Cherry Pie Wrapped in Barbed Wire: Fire Walk With Me as a Horror Movie

Abstract

This chapter discusses Twin Peaks and its engagement with and subversion of genre conventions. It discloses how the Twin Peaks television series is viewed as a work of postmodernism and a pastiche of several genres that provide references to film noir, which gives the series a cinematic feel. It also points out that the Twin Peaks series parodied television genre conventions, while David Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is less interested in parody and pastiche and presents a more personal and subjective story. The chapter examines how Fire Walk With Me reveals more of the strange and unearthly realm that exists side-by-side with the town where larger forces of good and evil fight to gain control of Laura's soul. It describes the strong sense of the supernatural in Fire Walk With Me; an element that situates the film in the horror genre through the creation of mythical and mystical spaces.