Twin Peaks director David Lynch has died at the age of 78

American filmmaker David Lynch has died at the age of 78. His family announced this in a statement on Thursday Facebook post. The filmmaker was best known for the 1990s television series Twin Peaksand his unique illustrious film style as in Blue Velvet.

Lynch (1946) made his breakthrough in the 1970s with the surrealist horror film Eraserhead. The film, in which a man imagines that he fathers a child, immediately gave Lynch as a director a cult status. His films mixed elements of horror, film noir and surrealism, and had unique unfollowable logic. He preferred to leave room for interpretation, and then not provide any explanation about his interpretation in interviews.

In 1999 his film The Straight Storywhich was shown again in Dutch cinemas last year, was warmly received at the Cannes Film Festival. That film was very different from his previous films like Elephant Man (1984) or Blue Velvet (1986). The latter caused a stir in the US at the time because of images of masochism, rape and sexual humiliation.

Health problems

Lynch had the greatest success with the stylish crime and drama series Twin Peaks. The first two seasons from the early 1990s were hugely successful, the third season, also directed by Lynch, was released more than two decades later, in 2017. His film Mullholland Drive (2001) was actually intended as a pilot episode of a new series after Twin Peaksbut was then released as a film.

Lynch had had health problems for some time. Last year he announced that he had emphysema due to smoking. Shortly afterwards, he said in a message on “I am filled with happiness and I will never retire. I want you all to know that I truly appreciate your concern.” Lynch would have turned 79 this coming Monday.

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