-ryan-on-fire-walk-with-me-your-laura-disappeared |url-status=live }}}}

At the end of the film, after Laura is killed, she is indeed welcomed by an angel. This ending resembles that of The Elephant Man, where Merrick's mother appears as an angel to welcome her son.{{Cite journal |last1=Kapurch |first1=Katie |last2=Smith |first2=Jon Marc |date=2019 |title=A Fear So Real: Film Noir's Fallen Man in Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town and the David Lynch Oeuvre |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/intelitestud.21.1.0089 |journal=Interdisciplinary Literary Studies |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=89–108 |doi=10.5325/intelitestud.21.1.0089 |jstor=10.5325/intelitestud.21.1.0089 |issn=1524-8429 |archive-date=September 12, 2024 |access-date=February 18, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240912104457/https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/intelitestud.21.1.0089 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }} More broadly, the guardian angel and similar entities are a semi-frequent motif in Lynch films, such as Eraserhead and Wild at Heart.{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=88}}{{sfn|Hughes|2001|p=164}} However, this motif is more complicated than it first appears. Katie Kapurch and Jon Marc Smith argue that the film repeatedly emphasizes that angels "did nothing to protect Laura" during her life, while Lindsay Hallam suggests that the angels were silent because they knew all along that Laura was strong enough "to reach this point of redemption on her own."{{sfn|Hallam|2018|p=27–74}}

The film was noted for its stylistic divergence from the TV series, which was a soap opera with fantastic elements and a "cosy eccentricity," in contrast to Lynch's frequently-surrealistic feature films.{{Cite web |last=O'Brien |first=Steve |date=2022-08-25 |title=How 'Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me' nearly killed David Lynch's career |url=https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-nearly-killed-david-lynchs-career-090429541.html |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=uk.movies.yahoo.com |language=en-GB |archive-date=February 17, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250217175902/https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-nearly-killed-david-lynchs-career-090429541.html |url-status=live }} Chris Hughes writes that the film's more surrealist sequences were influenced by Jean Cocteau's film The Blood of a Poet (1932).{{sfn|Hughes|2001|p=163}}

Mary Sweeney, the film's editor, said that fans "so badly wanted it to be like the TV show, and it wasn't. It was a David Lynch feature. And people were very angry about it. They felt betrayed."{{sfn|Hughes|2001|p=179}} Looking back in 2017, Matthew Jackson (Syfy) said that the film had "all of the darkness of Twin Peaks with almost none of the soap opera irony, quirky humor or disorienting charm." Lindsay Hallam attributes the initial negative reaction to the fact that "Lynch does not let [the audience] off the hook – we are taken so far into Laura's experience, without any respite."{{cite web |last=Conterio |first=Martyn |date=September 2, 2017 |title=Fire Walk With Me: how David Lynch's film went from laughing stock to the key to Twin Peaks |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2017/sep/02/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-david-lynch |access-date=May 23, 2020 |work=The Guardian |archive-date=January 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200116045324/https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2017/sep/02/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-david-lynch |url-status=live }}

In a reversal of the usual practice, the film was first released in Japan on May 16, 1992 to capitalize on the show's devoted Japanese fanbase,{{sfn|Lynch|2018|p=311}}{{Cite news |last=Pollack |first=Andrew |date=1992-08-02 |title=Export News: 'Twin Peaks' Mania Peaks in Japan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/02/movies/film-export-news-twin-peaks-mania-peaks-in-japan.html |access-date=2025-02-17 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 2, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250202212326/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/02/movies/film-export-news-twin-peaks-mania-peaks-in-japan.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Boyle |first=Michael |date=2022-08-28 |title=David Lynch Has Always Loved Fire Walk With Me, Even When Nobody Else Did |url=https://www.slashfilm.com/983776/david-lynch-has-always-loved-fire-walk-with-me-even-when-nobody-else-did/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=SlashFilm |language=en-US |archive-date=January 14, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250114195754/https://www.slashfilm.com/983776/david-lynch-has-always-loved-fire-walk-with-me-even-when-nobody-else-did/ |url-status=live }} under the title Twin Peaks: The Last Seven Days of Laura Palmer.{{cite journal |last=Regelman |first=Karen |date=May 26, 1992 |title=Japanese piqued by Peaks as picture opens in theaters |journal=Variety}} Although Japanese reviews were mixed,{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=Dana |date=1992-06-21 |title=They Really Care Who Killed Laura Palmer |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-06-21-ca-1552-story.html |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |archive-date=January 23, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250123002254/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-06-21-ca-1552-story.html |url-status=live }} the film was greeted with long lines of moviegoers at theaters. By early August, the film had grossed around $2.9 million. According to cinematographer Ron Garcia, Japanese women particularly appreciated the film. He believed "that the enthusiasm of the Japanese women comes from a gratification of seeing in Laura some acknowledgment of their suffering in a repressive society."{{cite book |last=Nochimson |first=Martha P. |title=The Passion of David Lynch: Wild at Heart in Hollywood |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=1997}}

After an early premiere at the Snoqualmie Twin Peaks Festival on August 14–16, 1992, New Line Cinema released the film in the United States on August 28, 1992. It grossed a total of US$1.8 million in 691 theaters in its opening weekend and went on to gross a total of $4.2 million in North America,{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=twinpeaksfirewalkwithme.htm |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) – Box Office Mojo |work=Box Office Mojo |access-date=August 5, 2012 |archive-date=March 10, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310173424/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=twinpeaksfirewalkwithme.htm |url-status=live }} well below its estimated $15 million break-even point.{{Cite web |last=Weinstein |first=Steve |date=1992-08-28 |title=Will 'Peaks Freaks' Light Up 'Fire' at the Box Office? |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-08-28-ca-6182-story.html |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} (New Line had paid $6 million for the North American distribution rights.) Although the film did not bomb in France,{{sfn|Woods|1997|p=158}} the disappointing worldwide box office prompted CIBY to cancel its plans for a proper film sequel to the television series.{{Sfn|Hughes|2001|p=180}}

The film's poor box office returns in North America have been attributed to various causes. Steve O'Brien (Yahoo Movies) pointed out that the series had already been cancelled due to low ratings, meaning that "it's not as if there was a public thirst for more Twin Peaks." Lynch suggested that there might have still been an audience for the film at the time it was greenlit, but lamented that "during the year that it took to make the film, everything changed."{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=184}} In fact, shortly before the film was released in the United States, The New York Times remarked that American interest in the series had "long [since] ... faded."

The film also alienated its remaining viewers because it was not a conventional continuation of the television series, focused on a character who rarely appeared in the show, and omitted many fan-favorite characters.{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=156}} It intentionally disregarded many hanging threads from season two of the TV series,{{Cite web |last= |first= |title='I Saw the TV Glow' Director Jane Schoenbrun's Top 5 |url=https://aframe.oscars.org/what-to-watch/post/jane-schoenbrun-top-5-exclusive |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=Academy Newsletter |language=en |archive-date=February 17, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250217175902/https://aframe.oscars.org/what-to-watch/post/jane-schoenbrun-top-5-exclusive |url-status=live }} even though the series left "numerous cliffhangers."{{Cite web |last=Simon |first=Brent |date=2022-08-27 |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me: How David Lynch's film finally found redemption after 30 years |url=https://www.avclub.com/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-30-year-anniversary-review-1849453689 |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=AV Club |language=en-US}} At the same time, the film assumes a working understanding of the TV series. For example, the first act of the film focuses on the town of Deer Meadow, whose effect on the audience comes from being "a parallel-universe version" of the town of Twin Peaks, but "dumber, meaner, [and] uglier."

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me was entered into the 1992 Cannes Film Festival in competition for the Palme d'Or,{{cite web |title=Festival de Cannes: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/21/year/1992.html |access-date=August 5, 2012 |work=festival-cannes.com |archive-date=October 4, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004164734/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/21/year/1992.html |url-status=live }} where it was met with a polarized response.{{cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |date=May 24, 1992 |title=David Lynch, once again at the 'Peak' of controversy |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times}} According to Lynch, CIBY's Francis Bouygues was not well-liked in France, which complicated the reception.{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=190}} Lynch said that when he arrived at Cannes, he felt a hostile environment and could feel that "people [were] very angry and upset."{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=189}} He added that the Cannes audience booed the film, describing the experience as "horrible", although co-writer Robert Engels denied hearing any boos.{{Cite web |last=Kelley |first=Shamus |date=June 15, 2017 |title=Was Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me Really Booed At Cannes? |url=https://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/twin-peaks/265718/was-twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-really-booed-at-cannes |access-date=June 18, 2017 |website=Den of Geek |archive-date=June 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170617231401/http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/twin-peaks/265718/was-twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-really-booed-at-cannes |url-status=live }} Contemporary news reports mention a mixture of "booing and applause"{{Cite web |last=Turan |first=Kenneth |date=1992-05-18 |title=Lynch's 'Fire Walk' Stirs a Mixture of Passions at Cannes |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-05-18-ca-196-story.html |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} and some "hoots and whistles."Comte, Jean-Michel. "Another Vietnam Movie for Stone; Lynch Presents 'Twin Peaks' ". Associated Press, May 16, 1992.

Critics at Cannes were generally unimpressed by the film. Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times), who deemed the film "shockingly bad," reported that he spoke with over a dozen U.S. and Canadian critics at Cannes and only one liked the film.{{sfn|Thorne|2016|p=266-67}} Janet Maslin (The New York Times) dismissed the film as "disastrous", "pathologically unpleasant", and "brain-dead grotesque".{{Cite news |last=Maslin |first=Janet |date=1992-05-18 |title=Critic's Notebook; Lament At Cannes: Rarities Are Rare |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/18/movies/critic-s-notebook-lament-at-cannes-rarities-are-rare.html |access-date=2025-02-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino said that while he had enjoyed Lynch's earlier movies, Fire Walk with Me made him think "David Lynch had disappeared so far up his own ass that I have no desire to see another David Lynch movie until I hear something different."{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c5SdiFJmswcC |title=Quentin Tarantino: Interviews |date=August 1, 1998 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |isbn=9781578060511 |editor-last=Peary |editor-first=Gerald |page=48 |access-date=August 5, 2012}}

Despite its mixed critical and poor commercial response, Fire Walk with Me received consideration for several awards, particularly for Angelo Badalamenti's musical score. At the 19th Saturn Awards, the film won the award for Best Music{{Cite web |last=Klady |first=Leonard |date=1993-06-09 |title='Dracula' wins big at Saturn Awards |url=https://variety.com/1993/film/news/dracula-wins-big-at-saturn-awards-107636/ |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=Variety |language=en-US}} and was also nominated for Best Horror Film,{{Cite web |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me |url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me/2030011633/ |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=TVGuide.com |language=en}} Best Actress (Sheryl Lee),{{Cite web |title=Sheryl Lee |url=https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/sheryl-lee/bio/3030097602/ |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=TVGuide.com |language=en}} Best Supporting Actor (Ray Wise),{{Cite web |title=Ray Wise |url=https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/ray-wise/bio/3030418577/ |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=TVGuide.com |language=en}} and Best Writing.{{Cite web |title=David Lynch |url=https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/david-lynch/bio/3000054800/ |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=TVGuide.com |language=en}} At the 8th Independent Spirit Awards, the film won the award for Best Original Score{{Cite web |last=Fox |first=David J. |date=1993-03-29 |title=Independent Spirit Awards Lives Up to Its Name |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-03-29-ca-16653-story.html |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} and was also nominated for Best Female Lead (Lee).{{Cite web |last=Fox |first=David J. |date=1993-01-19 |title='Lodging,' 'False Move' Top Independent Nominees |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-01-19-ca-1594-story.html |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}

Although Lynch expected the film to be polarizing and said it would be impossible to make a movie that appealed to everyone,{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqVjWiH7_b8 |title=David Lynch & Kyle MacLachlan – Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me interview 1992 |date=2025-01-28 |last=aidan p |access-date=2025-02-18 |via=YouTube}} reviews from American critics were generally negative.{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=184}} New Line Cinema declined to pre-screen the film for critics, which the Los Angeles Times called "at the very least, unusual."{{Cite web |last=Allman |first=Kevin |date=1992-08-28 |title='Twin Peaks' Pique: No Film Screening for L.A. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-08-28-vw-6201-story.html |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |archive-date=March 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316163532/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-08-28-vw-6201-story.html |url-status=live }} The Times surmised that New Line withheld the film because industry insiders considered it "an unqualified disaster" and "expected bad reviews." When the film did hit theaters, The New York Times recalled that "film critics who sat through it left theaters and screening rooms thirsting for vengeance."{{Cite news |last=Grimes |first=William |date=1995-05-31 |title=The Adventure Is Back for David Lynch |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/31/movies/the-adventure-is-back-for-david-lynch.html |access-date=2025-02-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 9, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250209100356/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/31/movies/the-adventure-is-back-for-david-lynch.html |url-status=live }}

{{Quote box

| quote = It's not the worst movie ever made; it just seems to be.

| source = Vincent Canby for The New York Times

| align = left

| width = 300px

}}

Vincent Canby (The New York Times) severely panned the film, saying that it "induce[d] a state of simulated brain death".{{Cite news |last=Canby |first=Vincent |date=1992-08-29 |title=One Long Last Gasp For Laura Palmer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/29/movies/review-film-one-long-last-gasp-for-laura-palmer.html |access-date=2025-02-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=January 27, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250127052734/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/29/movies/review-film-one-long-last-gasp-for-laura-palmer.html |url-status=live }} Rita Kempley (The Washington Post) condemned "Lynch's pretentiousness", describing the film as a "perversely moving, profoundly self-indulgent prequel" with "weirdly fundamentalist" religious imagery.{{cite news |last=Kempley |first=Rita |date=August 29, 1992 |title='Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me' (R) |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/twinpeaksfirewalkwithmerkempley_a0a2db.htm |access-date=August 5, 2012 |newspaper=The Washington Post |archive-date=August 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810021504/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/twinpeaksfirewalkwithmerkempley_a0a2db.htm |url-status=live }} Other critics who harshly criticized the film included Dave Kehr ("simplistic, puritanical", "depressingly interminable", and "proudly naive"),{{Cite web |last=Kehr |first=Dave |date=1992-08-28 |title=Past its Peak |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1992/08/28/past-its-peak/ |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Chicago Tribune |language=en-US}} Owen Gleiberman ("a true folly—almost nothing in it adds up"),{{Cite magazine |last=Gleiberman |first=Owen |date=1992-09-11 |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me |url=https://ew.com/article/1992/09/11/twin-peaks-fire-walk-me/ |access-date=2025-02-19 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |language=en |archive-date=February 22, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250222004555/https://ew.com/article/1992/09/11/twin-peaks-fire-walk-me/ |url-status=live }} and Janis Froelich ("it's trauma cinema ... never has a beginning so dishonored the ensuing story").{{Cite web |last=Froelich |first=Janis D. |date=1992-09-01 |title=Laura Palmer R.I.P. |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1992/09/01/laura-palmer-r-i-p/ |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=Tampa Bay Times |language=en}}

Several critics submitted more measured, if still negative, reviews. Todd McCarthy (Variety) questioned the need for a prequel, suggesting that while the film was "sometimes captivating", everyone watching the film knew Leland Palmer was the killer, and Laura felt more like a "tiresome teenager" than a "compelling character."{{cite journal |last=McCarthy |first=Todd |date=May 17, 1992 |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me |journal=Variety |url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117901516?refcatid=31 |access-date=August 5, 2012 |archive-date=November 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107185127/http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117901516?refcatid=31 |url-status=live }} Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) wrote that the film was "no match for the two-hour TV pilot" and that "Lynch's control falters", but remained hopeful for future Lynch films.{{cite magazine |last=Travers |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Travers |date=April 18, 2001 |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-20010418 |access-date=August 5, 2012 |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-date=November 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115001349/http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-20010418 |url-status=live }} Michael Wilmington (Los Angeles Times) asserted that the film "isn't a superior movie" on its own, but argued that the combination of the film and series was "a pop-cultural landmark, with all the bad taste and high style required."{{Cite web |last=Wilmington |first=Michael |date=1992-09-01 |title=Lynch Takes Another 'Walk' on the Wild Side |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-09-01-ca-6710-story.html |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |archive-date=December 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241218221609/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-09-01-ca-6710-story.html |url-status=live }}

Several critics who had praised Lynch's earlier films simply declined to review Fire Walk with Me, including Richard Corliss, David Ansen, and Gene Siskel.{{sfn|Thorne|2016|p=266}} One of the few American critics who publicly defended the film was Steve Erickson (LA Weekly), who wrote that while the film's first act was marred by "extraneous weirdness and sophomoric symbolism", Laura Palmer's story was "remarkable and disturbingly authentic." He questioned why the film community was so quick to attack the film, explaining that "we're happy to ... celebrate genius when all it means is some kind of kooky eccentricity", but "when that genius insists on its own dark audacity", the community treats it like "radioactive waste". He concluded that "people are ultimately appalled not by [the film's] badness but its integrity."{{Cite journal |last=Erickson |first=Steve |date=September 11–17, 1992 |title=Ring of Fire: David Lynch keeps his end of the bargain |journal=LA Weekly |pages=33–34}} In 1998, critic Manohla Dargis (also LA Weekly) called Erickson's review "one of the bravest pieces of film criticism I've read".{{cite news |last=Dargis |first=Manohla |title=They Lost It at the Movies |magazine=L.A. Weekly |url=https://www.laweekly.com/they-lost-it-at-the-movies-2/ |issue=November 18, 1998 |archive-date=June 9, 2021 |access-date=June 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609192712/https://www.laweekly.com/they-lost-it-at-the-movies-2/ |url-status=live }} Jay Boyar (Orlando Sentinel) also praised the film, calling its unvarnished portrayal of Laura Palmer's suffering "sensationally strong". He acknowledged that the film would have trouble finding its audience, as it alienated both fans of the series and non-fans of the series, but concluded that someone who both had "seen most of the series" and "was willing to let go of the series" could fully appreciate "the movie's dramatically different perspective".{{Cite web |last=Boyar |first=Jay |date=1992-08-31 |title='Twin Peaks,' The Movie, Is a Stronger Brew |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1992/08/31/twin-peaks-the-movie-is-a-stronger-brew/ |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=Orlando Sentinel |language=en-US}}

British critics were somewhat more positive about the film. Kim Newman (Sight & Sound) praised the film for going beyond the "tidy, conventional and domesticated" cliches of contemporary horror movies, as well as Lynch's decision to make a prequel film, as the TV series also "rak[ed] over the ashes of the past".{{cite news |last=Newman |first=Kim |author-link=Kim Newman |date=November 1992 |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me |url=https://archive.org/details/Sight_and_Sound_1992_11_BFI_GB/page/n53/ |magazine=Sight & Sound |pages=53–54 |via=Internet Archive |volume=2 |issue=7}} Jeff Dawson (Empire) added that while the film was "quite probably" on some level "pretentious codswallop", the film was a "triumph" and Lynch's "darkest, most disturbing film to date".{{Cite web |last=Dawson |first=Jeff |date= February 2, 2006|title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/twin-peaks-fire-walk-review/ |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=Empire |language=en}} However, not all British critics praised the film. Alexander Walker (Evening Standard) wrote that "the whole production exudes a contempt for viewers". Barry Norman (BBC) said that while he felt "seething irritation" while watching the film, it began to "ma[k]e a kind of sense" to him over time, and his opinion was improving. He cautioned that Lynch was "a very original filmmaker, and since there are so few of those about, we ought perhaps to give him the benefit of the doubt, and indulge him a little."{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITmWBrMLR5w|title=Barry Norman reviews Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304222126/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITmWBrMLR5w&gl=US&hl=en |archive-date=March 4, 2018|website=Film '92 on YouTube.com|date=July 2017 |access-date=May 5, 2020}}{{Cite web |last=David WG |date=2025-02-15 |title=Barry Norman reviews Fire Walk With Me. Hated it but admits to some level of respect. Still the GOAT. |url=https://x.com/DA_WooGo/status/1890977133477978120 |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=Twitter}}

{{Blockquote|

Fire Walk with Me was a beautiful experience, in a way. When you're down, when you've been kicked down in the street, and then kicked a few more times till you're really bleeding and some teeth are out, then you really only have up to go. It's so beautiful to be down there.

|Lynch in 1997{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=242}}}}

In Lynch on Lynch (1997), Chris Rodley wrote that "only now is the movie enjoying a degree of cautious but sympathetic critical re-evaluation."{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=185}} The trend grew more visible by the mid-2000s. In 2002, Ed Gonzalez (Slant Magazine) gave the film four out of four stars.{{cite web |last=Gonzalez |first=Ed |date=March 1, 2002 |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me/362 |access-date=August 5, 2012 |website=Slantmagazine.com |archive-date=October 22, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022185619/http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me/362 |url-status=live }} In 2003, Slant also included the film in its list of "100 Essential Films."{{cite web |date=January 15, 2003 |title=100 Essential Films |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/feature/100-essential-films/122 |access-date=August 5, 2012 |work=Slant Magazine |archive-date=March 3, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100303175943/http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/feature/100-essential-films/122 |url-status=live }} In 2007, critic Mark Kermode (The Guardian) told Lynch that while contemporary critics "didn't just dislike [the film], they were actively hostile towards it," today "people feel it's actually a masterpiece."{{cite web |last=Kermode |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Kermode |date=February 8, 2007 |title=David Lynch |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/feb/08/davidlynch |access-date=August 5, 2012 |work=The Guardian}}

Fire Walk with Me has maintained its reputation in the 2010s and 2020s; in 2014, Robbie Collin (The Telegraph) wrote that "time has passed, and its brilliance is gradually coming into focus, just as Lynch hoped it would." Following Lynch's death in 2025, Esther Zuckerman (The New York Times) called the film "revered."{{Cite news |last=Zuckerman |first=Esther |date=2025-01-17 |title=12 Cryptic Titles From David Lynch and Where You Can Stream Them |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/movies/david-lynch-films-streaming.html |access-date=2025-02-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 3, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250203175631/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/movies/david-lynch-films-streaming.html |url-status=live }} The film placed highly on several retrospective rankings of 1990s films, including #4 by the British Film Institute (2019),{{Cite web |last=Simpson |first=Andrew |date=2019-07-18 |title=90 great films of the 1990s |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/90-great-films-1990s |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=British Film Institute |language=en |archive-date=July 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210719124320/https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/90-great-films-1990s |url-status=live }} #11 by Slant magazine (2012),{{Cite web |last=Coldiron |first=Phil |date=2012-11-05 |title=The 100 Greatest Movies of the 1990s |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-100-best-films-of-the-1990s/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Slant Magazine |language=en-US |archive-date=November 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111231924/http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/feature/the-100-best-films-of-the-1990s/334/page_9 |url-status=live }} #18 by IndieWire (2022),{{Cite web |last1=Ehrlich |first1=David |last2=Erbland |first2=Kate |last3=Kohn |first3=Eric |date=2022-08-15 |title=The 100 Best Movies of the '90s |url=https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/best-90s-movies/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=IndieWire |language=en-US |archive-date=March 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306183043/https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/best-90s-movies/ |url-status=live }} and #31 by Time Out (2024).{{Cite news |last=Singer |first=Matthew |date=2024-09-12 |title=50 Best '90s Movies, Ranked |url=https://www.timeout.com/film/the-50-best-90s-movies |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250120113644/https://www.timeout.com/film/the-50-best-90s-movies |archive-date=January 20, 2025 |access-date=2025-02-17 |work=Time Out Worldwide |language=en-GB |url-status=live }} The 2022 Sight & Sound critics' poll ranked the film #211 all-time, tied with (among others) Brief Encounter and Raiders of the Lost Ark.{{Cite web |title=The Greatest Films of All Time |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/greatest-films-all-time |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=BFI |language=en |archive-date=October 26, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131026034922/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/sightandsoundpolls/2012/critics |url-status=live }} The same poll ranked Fire Walk with Me as Lynch's third-best feature film and fourth-best film, with Mulholland Drive at #8, Blue Velvet at #85, and Twin Peaks: The Return at #152. IGN also ranked it the 76th-best horror movie in history.{{Cite web |last=Bibbiani |first=William |title=100 Best Horror Movies |url=https://www.ign.com/lists/100-best-horror-movies |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=IGN |archive-date=August 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230816054233/https://www.ign.com/lists/100-best-horror-movies |url-status=live }} In 2011, the NME music publication ranked Angelo Badalamenti's soundtrack the greatest film score in history.{{Cite web |date=2011-03-01 |title=50 best film soundtracks ever – 1. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me |url=https://www.nme.com/photos/50-best-film-soundtracks-ever/207108/1/47 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628225728/https://www.nme.com/photos/50-best-film-soundtracks-ever/207108/1/47#50 |archive-date=2011-06-28 |access-date=2025-03-17 |website=New Musical Express}}

The film and the TV series both benefited from the wave of high-concept cable television dramas in the 2000s and 2010s, colloquially dubbed "Peak TV." Sarah Hughes (The Observer) noted that Twin Peaks was "the show that changed television," and explained that "practically every drama with a mystery at its heart, from Lost to Wayward Pines, has been branded as the new Twin Peaks."{{Cite news |last=Hughes |first=Sarah |date=2016-10-22 |title=Can the new Twin Peaks keep up with today's TV? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/oct/22/twin-peaks-dark-legacy-david-lynch |access-date=2025-02-17 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}} Although the show's tension with the formulaic aspects of 1980s–1990s network television was considered "shocking" at the time, the show's more surrealistic aspects, which Fire Walk with Me underscored, were widely copied by a new generation of television showrunners.{{Cite news |last=Wickman |first=Forrest |date=2017-05-04 |title=Twin Peaks Didn't Just Change TV |url=https://slate.com/culture/2017/05/twin-peaks-didnt-just-change-tv-it-was-about-tv.html |access-date=2025-02-17 |work=Slate |language=en-US |issn=1091-2339 |archive-date=February 17, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250217203735/https://slate.com/culture/2017/05/twin-peaks-didnt-just-change-tv-it-was-about-tv.html |url-status=live }} David Sims (The Atlantic) added that while Fire Walk with Me was "abrasively surreal" and "barely devotes any time to the TV show's core cast outside of Sheryl Lee and Ray Wise," Twin Peaks "practically invented the 'auteurist' idea of creator-driven TV that now pervades every premium network."{{Cite web |last=Sims |first=David |date=2017-05-17 |title=Revisiting the Nightmarish 'Twin Peaks' Movie |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/05/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-25-years/526968/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}

In addition, several critics have praised the film for disrupting traditional narratives of Americana. Calum Marsh (The Village Voice) called the film "Lynch's masterpiece," explaining that while Blue Velvet also "dug up a small town's sordid secrets ... Fire Walk With Me taps into something considerably more terrifying: not only the evil buried somewhere in the quintessential middle-class family, but the evil buried somewhere in all of us, and our capacity for it."{{Cite web |last=Marsh |first=Calum |date=2013-05-17 |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me Is David Lynch's Masterpiece |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-is-david-lynchs-masterpiece/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Village Voice |language=en-US |archive-date=August 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240811182717/https://www.villagevoice.com/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-is-david-lynchs-masterpiece/ |url-status=live }} Robbie Collin pushed back against claims that the film disregarded the story of the TV series, explaining that "far from cheating viewers, [the film's] fresh perspective offered them a new way to decode the entire Twin Peaks mythos, with Sheryl Lee's extraordinary, soul-tearing performance shaking the franchise out of its cherry-pie-munching reverie." Scout Tafoya (RogerEbert.com) said that the film exposes "the lie we'd been living under Bush and Reagan, that what we needed was a return to family values, to lie about everything that made us uncomfortable."{{Cite web |last=Tafoya |first=Scout |date=2016-07-04 |title=The Unloved, Part 31: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/features/the-unloved-part-31-twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=RogerEbert.com |language=en-US |archive-date=January 19, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250119054200/https://www.rogerebert.com/features/the-unloved-part-31-twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me |url-status=live }} Dom Nero (Esquire) recalled that as a child, he had been taught that speaking backwards (like the characters in the Red Room) was the work of the Devil, and said that Fire Walk with Me encodes "the concept that demons were hiding in plain sight."{{Cite web |last=Nero |first=Dom |date=2018-10-06 |title='Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me' Is David Lynch's Battlecry |url=https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a23614696/fire-walk-with-me-david-lynch-review/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=Esquire |language=en-US |archive-date=January 30, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250130013839/https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a23614696/fire-walk-with-me-david-lynch-review/ |url-status=live }}

The film's legacy was further strengthened by changing attitudes towards public depictions of women and sexual abuse survivors.{{Cite news |last=Macnaughton |first=Oliver |date=2022-08-28 |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me at 30: David Lynch's underrated masterwork |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/aug/28/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-at-30-david-lynchs-underrated-masterwork |access-date=2025-02-17 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} During the film's 30th anniversary in 2022, Brent Simon (The A.V. Club) explained that the film was "wildly ahead of its time ... in its deployment and embrace of modes of expression which centered the victim's experience." He concluded that the MeToo movement had made society more open "to both survivors sharing [their] stories and others bearing witness to them." Phil Hoad and Oliver MacNaughton (The Guardian) agreed that society's increasing recognition of the abuse suffered by women had improved the film's accessibility to modern audiences; Hoad explained that while the film remained "unremittingly grim" to viewers in the 2020s, "what seemed in the early 1990s like a self-harming refusal of the series' winning quirkiness now seems ... [like] a striking feat of empathy on Lynch's part".{{Cite news |last=Hoad |first=Phil |date=2025-01-17 |title=From Mulholland Drive to Twin Peaks via Lost Highway: all David Lynch's films and TV shows – ranked |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/17/david-lynch-films-and-tv-shows-ranked |access-date=2025-04-08 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite news |last=Macnaughton |first=Oliver |date=2022-08-28 |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me at 30: David Lynch's underrated masterwork |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/aug/28/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-at-30-david-lynchs-underrated-masterwork |access-date=2025-04-08 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} In The Best Film You've Never Seen (2013), John Dahl said that while the film was not for "most people," modern audiences are now more aware of parental sexual abuse, so Laura Palmer's story "wouldn't be quite as shocking today."{{Cite book |last=Elder |first=Robert K. |url= |title=The Best Film You've Never Seen |publisher=Chicago Review Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-61374-928-9 |location=Chicago |pages=214–219}}

In 1997, Lynch said that "I feel bad that Fire Walk with Me did no business and that a lot of people hated the film. But I really like the film. But it had a lot of baggage with it. It's as free and as experimental as it could be within the dictates it had to follow."{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=190}} By 2018, he was able to declare that "the collective consciousness changes and people come around. Look at Van Gogh: the guy could not sell one painting and now nobody can afford them."{{Cite web |last=Wise |first=Damon |date=2018-08-20 |title=Encore: David Lynch Refuses To Explain 'Twin Peaks: The Return' — "Ideas Came, And This Is What They Presented" |url=https://deadline.com/2018/08/twin-peaks-the-return-david-lynch-interview-showtime-emmys-news-1202407985/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=Deadline |language=en-US |archive-date=June 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630011128/https://deadline.com/2018/08/twin-peaks-the-return-david-lynch-interview-showtime-emmys-news-1202407985/ |url-status=live }}

{{Main|Twin Peaks season 3|l1 = Twin Peaks season 3}}

Fire Walk with Me (briefly) continues the events of Season Two with Laura's dream where Annie Blackburn tells her "The good Dale is in the lodge and can't leave. Write it in your diary." Lynch teased a sequel film that would follow up on Annie's message,{{Sfn|Hughes|2001|p=180}} and Frank Silva (BOB) acknowledged a rumor that CIBY was planning two more Twin Peaks films. In Lynch on Lynch, Lynch said that if he had been able to make a follow-up to Fire Walk with Me, he would have liked to tell a story about somebody finding Laura's transcript of Annie's message. He suggested that the narrative device would allow him to tell a story "going back and forth in time."{{Sfn|Lynch|1997|p=187}} However, the film's disappointing box-office performance meant that no such film was ever made.{{Sfn|Hughes|2001|p=180}} Lynch said that after Fire Walk with Me, the Twin Peaks franchise was "dead as a doornail".{{cite journal |last=Hughes |first=David |title=David Lynch, Weird on Top |url=http://www.davidlynch.de/empire2001.html |url-status=dead |journal=Empire |issue=November 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716194021/http://www.davidlynch.de/empire2001.html |archive-date=July 16, 2012 |access-date=August 5, 2012}}

Despite Lynch's prior qualms, Showtime eventually revived the franchise. In 2017, a third season of the series, styled as Twin Peaks: The Return, was released. Lynch confirmed that Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me would be significant to the events of The Return.{{Cite web |last=Brumfield |first=Ben |date=May 16, 2015 |title=David Lynch back on 'Twin Peaks' after salary standoff |url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/16/entertainment/twin-peaks-david-lynch-returns/index.html |access-date=November 13, 2015 |website=CNN |archive-date=September 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911021944/http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/16/entertainment/twin-peaks-david-lynch-returns/index.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Ryan |first=Maureen |date=May 2017 |title='Peak' Performance |url=https://feature.variety.com/twin-peaks/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Variety |archive-date=February 12, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250212013128/https://feature.variety.com/twin-peaks/ |url-status=live }} However, he declined to offer an explanation, writing that "everybody has theories about what the show is about, which is great, and it wouldn't matter if I explained my theory."{{sfn|Lynch|2018|p=503}}

According to Martyn Conterio (The Guardian), The Return makes Fire Walk with Me "the key to the entire Twin Peaks universe." Alan Sepinwall (Rolling Stone) wrote that "like Fire Walk With Me, Twin Peaks: The Return went out of its way to avoid giving the audience much of what they expected."{{Cite magazine |last=Sepinwall |first=Alan |date=2025-01-16 |title='Twin Peaks' Was the Most Bizarre Show on TV – and David Lynch's Biggest Success |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/david-lynch-tribute-twin-peaks-tv-1235238208/ |access-date=2025-02-18 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}

James Gray called Fire Walk with Me "a classic example of how the critics get it wrong," adding that the film's empathy for how Laura "suffer[ed] so profoundly [was] a thing of beauty."{{cite web |last=Labuza |first=Peter |date=July 6, 2015 |title=Episode #61 – James Gray (Nights of Cabiria) |url=http://www.thecinephiliacs.net/2015/07/episode-61-james-gray-nights-of-cabiria.html |access-date=July 7, 2015 |work=The Cinephiliacs |archive-date=July 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150711073146/http://www.thecinephiliacs.net/2015/07/episode-61-james-gray-nights-of-cabiria.html |url-status=live }} Gregg Araki called the film Lynch's "masterpiece" and a "perfect movie,"{{Cite web |title=Gregg Araki's Closet Picks |url=https://www.criterion.com/shop/collection/554-gregg-araki-s-closet-picks |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=The Criterion Collection |language=en |archive-date=December 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241204004249/https://www.criterion.com/shop/collection/554-gregg-araki-s-closet-picks |url-status=live }} praising Sheryl Lee's performance as "one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema."{{cite web |date=September 17, 2015 |title=Exclu Video – Kaboom : Le blind test de Gregg Araki |url=https://www.premiere.fr/Cinema/News-Cinema/EXCLU-VIDEO-Kaboom-le-blind-test-de-Gregg-Araki |access-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-date=January 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230106200436/https://www.premiere.fr/Cinema/News-Cinema/EXCLU-VIDEO-Kaboom-le-blind-test-de-Gregg-Araki |url-status=live }} He included the film in his list of the ten greatest films of all time during the 2012 Sight & Sound directors' poll.{{cite web |title=Gregg Araki |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/voter/961 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311185304/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people//sightandsoundpoll2012/voter/961 |archive-date=2016-03-11 |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=British Film Institute}} Céline Sciamma, who had not seen the series prior to watching the film in theaters, said that while she felt "totally lost" at times, the film "changed the way that I look at cinema" and that "the whole world felt different" after she saw the film.{{Cite web |last=Travis |first=Ben |date=2021-10-07 |title=Céline Sciamma On How Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me Changed Her Forever: 'The Whole World Felt Different' |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/celine-sciamma-how-twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-changed-her-exclusive/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=Empire |language=en}} Jane Schoenbrun said that it was "my favorite film" and "goes to places that made me feel things I'd never felt before." Jacques Rivette called the film "the craziest film in the history of cinema," explaining that "I have no idea what I saw, all I know is that I left the theater floating six feet above the ground."{{Cite web |last=Bonnaud |first=Frédéric |date=2012-03-18 |title=The Captive Lover – An Interview with Jacques Rivette |url=https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2001/jacques-rivette/rivette-2/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=Senses of Cinema |language=en-US |archive-date=August 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818042449/https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2001/jacques-rivette/rivette-2/ |url-status=live }}

According to French streaming website {{Ill|LaCinetek|lt=LaCinetek|fr}}, Bong Joon-ho, Bertrand Bonello and Lynne Ramsay (in addition to Sciamma) are fans of the film.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.lacinetek.com/de-en/film/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-david-lynch-vod |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me by David Lynch on VoD – LaCinetek |date=1991 |language=en-US |access-date=2025-02-17 |via=www.lacinetek.com |archive-date=August 6, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240806005720/https://www.lacinetek.com/de-en/film/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-david-lynch-vod |url-status=live }} John Waters, Alexandra Cassavetes, and Andrew Bujalski have also praised the film.{{Cite web |title=John Waters' Closet Picks |url=https://www.criterion.com/shop/collection/422-john-waters-closet-picks |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=The Criterion Collection |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Corcoran |first=Monica |date=2005-05-08 |title=Xan Cassavetes: Treasure of the Indies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/08/fashion/sundaystyles/xan-cassavetes-treasure-of-the-indies.html |access-date=2025-02-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |title=Andrew Bujalski's Top 10 |url=https://www.criterion.com/current/top-10-lists/578-andrew-bujalski-s-top-10 |access-date=2025-02-28 |publisher=The Criterion Collection |language=en}}

The Fire Walk with Me home video distribution rights have changed hands many times. In 1993, New Line Home Video released the film in the United States on VHS and LaserDisc. New Line also released a Special Edition DVD in 2002. The film received several international DVD releases, including in the United Kingdom (Region 2) in 2001{{cite web |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (DVD) (1992) |url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00005NOMP |access-date=May 17, 2009 |publisher=Amazon.co.uk}} and Australia (Region 4) in 2005.{{cite web |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (Region 4) |url=https://www.fishpond.com.au/Movies/Twin-Peaks-Fire-Walk-With-Me-Bowie-David/9397810102491 |access-date=May 17, 2017 |publisher=Roadshow Entertainment |archive-date=August 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813131221/https://www.fishpond.com.au/Movies/Twin-Peaks-Fire-Walk-With-Me-Bowie-David/9397810102491 |url-status=live }}

The film also received a round of Blu-ray releases in the early 2010s, including in France,{{cite web |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me Blu-ray (France) |url=http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Twin-Peaks-Fire-Walk-with-Me-Blu-ray/15411/ |access-date=August 5, 2012 |work=blu-ray.com |archive-date=October 31, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031082410/http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Twin-Peaks-Fire-Walk-with-Me-Blu-ray/15411/ |url-status=live }} Australia,{{cite web |last=Morris |first=Clint |date=October 12, 2011 |title=Madman announces Fire Walk With Me on Blu-ray for Feb, 2012! |url=http://moviehole.net/201146941-madman-announces-fire-walk-with-me-on-blu-ray-for-feb-2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304073526/http://moviehole.net/201146941-madman-announces-fire-walk-with-me-on-blu-ray-for-feb-2012 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |access-date=August 5, 2012 |work=Moviehole.net}} the United Kingdom,{{cite web |date=June 4, 2012 |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me [Blu-ray] (1992) |url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007EU6DXC/ |access-date=August 5, 2012 |work=Amazon.co.uk |archive-date=December 23, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241223165515/https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007EU6DXC/ |url-status=live }} and finally North America in 2014. The North American release contains more than 90 minutes of deleted and extended scenes from the film.{{cite magazine |date=May 15, 2014 |title='Twin Peaks': Watch 'Fire Walk with Me' lost scenes before entire series hits Blu-ray – Exclusive |url=http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/05/15/twin-peaks-blu-ray-box-set/ |access-date=May 15, 2014 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |archive-date=May 16, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140516015919/http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/05/15/twin-peaks-blu-ray-box-set/ |url-status=live }}

The North American distribution rights are currently held by Janus Films, which arranged for a Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-ray re-release in 2017 in conjunction with the release of Twin Peaks: The Return.{{Cite web |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me |url=https://www.criterion.com/films/29237-twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Criterion Collection |language=en |archive-date=September 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913005808/https://www.criterion.com/films/29237-twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me |url-status=live }} In 2019 and 2025, the film was again re-released as part of Twin Peaks: From Z to A, a Blu-ray collection that includes all three television seasons, Fire Walk with Me, The Missing Pieces, and a collection of old and new special features.{{Cite web |last=Faulkner |first=Cameron |date=2024-12-11 |title=Twin Peaks: From Z to A is getting a re-release on Blu-ray in February 2025 |url=https://www.polygon.com/pre-order/494749/twin-peaks-from-z-a-blu-ray-set-where-to-buy |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=Polygon |language=en-US |archive-date=January 16, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250116002841/https://www.polygon.com/pre-order/494749/twin-peaks-from-z-a-blu-ray-set-where-to-buy |url-status=live }}

{{Main|Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces}}

When Lynch cut various supporting characters out of the final edit, he remarked that "it might be good sometime to do a longer version with these other things in, because a lot of the characters that are missing in the finished movie had been filmed. They're part of the picture, they're just not necessary for the main story."{{sfn|Lynch|1997|p=185}} However, distribution companies repeatedly declined to release the scenes on home video. New Line considered including the scenes on the 2002 Special Edition DVD, but backed out; contemporary reports said that New Line could not strike a deal with MK2 (which by then had acquired the rights to the deleted scenes), while Lynch said that New Line balked at his $100,000 fee to edit, mix, and color grade the remaining footage. MK2 considered releasing the scenes but did not do so, which Lynch attributed to economic pressures caused by the 2008 financial crisis.{{cite web |title=Twin Peaks Collector Encore RepoussÉ... – Les actus DVD – Excessif |url=http://www.excessif.com/dvd/actu-dvd/news/twin-peaks-collector-encore-repousse-4979317-760.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307102018/http://www.excessif.com/dvd/actu-dvd/news/twin-peaks-collector-encore-repousse-4979317-760.html |archive-date=March 7, 2012 |access-date=5 August 2012 |language=fr |df=mdy-all}}

The deleted scenes were not released until 2014, when Lynch, MK2, and CBS Home Entertainment compiled them into a feature film called Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces to accompany the 2014 Blu-Ray version of Fire Walk with Me.{{Cite web |last=Diaz |first=Eric |date=July 19, 2014 |title=Review: Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces |url=http://nerdist.com/review-twin-peaks-the-missing-pieces/ |access-date=June 24, 2017 |website=Nerdist |archive-date=September 10, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910083046/http://nerdist.com/review-twin-peaks-the-missing-pieces/ |url-status=dead }} Reviewing the release, The Guardian wrote that "the scenes are too fragmented to be viewed as anything other than a cluster of vignettes, but that does not diminish their eccentric power."{{Cite news |last=Kay |first=Jeremy |date=2014-07-24 |title=David Lynch: 'I've always loved Laura Palmer' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jul/24/-sp-david-lynch-laura-palmer-twin-peaks-unseen-fire-walk-with-me |access-date=2025-02-18 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} The Dissolve added that the film "looked a lot like what deleted scenes usually look like: dead ends, intriguing digressions, smart discards, and intriguing unused options," and concluded that while "it's a treat to see everyone in character again, ... [it's] hard to imagine how their inclusion would have improved the film."

{{Main|Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (soundtrack)}}The soundtrack to Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me was released on Warner Bros. Records on August 11, 1992. It includes music by Angelo Badalamenti,{{cite web |last=Eddin |first=Stephen |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me [Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack] – Angelo Badalamenti |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-mw0000082921 |access-date=June 10, 2013 |work=AllMusic |publisher=Rovi Corporation |archive-date=July 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722101209/http://www.allmusic.com/album/twin-peaks-fire-walk-with-me-mw0000082921 |url-status=live }} who had composed and conducted the music on the television series and its original soundtrack.{{cite web |last=Mansfield |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Mansfield |title=Twin Peaks [Original Television Soundtrack] – Angelo Badalamenti |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/twin-peaks-original-television-soundtrack--mw0000316434 |access-date=September 21, 2017 |website=AllMusic |publisher=Rovi Corporation |archive-date=December 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214080510/https://www.allmusic.com/album/twin-peaks-original-television-soundtrack--mw0000316434 |url-status=live }}

During the film's end credits, the last minutes of Luigi Cherubini's Requiem in C minor is played. The recording used was conducted by Riccardo Muti, with the Ambrosian Singers and the Philharmonia Orchestra.{{cite AV media |last1=Lynch |first1=David |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me |date=1992}} End credits.

Also listed in the end credits are two pieces by David Lynch and David Slusser, "Double R Swing" and "Deer Meadow Shuffle", as well as "Blue Frank" by Lynch only.

{{Notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Hallam |first=Lindsay |year=2018 |title=Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me |url=https://academic.oup.com/liverpool-scholarship-online/book/38121 |edition=1st |publisher=Liverpool University Press |doi=10.3828/liverpool/9781911325642.001.0001 |isbn=9781911325642 |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |last=Hughes |first=David |year=2001 |title=The Complete Lynch |location=London |publisher=Virgin |isbn=9780753505984}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Lynch |first1=David |author-link1=David Lynch |last2=Rodley |first2=Chris |year=1997 |title=Lynch on Lynch |title-link=Lynch on Lynch |publisher=Faber and Faber |isbn=0571178332 |ref=CITEREFLynch1997}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Lynch |first1=David |author-link1=David Lynch |last2=McKenna |first2=Kristine |author-link2=Kristine McKenna |year=2018 |title=Room to Dream |location=New York |publisher=Random House |isbn=9780399589195 |ref=CITEREFLynch2018}}
• {{Cite book |last=Thorne |first=John |year=2016 |title=The Essential Wrapped in Plastic: Pathways to Twin Peaks |publisher=John Thorne |isbn=9780997108101 |language=en}}
• {{Cite book |last=Woods |first=Paul A. |year=1997 |title=Weirdsville USA: The Obsessive Universe of David Lynch |location=London |publisher=Plexus |isbn=9780859652551}}

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