If you’ve ever sat through the radiator lady scene in Eraserhead or watched a blue-haired woman whisper "silencio" in a hollow theater, you know David Lynch doesn't see the world like the rest of us. He sees the "wild pain and decay" underneath the surface of things. People always ask him what he's thinking, but he rarely gives a straight answer. Instead, he points to other people's movies.
Honestly, the list of David Lynch’s favorite films is kind of a Rorschach test for his own brain. You won't find many modern blockbusters here. He isn't interested in the latest CGI spectacle. He likes the stuff that feels like a dream you can't quite wake up from.
The Big Four: Lynch’s "Perfect" Cinema
In his book Catching the Big Fish, Lynch basically drops a short list of movies he considers "perfect filmmaking." It’s a tight, weird little group. If you want to understand why his movies feel so "Lynchian," you have to start with these four.
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Billy Wilder’s masterpiece is probably the closest thing to a blueprint for Mulholland Drive. Lynch has said he could watch this one "a hundred times more" and never get bored. It’s got that decaying Hollywood glamour that he obsesses over. The mood is thick. It’s got a dead guy narrating the story from a swimming pool. That kind of abstract, dark atmosphere is exactly what Lynch tries to capture—that "Hollywood story" that feels like a beautiful nightmare.
8½ (1963)
Federico Fellini is a massive hero for Lynch. He loves how Fellini communicates emotion through pure abstraction. You’ve seen the opening of 8½ where the guy floats out of his car and into the sky? That’s Lynch’s language. He once mentioned that Fellini manages to do what abstract painters do—talk to your soul without ever explaining a single thing.
Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953)
This one usually surprises people. It’s a French comedy by Jacques Tati about a bumbling guy at a beach resort. There’s almost no dialogue. It’s all about the sound of a swinging door or the way a car sputters. Lynch is a sound design freak, so he loves Tati’s "meticulously choreographed" audio. If you look at the character of Dougie Jones in Twin Peaks: The Return, you’re basically looking at a tall, American version of Monsieur Hulot.
Rear Window (1954)
Alfred Hitchcock is the master of voyeurism, and Lynch is his most famous student. He loves how Hitchcock creates a "whole world" within the tiny confines of an apartment complex. It’s about the secret lives of neighbors and the danger of looking too closely. Sound familiar? It’s basically the entire vibe of Blue Velvet.
The Wizard of Oz: The Movie He Thinks About Every Single Day
You cannot talk about David Lynch’s favorite films without mentioning The Wizard of Oz. It’s not just a movie to him; it’s a religious text. He famously told an audience at the New York Film Festival that "there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about The Wizard of Oz."
Think about the tropes he steals from it:
- The young innocent person entering a surreal, colorful world.
- The "man behind the curtain" (The Cowboy, The Mystery Man, etc.).
- The idea that "there's no place like home," but home is actually kind of terrifying.
In Wild at Heart, he literally has a Good Witch appear in a bubble. He doesn't even try to hide the influence. To Lynch, Dorothy’s journey is the ultimate human story—waking up in a dream and trying to find the way back to a reality that might not even exist anymore.
Comedy and the Macabre
Lynch has a very specific, old-school sense of humor. He loves W.C. Fields, particularly the 1934 film It’s a Gift. It’s about a grocer who wants to move to California to grow oranges. It’s mundane, frustrating, and slightly absurd.
Then you have Werner Herzog’s Stroszek.
It’s a bleak German film about a man who moves to Wisconsin (Lynch territory) and ends up in a tragic, circular nightmare involving a dancing chicken. It’s funny in a way that makes you feel a little sick. That’s the "Lynchian" sweet spot.
📖 Related: Why My Little Pony: The Movie One Small Thing is the Most Important Song in the Film
The Kubrick Connection
He loves Stanley Kubrick. He’s gone on record saying Lolita (1962) is one of his favorites, which makes sense given his interest in "forbidden" desires and the rot behind the white picket fence. There’s an abstract quality in Kubrick’s framing that Lynch relates to. He wants a "dream" when he goes to the movies, and Kubrick gives him that high-fidelity, clinical dreamscape.
Why This Matters for You
Watching David Lynch’s favorite films isn't just about being a film snob. It’s about learning how to see. Lynch likes these movies because they don't "spoon-feed" the audience. He hates it when movies make too much sense. He thinks it makes the brain stop working.
If you want to dive into the Lynchian mindset, stop looking for "plots" and start looking for "moods."
👉 See also: The Suite Life of Zack and Cody: What Most People Get Wrong
Start with these three steps to watch like Lynch:
- Turn off the lights. No phones. Lynch famously hates people watching movies on "f***ing telephones." You need the big screen (or at least a big TV) and loud sound.
- Listen to the background noise. In Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday or Eraserhead, the "hum" of the world is a character. Notice how the sound creates a feeling of unease even when nothing is happening.
- Accept the Mystery. When you watch 8½ or Sunset Boulevard, don't try to solve it like a puzzle. Just let the images wash over you. If it feels like a dream, you’re doing it right.
The goal of cinema, according to Lynch, is to "go into another world and have an experience." These films are the doors he used to get there.
Next Steps for You
Rent Sunset Boulevard tonight. Don't read a synopsis first. Just watch it and pay attention to the lighting and the narrator's voice. Notice how the "dream" of Hollywood slowly turns into a corpse in a pool. If you can feel that shift, you're finally starting to see the world the way David Lynch does.