In just under a month, the cult television series Twin Peaks will finally return to our screens after almost 27 years. Now I'm not old enough to have been around when the show originally aired, but I've been a huge fan for the past few years and have eagerly been waiting for the return of David Lynch and Mark Frosts iconic series. If you're not familiar with Twin Peaks, the series follows the investigation of the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) and how it effects the lives of her fellow townsfolk. The series ran from the spring of 1990 to the summer of 1991 and was followed by a divisive prequel film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me in 1992. Part soap opera parody, part murder mystery, part psychological horror, the series quickly became a cult phenomenon that was renowned for its quirky characters, jazzy soundtrack, and signature Lynchian madness that has influenced countless shows ever since. With the new series quickly approaching, I thought I'd look back at Twin Peaks and some of its most terrifying moments. Amidst all of the strange characters and comedic moments, the show often delved into nightmarish territory as well, courtesy of David Lynch. So, in honor of Twin Peaks' return, here is a look back at some of its most spine-chilling moments. Also, >>>Major Spoilers Ahead<<< just in case.
10. Cooper's Dream
Sent to investigate Laura's death was Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan). The coffee loving special agent was known for using some rather unconventional methods during the investigation, taking advice from cryptic messages that he heard in his dreams. In this scene from the third episode of season 1, we get a glimpse at a bizarre dream had by Cooper in which he meets a number of mysterious figures. The first of these is Mike (Al Strobel), a man with one arm who informs Cooper of his 'partner' Bob (Frank Silva), a denim-clad psychopath with mysterious links to Laura's murder. After the introduction of these two characters, we get to one of the shows most iconic moments where we meet the enigmatic man from another place (Michael J. Anderson), a little man in a red suit who offers Cooper cryptic messages. The sequence is totally bizarre and at first watch it feels oddly out of place, however, it foreshadows some of the events that will follow such as the reemergence of the terrifying killer Bob, who I'll get back to later. While not exactly terrifying, the scene is the first time we really get a taste of that Lynchian surrealism that made Twin Peaks so iconic. It was a spoonful of the strangeness to come, a sneak peek into the wonderful mind of Mr. David Lynch that left viewers bewildered yet incredibly intrigued.
9. Josie Dies
Now Josie Packard (Joan Chen) wasn't exactly my favourite character. While the enigmatic trophy wife of logging mogul Andrew Packard (Dan O'Herlihy) was intended to be more of a femme fatalle, poor Josie just came across as a plain bore. However, halfway through the second season her story arc took centre stage and we learned a great deal about Josie's past and the crimes she committed. The sins of Josie's past finally caught up with her, leading Agent Cooper and her lover, Sheriff Truman (Michael Ontkean) to arrest her at a hotel room at the Great Northern. However, before the duo can take her into custody Josie suddenly dies, leaving Harry distraught and Cooper confused. After her death, Cooper has a vision of the malicious Bob appearing behind the bed, taunting him, before the man from another place suddenly appears and disappears in the blink of an eye. If that wasn't enough, unbeknownst to Cooper Josie's soul seemingly becomes trapped in the bedside table leaving a macabre expression in one of the drawer knobs. This marked one of the shows most chilling death scenes and reminded viewers of the dark forces that dwelled in Twin Peaks, ones that had been relatively dormant after the apprehension of Laura's killer. With actress Joan Chen seemingly not on board for the revived series, it looks as though Josie may be still trapped in that chest of drawers. Probably for the best too.
8. Leo Wakes Up
From the moment we first meet Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re), it is clear that he's a bit of a wanker. Wife beater, drug smuggler, and all round bad egg, it was only a matter of time before Leo got his comeuppance, and by the finale of season 1 it looked as if he finally did. After being shot by Hank Jennings (Chris Mulkey), Leo went into a vegatitive state, leaving him unresponsive and preventing him from doing any more harm...or so we thought. On a dark and stormy night, while his wife Shelly (Madchen Amick) sits unsuspectingly in the next room, Leo eventually wakes up and sets out to give his wife another beating. We are left on a cliffhanger as a smiling Leo confronts his wife before picking back up in the next episode where she struggles helplessly against him in the dark. It's a highly intense scene that sees poor Shelly plunged into darkness and forced to confront her husband, but what makes it most effective is how real it feels. Twin Peaks often deals with the supernatural and the downright dramatic, but Shelly's arc is one that is grounded in reality and deals with such horrific issues like domestic abuse. In a way, this scene presents Leo as a more terrifying force than any of the supernatural entities that reside within the forests surrounding Twin Peaks, he is a real man capable of doing real damage, something Shelly understands all too well. Fortunately however, Leo is interrupted and badly injured, forcing him to stagger out into the woods, never to harm Shelly again.
7. Windom Earle Appears
However, we have not seen the end of the dastardly Leo Johnson as soon after, he would come face to face with an even more monstrous human being than himself: Windom Earle (Kenneth Welsh). Now Earle is perhaps one of the shows most divisive characters, many fans often criticise him for being too cartoonish even by Twin Peaks standards. Personally I don't think he's that awful, I mean the man is truly evil and acts as a sort of Moriarty to Cooper's Sherlock Holmes, however, he's nowhere near as sinister as some of the shows other antagonists such as Bob or Jean Renault (Michael Parks). Regardless of what you think of the psychotic ex-FBI agent, you cannot deny that his first appearance is incredibly chilling. After coming across a mysterious cabin in the woods, Leo enters to find a mysterious figure lurking in the shadows, one who beckons him inside with his soft-spoken voice. The figure finally emerges from the shadows and reveals himself to be Windom Earle, the insane former partner of Agent Cooper whose arrival we had been teased with for the better part of season 2. We had heard so much about Earle, how dangerous and insane he was, and seeing his face emerge from the darkness for the very first time was a scene that I found particularly unnerving. While he may have become more of a comic-book villain in the episodes that followed, Earle's introduction certainly left an impact.
6. Leland's Interrogation
After hours watching and waiting and constantly guessing, we finally discovered the identity of Laura's killer in the first half of season 2. While we knew her killer was a man named Bob since early on, we had no idea that Bob was in fact a malevolent spirit who had possessed none other than her own father Leland (Ray Wise). It was a shocking revelation and when Leland was finally apprehended, we got a chilling insight into the mind of killer Bob. Speaking through Leland, Bob confesses to Laura's murder while sniggering and taunting Agent Cooper in what was a truly terrifying performance from Ray Wise. It's an incredibly unsettling moment as we watch the maniacal Bob admit to killing Laura whilst using her own father as a vessel, the implications make it all the more disturbing. Following the confession, we watch as Bob finally exits his vessel, leaving poor Leland to cope with the crimes he had committed and forcing him to take his own life. What was once horrifying soon becomes downright upsetting as we witness Leland's final moments before entering the light. Along with being an incredibly creepy moment, it also acts as one of the shows most powerful scenes, saying goodbye to Leland once and for all and bringing a sense of closure to Cooper's investigation.
5. How's Annie?
The final episode of Twin Peaks is a downright thrill ride. After stepping back from the show during the shows second season, David Lynch returned to the directors chair to give us the shows nightmarish finale. After navigating through the surreal corridors of the Black Lodge and rescuing his beloved Annie Blackburn (Heather Graham), it seemed as though Cooper had escaped the evils within Twin Peaks once and for all. In the shows final scene, we watch as he awakens in his hotel room and heads into the bathroom to brush his teeth, all appears to be well until he begins to squirt the toothpaste all around the sink. We then get a look at his reflection and in a horrifying final twist it is revealed that Cooper is now possessed by Bob after returning from the Black Lodge. Smashing his head against the mirror and flashing the camera a devilish smile, Cooper/Bob starts to repeat the line 'How's Annie?' over and over again, words he had uttered to Sheriff Truman and Doc. Hayward (Warren Frost) mere moments ago. This was an incredibly disturbing moment, especially for the shows conclusion, and left a lasting feeling of hopelessness in the stomachs of viewers as the credits began to roll. We've only got a few weeks left until we find out what happened after this scene.
4. Doppelganger
The Black Lodge was mentioned a number of times during the show, believed to be a dimension of pure evil. In the finale, Cooper is forced to enter this realm of terror to end things once and for all and what's inside is just as terrifying as you'd expect. While he is initially greeted by seemingly friendly spirits such as the man from another place and the Giant (Carel Struycken), as Cooper progresses further he is faced with the evil beings that reside within the lodge. Upon entering one room, he meets the evil doppelgangers of the man from another place and Laura Palmer, whose eyes are both pale and glazed over. Laura's doppelganger proceeds to shriek at Cooper as the lights begin to flicker, causing the distraught agent to flee elsewhere. This is a prime example of David Lynches own brand of surreal terror that he injected so perfectly into the finale. While Laura herself is a seemingly harmless character, her doppelganger is erratic and violent, shrieking in anger at Cooper before chasing him out of the room. It truly is the stuff of nightmares and the scene helps to allow the Black Lodge to live up to its sinister reputation.
3. Ronette's Nightmare
Ronette Pulaski (Phoebe Augustine) was there on the night that Laura Palmer was murdered. After being found the following day wandering along train tracks, Ronette soon fell into a comatose state and was kept in hospital until she woke up. In this scene, after lingering momentarily on the empty hospital corridors, we find ourselves in Ronette's room where she begins to slowly show signs of movement. However, she suddenly begins to have a horrific nightmare that flashes back to the night of the murder, flashing between images of the maniacal Bob and a screaming Laura. It is an incredibly frightening sequence and the first glimpse we get of the murder being committed, the disturbing imagery of Bob paired with Laura's agonising screams is enough to give audiences nightmares of their own. While it is only brief in comparison to Cooper's dream, the quick editing and disturbing imagery makes this scene much more impactful, and only adds fuel to the fires of the mystery itself.
2. Bob on the Sofa
After a horrible musical number courtesy of (sighs) James Hurley (James Marshall), we get what is one of the series' most frightening moments thus far. We had already caught glimpses of Bob before and we knew that he was somehow involved with Laura's murder, the only thing was that nobody seemed to know who or what Bob was. In this scene we watch as Maddy (Laura's cousin, also played by Sheryl Lee) experiences a frightening vision of Bob in the sitting room. We watch as Bob slowly enters the room, crawling over the furniture like some sort of animal before coming right up to the camera with that psychotic smile of his. It's a highly unnerving scene and is one that many find hard to watch due to the way in which the camera constantly lingers on Bob. The fact that he appears to be there with Maddy, in a place where she is supposed to feel safe, is what makes the scene even more frightening. It leaves audiences further intrigued as to who this mysterious figure is and why he keeps cropping up unsuspectingly. Of all of Bob's appearances in the series, this is by far his second most terrifying, and I'm just about to get to his first.
1. The Killer Revealed
In the seventh episode of the second season, audiences finally discovered the identity of Laura's killer, her father Leland under the influence of Bob. While it would take Cooper and co. a couple more episodes to uncover the truth, it was in this scene where the killer was finally revealed. After his wife Sarah (Grace Zabriske) mysteriously passes out, Leland stands in front of a mirror, fixing his tie. However, instead of his reflection in the mirror, we see Bob smiling back at him and it's at that moment when everything becomes clear. However, before we have time to fully process things, poor, unsuspecting Maddy enters and faces a grim fate similar to that of her cousins. Leland violently attacks his niece, cutting between images of both he and Bob doing the attacking, the latter being much more disturbing. Set to the sound of a record needle repeatedly hitting off a record, we watch helplessly as Maddy is violently beaten to death, leaving Bob to claim yet another victim. Not only is this the most terrifying moment in the series' entirety, this may also be one of the most terrifying scenes that David Lynch has ever directed. It's intense, it's disturbing, and incredibly upsetting at the end of it all as the audience slowly processes what just happened. It is by far the shows darkest moment and one that will follow viewers long after they've watched it.
..And that's just the series, wait till you see how frightening the film is! Looking back there it is evident that Twin Peaks had some extremely frightening moments thanks to Lynch, Frost, and some of the other writers involved. With only a few weeks until the new series airs, one can only imagine what nightmarish material David Lynch has thought up this time, he's had plenty of time to plan for it anyway. While unfortunately Frank Silva who played the terrifying killer Bob passed away many years ago, I am sure that David Lynch has plenty more horror up his sleeve to take his place. We shall soon find out when Twin Peaks returns on the 21st of May, until then, let's hope for the best.
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