David Lynch's Lost Highway

How to Enjoy David Lynch’s “Lost Highway” and Keep Out of the Loony Hospital


Lost Highway is a fantastic ride through visual and auditory symbols. After seeing the film you can feel as schizo as the main characters.
Something deep in the back of your brain tells you this film is easier to understand than any day you have ever lived through. Something up in the front of your brain says the back of your brain has finally gone completely loony. So, what is it, have you met reality face to face, or are the lawyers finally going to be able to get you declared crazy, and take away your trust fund?
Fear not, back-of–the-brainers. There’s a way for Perry Mason to get you off. You can claim to understand “Lost Highway”, and still live off your grandfather’s trust fund. Listen closely, take notes, and all will be “okay, real okie dokie, okay”.
It starts like this. The key to deciphering the plot of Lost Highway is to understand the character played by Robert Blake, The Mystery Man. I see Mystery Man as a demon seeking to recruit the character played by Bill Pullman, Fred. The relationship between Mystery Man and Fred is similar to that of the relationship a demon or demons have with a shaman. There are a number of references in the movie that I believe point toward these conclusions. First, however, I’ll discuss a few points about shamanism that will give insight into Mystery Man and Fred’s relationship.
In the New Age religious movement some people think it is desirable to be drawn into the lifestyle of a shaman. In most native cultures, though, being called as a shaman is not seen as desirable. The experience of Siberians shamans serves as a common example.
In Siberian nomadic tribes most individuals try to reject the calling to be a shaman. A tribe member knows that if they become a shaman their life will be wrecked. The tribe member has seen what happens to shamans. Shamans live a life of mental illness, being compelled by demons. Americans may prefer the word “spirit” instead of the word “demon”. Read how Siberian nomads describe the “spirits” a shaman works with, and you can see how “demon” is a more accurate description.
A newly initiated shaman’s immediate family will be emotionally devastated by the demands of the demons made on the shaman. The rest of the tribe will benefit from the shamans work. It is work, though, that most tribe members want to be done by someone other than themselves. Think of this while watching Lost Highway.
Also, consider that the anthropological evidence for the relationship between demons and shamans is such that no one should doubt that shamans really do interrelate with demons. The way it works is that a demon or demons choose the human they want and drag the human into shamanism. In native cultures the initiate and the rest of the tribe would recognize what was happening. What about in spiritually stunted cultures denying the existence of the shamanistic process? The demons are still going to come looking for initiates. The problem is that probably the initiates and those around the initiate will not realize what is happening. They have not been trained to recognize the signs of being called into shamanism. This lack of awareness about shamanistic culture is present in the world of Lost Highway.
With those thoughts in mind let’s get back to Lost Highway. For me, a key clue indicating the film has a demon-shamanistic worldview is shown when Mystery Man and Robert Loggia’s character, Mr. Eddy, are making a phone call to Balthazar Getty’s character, Pete Dayton. Mystery Man tells Pete that “In the east, in the far East…” and goes on to describe an execution technique. This reference shows Mystery Man is familiar with the Far East nomadic life. Nomadic Central Asian cultures practice shamanistic religions.
As to Mystery Man being a demon, I see this explained
in the dominant position Mystery Man has over the other characters. Mystery Man maneuvers supernaturally through the story, demonstrating omniscience and omnipresence.
One example of this maneuvering is when Mystery Man and Fred are killing Mr. Eddy. Mr. Eddy asks, “What do you guys want?” Mystery Man gives Mr. Eddy a small video player. In the video player we see moments from Mr. Eddy’s decadent, arrogant and evil life. How did Mystery Man record these moments? Why at the end of the videotape do we see Mystery Man and Fred moving just as they are in real time? I see the answer to this explained by Mystery Man being a demon. A demon could use any number of means to make such a recording of past events tied in with a live, real time event.
Another telling reference indicating Mystery Man to be a demon is when he says that Fred had invited him into Fred’s house; “I am not in the custom of going where I am not invited.” A tenet of demonic, supernatural accountability is that a demon can only overtly enter a person’s life unless first the person asks that specific demon, or another demon into their life.
I see two ways to explain how Fred made this invitation. One, is that Mystery Man is a succubus with Renee/Alice as his female disguise, and Fred invited the succubus into his life. The other explanation is that Renee, most probably through her abuse of sex, opened herself to control by demons. When Fred brought Renee into his life the demon Mystery Man came along.
The succubus theory works well for a number of reasons, but seems to have a significant flaw. During the party at Andy’s house Mystery Man and Renee appear on the screen almost at the same time. If we see the two characters at the same time, then they most probably can’t be two different manifestations of the same being.
Now, they don’t appear on the screen at the same time, and nothing in a Lynch movie seems to happen by accident. Still, because of the near joint appearance I am going to lean toward Renee being human and having invited the demon Mystery Man into her life. For Renee this invitation probably was indirect, through asking lower demons into her life by participating in debauched sex. Once the lower demons are in her life by implication she has also invited in more powerful demons, such as Mystery Man. I don’t think Mystery Man physically interacted with Renee as he does Fred.
There are other references that could indicate Mystery Man is a demon. One is Mystery Man’s knowledge of Fred’s attitude toward video cameras. Fred tells two detectives that he doesn’t like video cameras. Fred says he likes to “remember things as I want to remember them, not as they really happened”. Toward the end of the film Mystery Man aggressively confronts Fred with a video camera. I say this shows Mystery Man’s knowledge of Fred’s attitude toward video cameras. How did Mystery Man acquire this knowledge? I think he did so through demonic supernatural presence and knowledge.
I also think that the “mysterious” videos that appear on Fred’s doorsteps came from Mystery Man. One indication of this is when in the second tape the images on the video tape jump from outside the house to inside. During this jump the tape displays a high increase in static. If the entrance into the house were done by simple burglary methods the tape would not need to have an increase in static. If, however, the being doing the video taping physically dematerialized in order to pass into the house this would explain the increased static. Dematerialization disrupts the electric fields of beings and electric devices. A demon such as Mystery Man would be capable of dematerialization
Towards the end of the film Alice makes her statement, “You can never have me”. This for me indicates a demonic influence. This could be a reference to Alice/Renee being a succubus. I lean, though, toward this being a reference to the mirage existence for Fred/Pete created when Mystery Man combined the realities of Fred and Pete.
In Western and Eastern magic traditions there is belief that demons can physically combine two humans, with the consciousness of one human having dominance. In the film Pete and Fred are physically and psychically combined, with one character having dominance over the other. I will later go into more detail about implications from this combined reality. Right now I will say that if Mystery Man is a demon he would be capable of producing this combining.
The action of Lost Highway results when Mystery Man chooses to call Fred as a shamanistic initiate. This calling involves Mystery Man revealing himself to Fred and bringing Fred in on the vengeance against Mr. Eddy.
When the film opens Fred is sitting in his house. He is highly emotionally distraught, and appears to have been so for quite some time. This emotional state is compatible with the state experienced by shaman initiates just before the demons make a full fledged revealing of themselves to the initiate.
In the film one of the first instances of this revealing occurs when after sex Renee pats Fred on the back. Fred responds as though he feels something ominous in her touch. He acts as though this is a new experience for him, as though he is getting a realization from the touch. David Lynch highlights Fred’s realization about Renee by using foreboding music. Lynch also has Renee wearing black nail polish, which I see in this film as a sign of evil. In an interview I heard Lynch say that his movies are influenced by Christian morality. He also carefully picks the colors used in his movies. Interpreting black as a sign of evil would fit Christian morality.
During sex, and before the back patting a white light flash obscures the screen. I see this as an indication that Fred’s shamanistic heightened senses are flowering. After the flash Renee appears more emotionally blank. Fred is seeing through her deceptive adultery.
I know from reading and viewing documentary material about Lost Highway that Lynch spent considerable time choosing colors in Fred’s house. Lynch wanted the colors to portray specific moods. Lynch so wanted to control the mood expressed by the houses’ furnishing that he himself made at least some of the furniture. When viewing the end result I think it obvious that part of what Lynch wanted was a sense of foreboding.
Shortly after the touching incident Fred looks at Renee and sees a man’s face on Renee’s body, a face we later learn to be Mystery Man’s. This is the first overt revealing of Mystery Man to Fred. By overlaying his face on Renee, Mystery Man is giving us warning about Renee. She can’t be trusted.
There are several instances in Lost Highway that can be explained by bilocation. Bilocation is the state of being or the ability to be in two places at the same time. Belief in bilocation is part of Eastern and Western religious traditions. Both humans and demons are capable of bilocation. A recent example from TV is that of Caine, the character in the TV series “Kung Fu:The Legend Continues”, who was able to achieve bilocation.
In Lost Highway bilocation is a way to explain an incident during a party at Andy’s house. Mystery Man hands Fred a cell phone, and tells Fred to “call me, I’m at your house”. Fred calls his house, and we hear the voice of Mystery Man on the other end of the phone. We see Blake’s character at the party and hear him at the other character’s home. This dual location of Mystery Man can be explained using bilocation.
Another occurrence that can be explained using bilocation is when Fred arrives home from Andy’s party, and sees light flashes in his house. During bilocation an astral or etheric body is produced. This astral body is the etheric duplicate of the original physical body. One theory about astral bodies is that chakras are used by the astral body as sense organs. When the astral duplicate is recalled to the original physical body the dissipation of the duplicates chakras results in light flashes.
When Fred is in prison he has a premonition of the cabin scene toward the end of the film. I see this as evidence of the development of Fred’s shamanistic abilities.
After Fred and Pete combine in the prison we see Pete with a distended face. I see this as evidence of two forms having been combined. As the combining settles Pete’s outward appearance takes predominance.
There is one short scene where we see Fred rolling violently on the prison floor. The camera speed is so fast that even in slow motion it is difficult to make out Fred’s face. After watching this scene a number of times in slow motion I believe it is clear that at the beginning of the scene Fred is laying on the floor. At the end of the scene Pete is laying on the floor in place of Fred.
Earlier I mentioned that I would go into more detail about Pete and Fred’s combining. In shamanistic theory it is said that it is impossible to completely separate the two consciences. At the least, the repressed personality becomes the dominant personalities subconscious.
One character in the film states that Pete is not the same after “that night”. Sheila does this when she is confronting Pete over his infidelity. I think Sheila sensed Fred’s presence.
When Pete hears the jazz music in the garage this causes him discomfort. This is because focusing on the jazz music begins to bring Fred’s consciousness into dominance.
Renee becomes Alice through a combining of Fred and Pete’s perceptions of the world. For the dominant personality the world becomes something like a mirage. The world has a physical reality, but is altered, something like how drugs can alter the perception of reality.
Alice is drawn to Pete because she senses the presence of Fred. Alice/Renee does love Fred, she is just promiscuous.
As to why Mystery Man chooses to use Pete this could be either because Mystery Man wants to also initiate Pete, or just needs a vehicle to serve as protection and a means of vengeance for Fred. There is an indication that Pete and Mystery Man have met. When the Daytons talk to Pete about the night Pete appeared in the prison cell they say Pete was with a “mysterious man” who they had never seen before. I think this man was Mystery Man. Mr. Eddy values Pete as a mechanic. Therefore Pete is a vehicle for producing confrontation with Mr. Eddy.
Andy being killed begins the process of bringing Fred’s personality to dominance. This shows in Pete’s bloody nose. This is an indication that the physical separating of Fred and Pete is approaching.
When Alice disappears into the cabin this is the point where Fred is separated from Pete. I say this because the next time we see her, Renee has been separated from Alice. Alice was the product of Fred and Pete’s combined worldview. So, if we are seeing Renee again then Fred must be separate from Pete.
Now Fred exacts his revenge on Mr. Eddy. At the Lost Highway motel we see Mr. Eddy in an illicit encounter with Renee. Fred instinctively knows how to handle Mr. Eddy because Pete’s memories linger in Fred’s subconscious.
Why did Mystery Man decide to kill Mr. Eddy? In the dark world of demonic and shamanistic relations there is no mercy. A human gets powers from the demonic supernatural realm as long as the demons want to give the power or are manipulated into having to give the powers. If a human is either no longer useful to the demon, or the human’s ability to manipulate the demon is disrupted, then the demon can retaliate. Mr. Eddy has been arrogant and must pay.
Since Mystery Man knows Mr. Eddy’s death is coming, he needs another human to control. This is one reason why he approaches Fred. Mystery Man’s motivation for using Fred as an instrument of vengeance could be because Mystery Man believes Fred is due some justice. This is not Judeo-Christian justice. This is justice without mercy, defilement of justice defined as an individual attempting to exceed their proper place in the universe. Mr. Eddy’s arrogance and decadence exceeded the honor due him in the demonic realm, and secondarily impinged on Fred. Therefore, Mystery Man believes Fred deserves to participate in the vengeance against Mr. Eddy.
Almost at the end we see Fred driving while being pursued by police. Fred begins to go through similar physical changes as he did in prison when he combined with Pete. I think that this time Mystery Man is combining Fred with someone else other than Pete. The police will stop Fred’s car, see a driver other than Fred, and be in a similar predicament as when Pete was discovered in Fred’s prison cell. The combined Fred will be set free, then at a later date Mystery Man will separate Fred from the other person. Mystery Man will then use Fred as his shaman.
I base the latter interpretation on Mystery Man’s whispering to Fred after the killing of Mr. Eddy. I think that Mystery Man was bringing Fred into his confidence. Mystery Man told Fred to go back to his house and utter into the intercom, “Dick Lareunt is dead.” Mystery Man also gave Fred some of the details I have mentioned.
I also think it is not coincidental that pornography is prominent in the plot. In theories of demonism it has been said that extra-marital heterosexual sex and any homosexual sex produce a corruption of the soul. This corruption gives off a rebellious energy that demons can metabolize for increased power. A powerful demon such as Mystery Man would use this rebellious energy to empower his ability to achieve his schemes. Mystery Man therefore has a good reason to be around people involved in pornography.

One point I haven’t discussed yet is when we see and hear early in the film that Renee has been killed, yet we see her alive at the end of the film. One possibility is that towards the end of the film Fred has traveled to the past, and encounters Renee at the Lost Highway motel before her murder. Proof of this could be that further on towards the end of the film we see Fred delivering the intercom message that Fred hears near the beginning of the film. When we heard the intercom message in the beginning of the film we also heard screeching tires, cars driving fast and police siren noise. When Fred actually delivers the message all of the noises we previously heard are matched with action. So, I believe that at the end of the film Fred has gone back in time, before Renee’s murder.
And remember Lynch co-wrote Lost Highway with Barry Gifford. Gifford is known for writing supernatural, mystical, violent novels. Go online, read a few synopsis’ of Gifford novels, and it will be evident that my analysis is in line with something Gifford would write.
So, folks, this is the way it is, and don’t let any slick lawyer make you change your story. Save this article, file it away deep where no lawyer can slip into your house and find it, no matter how bad your hangover. This article may one day be your Holy Grail. Cling tight to this paper, live long and prosper.

by
Skip McRobert


END