FIRE WALK WITH ME

"Want to play with fire, little boy?"

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me was released at cinemas in 1992. Fans of the series waited in eager anticipation, expecting answers to the numerous questions that the oblique ending to the series had posed. Early reviews weren't very encouraging (it had been booed on its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival) but Lynch had been dividing the critics with his work for a few years now so this was nothing new.

Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost chose to opt out of the film after a disagreement with David Lynch. Frost had wanted a continuation of the series whilst Lynch had insisted on a prequel.

With many of the stars of Twin Peaks being either unavailable or unwilling to work on the film it was decided that the subject of the film would be Laura Palmer's last seven days before being murdered.

Fire Walk With Me opens with the destruction of a TV set signifying the end of the restraints of working on a television project. Lynch was to be let loose on Twin Peaks. There was no Mark Frost who, perhaps through his experience working on Hill Street Blues, had been the perfect partner for Lynch in the television series.

Going back in time from the series had managed to partly solve the crisis of the missing characters but there were still major casting problems. Lara Flynn Boyle was unwilling to appear as central character Donna Hayward, citing other commitments as her excuse. The part of Laura's best friend went to Moira Kelly. Kyle MacLachlan was reluctant to reprise the role of Agent Cooper for fear of being typecast. He finally agreed to make a cameo appearance, probably as a favour to Lynch who had shown faith in the actor by offering him starring roles in Blue Velvet and Dune when he was a virtual unknown.

Shooting began on 5 September 1991. It was back to Snoqualmie, Washington State for (what remained of) the original cast and some new faces to Twin Peaks. Chris Isaak was handed his first acting role as Special Agent Chester Desmond, Kiefer Sutherland played his sidekick Agent Sam Stanley and there were parts for David Bowie and Harry Dean Stanton amongst others.

I approached my first viewing of Twin Peaks: Fire walk with me with excitement mixed with trepidation, a new Donna, no Audrey and a short appearance from Agent Cooper - I feared the worst.

The opening of the film proved to be quite depressing with Agents Desmond and Stanley looking into the death of Teresa Banks. They investigate in a Washington State town that has nothing in common with Twin Peaks except its location. The coffee at the sheriff's office is old and stale, (an obvious parody of the "damn fine coffee" that Agent Cooper had enjoyed), and quirky characters were being replaced with depressingly downbeat ones. The local sheriff is corrupt and rude whilst the manageress at the local diner is dirty and uncouth, total opposites to their counterparts in the TV series. In short Twin Peaks was being systematically taken apart.

Things didn't improve with the appearance of Agent Cooper. In a totally bemusing scene he appears with Agent Philip Jeffries (David Bowie complete with a southern accent that makes you embarrassed for him!).

After checking out the trailer park where Teresa Banks had lived it was time to enter the town of Twin Peaks over half an hour into the film. We see the familiar "Welcome to Twin Peaks" sign as the theme music plays in the background.

Anyone expecting to slip into the routine of visiting those familiar weird and wonderful inhabitants of the town were to be disappointed. This was to be a dark downward spiral for Laura Palmer with no time for light relief. Rape, incest, murder but without the cherry-pie!

This was probably the main problem with Fire Walk With Me. The beauty of Twin Peaks was the unique way in which it integrated comedy with shear terror. Its horrific moments were more frightening because minutes earlier we had been laughing at genuine comic moments. With the film there was escape from Laura's dark life.

Prior to her death there are long scenes involving Laura Palmer in a sordid nightclub. David Lynch had decided that the repetitive drone of the music would be louder than the characters talking. This decision backfired as the dialogue was virtually inaudible for quite a while. These scenes were subsequently subtitled but unfortunately not for the British release.

Fire Walk With Me was a destined to fail at the box office. It divided devotees of the series and confused anyone who hadn't seen the previous twenty hours or so of the television show.

So where does all this fit into the Twin Peaks universe?

Any Twin Peaks fan has to watch the film. Multiple viewings will answer some of the questions that the series posed. Where Fire Walk With Me fails is in the way major characters are either discarded or reduced to mere walk-on roles.

If David Lynch had intended to resurrect the series in cinematic form he failed. Ultimately Fire Walk With Me is not part of the magic that is Twin Peaks.