James Wan Calls This Surreal 90s Thriller One of the “Scariest” Movies He’s Ever Seen
If there’s anyone who knows a thing or two about horror, it’s James Wan. The filmmaker behind Saw, The Conjuring, and Insidious has built a career around making audiences squirm with the right kind of atmosphere, storytelling, and visuals. So when he says a film is “one of the scariest movies” he’s ever seen, I believe him. I’ll let you guess which movie it is.
Ready? It’s David Lynch’s Lost Highway.
Released in 1997, Lost Highway is a surreal, almost ghostly neo-noir starring Bill Pullman and Patricia Arquette. It follows a jazz musician who believes his wife might be having an affair, only to be accused of her murder. But because this is Lynch, there are also doppelgängers, inexplicable transformations, lots of dream logic, and, of course, a small, strange man.
A Surreal Odyssey
Wan described the film as “the scariest non-horror film,” praising its “fragmented narrative, noirish atmosphere, insidious soundscape, [and] moody photography.” If you haven’t seen it yet, I have good news and bad news: though it’s not available on streaming, you can rent or buy it on Prime Video and Apple TV. And I promise, Lost Highway is worth every penny.
Wan’s love for Lost Highway makes perfect sense when you look at his filmography. He’s never been shy about his influences, often citing horror masters and fun genre films across decades. He’s noted that Mario Bava’s Planet of the Vampires influenced Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, while the gritty and underseen Death Sentence (2007) bears traces of Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left.
But what separates Wan from many of today’s (exhaustingly) self-aware horror directors is that his homages never feel like surface-level references that are just there because, well, why not? Yes, everyone has been influenced by a certain film or director, and of course, Lynch has had a major impact on so many directors, but I’d argue that Wan knows how to use his influences and references elegantly. By that, I mean that his work never comes across like a fan who is eager to flex how much he knows about the genre. He takes what he’s learned from the masters and turns it into something distinct, with a style and emotional weight that’s entirely his own. Dead Silence and Malignant are totally different films pulling from completely different references, but you know that everything on screen is distinctly Wan’s vision.
And if you love Lost Highway just as much as Wan, or if you agree that it’s one of the scariest films you’ve ever seen, let me know: @ashjenexi on Instagram and X.
Categorized: Streaming News
