Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Lost Highway Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov June 25, 2019

David Lynch's "Lost Highway" (1997) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. There are no supplemental features on this release. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Come over here, boy

Fred Madison (Bill Pullman, Brokedown Palace) is a professional saxophone player who suspects that his wife, Renee (Patricia Arquette, Goodbye Lover), is having an affair. But he can't prove it, which may or may not be the reason why he is having some serious nightmares.

Someone leaves a large brown envelope with a videotape on their steps. There is footage on the tape showing the inside of their house, then Fred and Renee sleeping. More videotapes arrive, showing more. Concerned about their safety, Fred and Renee contact the police.

During a chic party, Fred meets a man (Robert Blake, In Cold Blood) who tries to convince him that they've met before. In Fred's house. Unsure what to make of the man and his strange claim, Fred walks away. Soon after, however, Renee is killed, and Fred is thrown in prison.

While waiting in his cell for a trial date to be set, Fred becomes seriously ill -- and then suddenly transforms into a different man, Pete Dayton (Balthazar Getty, Where the Day Takes You). Unable to make any sense of the event, the prison authorities free Pete and he goes back home. The cops immediately begin monitoring him and his family.

On the following day, Pete gets his old job, fixing cars in a rundown garage. He is soon visited by a wild wacky gangster (Robert Loggia, Prizzi's Honor) and his toy, (Arquette again), a blonde bombshell with beautiful green eyes. Pete fixes the gangster's car and falls in love with his girl.

Pete and the girl secretly see each other, and when the gangster starts sniffing around, heads begin to roll. Then Fred's nightmares return, followed quickly by the man from the party, who calls Pete to let him know that they've also met before. Not long after that, all hell breaks loose.

David Lynch's Lost Highway is a genuine mind-bender that is more interested in moods and feelings than telling an entirely coherent story. It is a wicked game that is easy to get sucked into and next to impossible to exit. The best thing about it is not being able to figure out its secret but the effort it demands to stay in it, the process of speculating with various 'what ifs'.

The core of Lost Highway is comprised of surrealistic sequences that point to a tragedy. Some show key events from before the tragedy, and others show key events from later on after it had occurred. The rest of the film is essentially clever baiting -- various characters and relationships are introduced but not all of them are as important as they seem.

The atmosphere that permeates the film is dark and unsettling, and evil is almost certainly in the air. There is plenty of sex. Angry bits from industrial gurus Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, and Rammstein are very carefully inserted to raise the intensity as well.

*Lost Highway was adapted into an opera by acclaimed Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth. In 2003, the opera premiered in her hometown of Graz. In 2007, the opera made its U.S. premiere at the Miller Theater in New York City.

Lost Highway Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, David Lynch's Lost Highway arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The only other release of this film that I have in my library is this Region-B release from French label MK2, which came out in 2010. So, at the moment it is the only one that I can reference for comparison purposes.

This brand new release is sourced from an older master, but the technical presentation is vastly superior. In every single area that we usually address in our reviews, there are very meaningful improvements, and some are so dramatic that they actually make parts of the French release look like upscaled material. For example, indoor and outdoor visuals have far better density levels and lack the mild surface sharpening that was noticeable on the other release, which immediately makes a big difference if the film is viewed on a larger screen. (If you go over 55", you will see a huge upgrade in quality). Unsurprisingly, overall depth is also superior. Many close-ups now look very beautiful. There are no traces of degrainig or sharpening adjustments that I could spot. The entire color scheme is more convincing as well. The primaries are far better balanced and there are actually different ranges of -- and this is very important to underscore -- healthy nuances. The black levels are strong and under different circumstances, I would have probably concluded that they obstruct some important native nuances, but I am not at all convinced that this is a bad thing here. (The new 4K remaster of Blue Velvet that Mr. Lynch recently supervised actually promotes a similar preference for a darker than usual overall appearance). I think that in a few instances some highlights could be better balanced, but not by much because they already look quite nice). Image stability is excellent. Finally, there are no distracting large debris, cuts, damage marks, warped or torn frames to report in our review. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Lost Highway Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

It is a well-known fact that sound is very important in David Lynch's films, so I turned up the volume quite a bit while viewing the film so that I can hear as many native nuances as possible. I used the 5.1 track but also switched to the 2.0 track to hear how they compare. Obviously, the 5.1 track is preferable, and outside of a few places where I would have liked the mid-range to be a bit more pronounced, I think that it is flawless. I could be proven wrong with a brand new and remixed 5.1 track supervised by Mr. Lynch, but I think that the quality of the current 5.1 track is excellent.

Lost Highway Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this release.

Lost Highway Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If Lost Highway happens to be one of your favorite films, I would recommend that you completely ignore all the drama social media has fueled in recent days, and only then make an intelligent decision that determines whether you should acquire Kino Lorber's new release. I have only one other release of this lovely film in my library, which a French label produced almost a decade ago (and the master that was used to source it is actually even older). I think that this new release represents a huge upgrade in quality, and for the time being offers the most convincing technical presentation of the film on the home video market. (For what it's worth, our site did not get a screener to offer a review. I purchased this disc on my own because I hoped that it will turn out to be a solid upgrade. It absolutely did). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.