David Lynch was the inventor of the announcement jump scare — Rolling Stone

Please look at the item image above. If you haven’t seen David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive yet, you’re fine. But if you’ve seen “Mulholland Drive,” your hair should already be standing on end. Even if there isn’t much to see except for a corner of a building behind a diner. Anyone who knows “Mulholland Drive” knows what will happen in two or three seconds after this corner appears. A truly horrific jump scare.

The great thing about this scene is the meticulously prepared, almost gentle lead-up to exactly this jump scare. And that makes David Lynch, the director who died in January 2025, an inventor. The inventor of the jump scare, which he announces – because it is actually in the nature of the jump scare, the moment of shock, that it comes suddenly. Not here. What’s lurking behind the corner doesn’t become apparent all that quickly. But smooth.

What happens in the “diner scene” of “Mulholland Drive”?

The prologue of 2001’s “Mulholland Drive” focuses on Dan (Patrick Fischler) telling his friend about a recurring nightmare in a diner on Sunset Boulevard. In this nightmare, a creature lurks behind the diner. The friend tells Dan to face the problem. And just look there. This conversation lasts just under four minutes. Director David Lynch announces the disaster early on.

Dan and his companion walk very slowly around the building. Lynch leads into Dan’s first-person perspective, as in the photo above.

The creature (possibly a Backwood’s Man from the “Twin Peaks” universe) moves to the right of the picture. Dan collapses, suffering from shock. We also suffer a shock. Which seems bizarre. Because exactly what Dan announced minutes ago happened. His nightmare is real.

Why is the monster real?

It becomes apparent in one detail. Dan falls to the floor and the sound of the film becomes muffled. This reflects his collapse, he sinks into a faint. After we leave his perspective, Lynch fades back to the creature. And shows how she disappears behind the corner again. If she only existed in Dan’s imagination, Lynch wouldn’t have had to show us her disappearance. But she continues to move even after Dan has already lost consciousness. That Dan’s companion doesn’t see the creature? However, that remains a mystery.

Lynch leaves the scene never to be seen again. Would we have seen Dan again in a TV series that “Mulholland Drive” was originally intended to be?

Meaning of the diner scene

The “Mulholland Drive” exposition is considered one of the most important scenes in Lynch’s work. “I am a human being!” (“The Elephant Man”) is one of them. Also the inflationarily quoted “ear behind the ideal world facade” (“Blue Velvet”). The snakeskin jacket postulate (“Wild at Heart”) and “We’ve met and before, haven’t we?” (“Lost Highway”) as well.

There are many explanations for the “diner scene”. David Lynch himself has always refused interpretations of his work. By the way, what sets him apart from epigones like Ari Aster or M. Night Shyamalan is something they even explain without being asked.

A common explanation: David Lynch is an outspoken opponent of psychoanalysis. He doesn’t want to understand his fears, he just wants to portray them. Anyone who tries to face their fears, like Dan, risks their sanity.

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The character behind the diner is played by Bonnie Aarons. The American actress is often cast in horror films, apparently because of her “characteristic” nose. She also plays “The Nun.”

Your creature could represent the life that many people in Hollywood have to live. Just not as stars. But as neglected homeless people. And is reflected in the theme of “Mulholland Drive”: main character Betty (Naomi Watts) wants to create a film career. And perishes because of it.

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