“In heaven, everything is fine.” In David Lynch’s 1977 debut feature, Eraserhead, the Lady in the Radiator sings these words. In 2025, at Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank, California, a piece of cardboard at the foot of the Big Boy statue spells them out in capital letters. It’s one amongst hundreds of other offerings for the late filmmaker, who dined here “for seven years every day at 2:30” and who ed away January 15—five days before what would have been his 79th birthday.

Every day, more than once a day, acolytes have been giving Lynch presents. Sparkly blue roses. Drawings of the Eraserhead baby, of cherry pie and damn good coffee, of the director himself (with extra care taken to capture his iconic swoopy hair). A model of “the evolution of the arm” from Twin Peaks: The Return. Owls and logs and boxes upon boxes of donuts. Two cookies and a Coke. These are all physical manifestations of the Los Angeles film world’s grief, but Lynch’s singular, surreal visions touched those all over the globe. We see it in the outpouring of Letterboxd reviews praising and memorializing his filmography in the wake of his death—virtual contributions of words, emotions, recollections.

Letterboxd activity has demonstrably spiked for every single one of his features: Mulholland Drive ed the One Million Watched Club and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me made its official debut in our Top 250. The Elephant Man also resides in the Top 250—as its lead John Merrick (John Hurt) said, “People are frightened by what they don’t understand.” But not here. Here, we live inside a dream, understanding that this whole world is wild at heart and weird on top. While we have no idea where an art life without Lynch will lead us, we have a definite feeling it will still be a place both wonderful and strange.

And now, a moment of silencio for David Lynch. No hay banda.

Eraserhead (1977)

Written by David Lynch.
Four Faves’d by 8,300 more.
Streaming on Criterion Channel, Kanopy and Max.

“While the world [of Eraserhead] feels so strange and uncomfortable, it is perhaps most unsettling because it is so close to our reality; some setback, devastation or feeling of purposelessness can send you immediately to a place where your pants are too short, your baby is a monster and you can’t stop yourself from daydreaming into the radiator.

Happy Birthday David Lynch! You will forever have us rediscovering our own world 🫶” —Catherine

“I was expecting the dream-like style Lynch is known for, but instead of pulling my mind, he pulled my heart, which is definitely needed. It perfectly subverts every expectation by being tender, slow, yet life affirming… In the same way as John [Merrick]’s persistence and kindness, both him and Lynch will never die both spiritually and legacy wise. Although they are gone, they will be talked about for eternity as a shining light of hope for humanity. Everything will be ok, and that’s approved by one of the greatest directors of all time.

Thank you, David Lynch.” —Masked Rin

Dune (1984)

Written by David Lynch from a book by Frank Herbert.
Four Faves’d by 919 more.
Streaming on Max.

“Beyond just world-building, Lynch’s Dune has an eerie, hypnotic quality that makes it stand apart. The way he blends dream sequences, internal monologues and unsettling sound design creates a version of Dune that feels otherworldly, almost like a hallucination. [Denis] Villeneuve’s film is grand and immersive, but Lynch’s is bizarre in a way that makes it more in tune with the novel’s strange, mystical undertones. 

RIP David Lynch, a true master of cinema. One of my favorite directors—so inventive, so different, so special. His vision was like no other.” —Teoman

Blue Velvet (1986)

Written by David Lynch.
Four Faves’d by 16,000 more.
Streaming on Max.

“Lynch, unflinching as he was in his depiction of evil, always found a way to string through the promise of love and the hope it carries, the hope that peace and goodness do exist. The robin holding the bug in its beak at the end is an indelible image for me. It’s mind-breaking to think that we are now in a world without anyone who could create such images, but if the past few days have shown me anything, it’s that Lynch and his work, and the seismic impact he had, will always be honored and cherished by all those it touched. Rest in peace.” —Vi

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)

Written by David Lynch and Robert Engels, from the television series Twin Peaks by Lynch and Mark Frost.
Four Faves’d by 18,000.
Streaming on Criterion Channel and Max.

“This is easily Lynch’s most spiritual film (sorry, Eraserhead). Especially now, it feels like he has created a stepping stone to what lies beyond. Like the rest of his work, there [are] many questions in Twin Peaks that Lynch wants us to answer for ourselves. However, Twin Peaks sets itself apart with how existential the questions get—is there a life after death? Is it a next step, or a blending of realities? Are those that lie beyond still able to reach us? Hurt us? Help us? Are we deserving of heaven, or are we all destined for hell?

Laura Palmer’s pain and suffering is difficult to watch, much less to bear, and Sheryl Lee truly gives a once-in-a-lifetime performance as she shows this shattered girl. Those final scenes with Laura are so haunting and make me fear that inevitable moment at the end. David’s tenderness with this story can never be forgotten—he loved all his leading ladies, and by giving Laura Palmer’s pain a delicate spotlight, he tells all women that their pain is heard.” —Madeline

Lost Highway (1997)

Written by David Lynch and Barry Gifford.
Four Faves’d by 8,400.
Streaming on Criterion Channel and Kanopy.

“I think this has to be my second-favorite movie of his, just a hair in front of Fire Walk with Me and much closer to Mulholland Drive than I’d previously thought. In fact, Lost Highway is very much its dark doppelgänger, the brunette to Mulholland Drive’s blonde in the Lynchian dyad, if you will. Dreams collapsing into nightmares, nightmares cascading into reality, reality escaping into dreams… I’d hate to spoil the goat, so I’ll leave it there, but I do think you get more out of each film if you've seen them both.

Btw, this movie has a killer soundtrack; I’d argue Lynch’s best! an Angelo Badalamenti score, Trent Reznor production/original works, a David Bowie intro/outro track and the sickest fucking Rammstein needle drops around? Doesn’t get much better than that. Happy birthday, king. No one will ever do it like this ever again.” —Rhonda

Mulholland Drive (2001)

Written by David Lynch.
Four Faves’d by 47,000 more.
Streaming on Criterion Channel.

“I decided to rewatch Mulholland Drive in honor of Lynch (I rewatched Blue Velvet as well a few days ago), as I consider this the peak of his career… I guess it’s ultimately about lost souls finding their place in their world, and it’s also about the terrifying reality of being a lost movie star in the film world, and only one can do is dream. It’s his most beautiful, most devastating, and most stunning movie to date. All timer performances from Naomi Watts and Laura Harring. Everything that ties this film together makes this so brilliant and that’s why I love it so much.

Lynch’s philosophical viewpoint of the world, that he expresses on and off screen, is so fascinating to me. Everything I’ve seen about David Lynch online, whether it’s behind the scenes videos, his interviews, or his weather reports, feels like a national treasure because they are all so iconic. What a great guy.” —Ilikefilms

Inland Empire (2006)

Written by David Lynch.
Four Faves’d by 4,000.
Streaming on Criterion Channel and Max.

“I saw Inland Empire last night for the first time since my initial viewing back in 2017. I went to the IFC Center where this premiered almost twenty years ago to bathe in Lynch’s most unbridled world, but also, to mourn one of the greatest artists of all time… In his masterclass, after he breaks down the idea of fishing for inspiration, he finishes by saying ‘sometimes these are flying fish! They come right up out of the water.’ Inland Empire is a fucking thunderstorm of flying fish. It is Lynch’s most uncompromising, ramshackle and propulsive creation in a body of work that grows both more dissimilar to itself, and oddly comprehensive the further you dive in…

I will miss David Lynch so deeply. It’s hard to imagine a world without him, his work, his ideas, because the world is forever changed after you’re exposed to how he saw it. How he was able to translate his vision into a filmic reality that both shocked and seduced us. His work reflects something so unnameable and grotesque which lies beneath everything and yet, he was such a warm, pure soul. He taught us that there is a nobility in the waiting for inspiration, an inherent honesty in expression and creation that needs no further elaboration, and a way to exist as an entertainer without losing your spirit.

‘I’ll show you light, now. It burns bright forever.’” —Thetheatrethug