Blue Velvet (film)

This article is about the David Lynch film. For the hit song of the same name, see Blue Velvet (song).

Blue Velvet
File:Bvmovieposter.jpg
Directed by	David Lynch
Written by	David Lynch
Produced by	Fred C. Caruso Richard A. Roth
Starring	Kyle MacLachlan Isabella Rossellini Dennis Hopper Laura Dern
Music by	Angelo Badalamenti
Distributed by	De Laurentiis Entertainment Group
Release dates	12 September, 1986 (premiere at Toronto Film Festival) 19 September, 1986 (theatrical release)
Running time	120 min.
Country	USA language = English
Budget	$6,000,000 (estimated)

Blue Velvet is a 1986 thriller mystery film written and directed by David Lynch. Its cast features Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper and Laura Dern.

The film begins with the protagonist discovering a severed human ear, which he takes to the police. He begins to investigate the matter himself, and discovers a seamy underworld within his quaint suburban town.

The title is taken from a Bobby Vinton song by the same name, which also can be heard several times throughout the film.

Tagline:

• It's a strange world.

Synopsis

The film begins with peaceful, quintessential images of suburban living in a quaint lumber town (actually called “Lumberton”), followed immediately by images of creepy insects and bugs crawling beneath the surface of a pristine yard. This begins the movie's theme of good and evil coexisting in the world. A man watering his lawn falls down suddenly and appears to be in terrible pain (probably caused by something such as a heart attack, stroke or seizure).

The man is actually Mr. Beaumont. He is visited in the hospital by his son, Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan), who has returned home from college to aid his father. While Jeffrey walks home, he strolls through a park and finds a severed human ear in the grass. He takes the ear to an acquaintance in the police department, Det. Williams. While at the Williams house later to talk about the incident more, Jeffrey meets the detective’s daughter, Sandy (Laura Dern) and the two enjoy a walk together. Sandy tells Jeffrey some details about the ear case – that a woman’s name (“Dorothy Vallens”) and street address (“Lincoln Avenue”) keep coming up in her father’s phone conversations. Fascinated by the fact that his seemingly immaculate town has a seedy underworld, Jeffrey decides to find out what he can about all this; he enters Dorothy’s apartment and meets her, all the while pretending to be a maintenance man. When she is distracted, he takes a spare door key from under a counter. A man comes to the door – “The Yellow Man,” as Jeffrey calls him, because of his suit jacket. The Yellow Man leaves without incident and Jeffrey does the same.

Later that night, while Dorothy is gone, Jeffrey sneaks into Dorothy’s apartment with the stolen key and begins to snoop around. Because he flushes the toilet after urinating, he doesn’t hear Sandy's car honking outside (Sandy’s warning sign that Dorothy has returned). As Dorothy enters the apartment, Jeffrey hides in the closet. Dorothy receives a call and begs the person on the other line to put her son on the phone. She talks to her son briefly before the phone call ends and then sobs. Jeffrey stirs in the closet and Dorothy rips open the doors with a large kitchen knife in her hand. Thinking him a burglar, she threatens to hurt him and Jeffrey becomes frightened. After she takes his wallet and discovers that he is merely a curious neighbor, not a dangerous person, she seems intrigued that he would enter to snoop on her. She then begins to sexually stimulate him while still threatening him with the knife.

Their strange encounter is cut short by the arrival of Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper). Jeffrey hides back in the closet, and Dorothy opens the door. Frank is an extremely foul-mouthed, violent psychopath. When he enters the apartment, he immediately demands bourbon, inhales amyl nitrite and tells Dorothy to expose herself to him. He then proceeds to dry-hump Dorothy until he climaxes in a fit of rage and pleasure. Frank leaves, dropping some hints that concern her son and the son's father. A saddened and desperate Dorothy then tries to seduce Jeffrey, who has emerged from the closet confusedly and wants to console her. After somewhat seducing him, she demands that he hit her. He refuses, and she screams for him to leave her alone. On his way out the door, he sees that Dorothy actually is married and has a son.

Later, Jeffrey follows Dorothy to her nightclub, where she sings “Blue Velvet.” Also at the nightclub is Frank. Using amateur surveillance equipment, he follows Frank around and photographs him making a dirty deal. Two other men are also involved in Frank’s dirty dealings – the “Yellow Man” (whose ID is unknown) and a “Well dressed man” (whose ID is unknown).

Jeffrey meets Sandy and tells her what he thinks: That Frank, a psychopathic gangster, kidnapped Dorothy's husband and son in an effort to use her as his slave. The ear likely belongs to her captured husband. Dorothy is simply complying with the violent Frank’s disturbing requests in the hopes of her husband and son being returned alive. Jeffrey tells Sandy of all his surveillance discoveries, finishing his summary with his belief that Dorothy “wants to die” because of what’s happened. Sandy is shocked but intrigued. Her attraction to Jeffrey grows, and vice versa. This is problematic because Sandy, a high schooler, is dating a physically imposing football player. Jeffrey goes back to see Dorothy, as he is both concerned for her and sexually attracted to her. The two make love – and during the lovemaking, Jeffrey, in the heat of the moment, concedes to Dorothy’s sexually masochistic wishes when he slaps her across the face. After they have made love, Frank shows up again and confronts Jeffrey. Fearing violence from Frank, Jeffrey agrees to go on a ride with him and his gang of thugs. The men all head to a brothel run by Ben (Dean Stockwell). Ben is a strange, eccentrically dressed man, rather effeminate looking, whom Frank refers to as "suave".

While Ben lip-synchs Roy Orbison’s song “In Dreams,” Dorothy is told that her kid is alive and well in the next room. She is allowed to see the child for a few minutes offscreen. Leaving Ben’s house, all continue the ride and stop in an abandoned field, where Frank begins to inhale gas again and sexually abuse Dorothy – perhaps just to get a rise out of Jeffrey. Jeffrey controls his anger as best he can before punching Frank in the face. Frank and his men quickly beat Jeffrey up and warn him he will be killed if he continues to play “good neighbor” to Dorothy. Jeffrey is beaten unconscious while Dorothy screams and one of Ben's prostitutes dances to music on the radio.

After Jeffrey heals from the beating, he finally agrees to take Sandy’s advice and let her father in on the discoveries. (Once again, Sandy is disturbed but fascinated – much like Jeffrey himself, as the two are both losing their innocence together.) Det. Williams is fascinated that Jeffrey found out so much, but chastises him for endangering himself and possibly endangering his daughter. It’s at the police station that Jeffrey sees how Det. Williams’ partner is actually a police officer named Gordon – a.k.a. the “Yellow Man.” Jeffrey begins to see his world in a new light and is having trouble coming to grips with the fact that the world is an evil place. Jeffrey and Sandy go to a neighborhood dance together, profess their newfound love and kiss. When Jeffrey drives back to his house with Sandy, they are suddenly tailed by a swerving car. Fearing it to be Frank, Jeffrey is almost somewhat relieved when he discovers it is actually Sandy’s football-playing boyfriend. A confrontation is avoided when all see a naked and distressed Dorothy waiting on Jeffrey’s front porch. As Jeffrey wraps a blanket around Dorothy, she alludes to their sexual encounter, which makes Sandy upset.

The next day, Sandy forgives Jeffrey for sleeping with Dorothy. Jeffrey says that Dorothy’s appearance on the front porch was likely because something terrible happened to her. As he fears more horror will come to Dorothy, he tells Sandy that he must go back to Lincoln St. He tells Sandy to send her father there immediately. When Jeffrey arrives back at Dorothy’s apartment, Dorothy is not there. What is there, however, is a gruesome spectacle. “The Yellow Man” is there, with a severe head wound and semi-conscious, and still somehow standing up. Dorothy’s husband is also there – dead, tied up and missing an ear. After getting the Yellow Man’s police radio, he tries to leave, but sees “The Well Dressed Man” coming up the steps. Knowing he’s trapped, he concocts a plan. Jeffrey talks to Det. Williams over the police radio but lies about his location inside the apartment. The plan works, as The Well Dressed Man – who turns out to be Frank Booth in disguise – enters the apartment and brags about hearing Jeffrey's "hidden" location over his own police radio. Frank heads into the bedroom to kill Jeffrey but, failing to find him, returns to the lounge and shoots The Yellow Man in the head. Jeffrey is actually hiding in the closet, from where he shoots Frank with the Yellow Man's gun. Det. Williams arrives on the scene to clean things up. Sandy also arrives and kisses Jeffrey.

Days later, we see Jeffrey and Sandy together, with their lives back to normal. Also before the credits we see Dorothy and her son playing in the park together. Sandy talks about a world full of light, love and robins, alluding to the fact that evil exists in the world, but good will always overcome. This is further symbolized by a robin that Jeffrey and Sandy notice in the kitchen, and they point out an insect in the robin's mouth, symbolizing that the robin (love) has removed the insect (evil) from the ground (underworld.) Template:Endspoilers

Origins and production history

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Welcome to Lumberton, USA.

Blue Velvet's origins may lie in Lynch's childhood, spent deep in the forests of Spokane, Washington, a Northwestern setting similar to that of the film. For Lynch, there was a definite "autobiographical level to the movie. Kyle is dressed like me. My father was a research scientist for the Department of Agriculture in Washington. We were in the woods all the time. I'd sorta had enough of the woods by the time I left, but still, lumber and lumberjacks, all this kinda thing, that's America to me like the picket fences and the roses in the opening shot. It's so burned in, that image, and it makes me feel so happy." If Lynch's childhood memories inspired the setting of Blue Velvet, the actual story of the film originated from three ideas that crystallized in the filmmaker's mind over a period of time starting as early as 1973, but at that time he "only had a feeling and a title."

After finishing The Elephant Man, he met producer Richard Roth over coffee. Roth had read and enjoyed Lynch's Ronnie Rocket script but did not think it was something he wanted to produce. He asked Lynch if the filmmaker had any other scripts but the director only had ideas. "I told him I had always wanted to sneak into a girl's room to watch her into the night and that, maybe, at one point or another, I would see something that would be the clue to a murder mystery. Roth loved the idea and asked me to write a treatment. I went home and thought of the ear in the field."

The second idea was an image of a severed, human ear lying in a field that has since become one of the most striking visuals of the film. "I don't know why it had to be an ear. Except it needed to be an opening of a part of the body a hole into something else...The ear sits on the head and goes right into the mind so it felt perfect," Lynch remarked in an interview. For the filmmaker, the severed ear was the perfect way to draw Jeffrey into a secret world that lies at the heart of the film.

The third idea that came to Lynch was Bobby Vinton's classic rendition of the song "Blue Velvet" and "the mood that came with that song a mood, a time, and things that were of that time." This song proved to be such a favorite with Lynch that he not only has Vinton's version in the film but Dorothy also sings it during one of her performances at the Slow Club. The song continues the blue velvet motif that appears throughout the film from the curtain or robe of velvet in the opening credits to the piece of material that Frank carries with him.

Once these three ideas came to Lynch, he and Roth pitched it to Warner Bros. who showed interest in the project. So, Lynch spent two years writing two drafts which, by his own admission, were not very good. The problem with them, Lynch has said, that "there was maybe all the unpleasantness in the film but nothing else. A lot was not there. And so it went away for a while."

Script

Lynch returned to Blue Velvet. He wrote two more drafts before he was satisfied with the script. Conditions at this point were ideal for Lynch's film: he had cut a deal with Dino de Laurentiis that gave him complete artistic freedom and final cut privileges with the stipulation that the filmmaker take a cut in his salary and work with a budget of only $6 million. Blue Velvet was also the smallest film on the De Laurentiis' roster and so Lynch was left alone for the most part. "After Dune I was down so far that anything was up! So it was just a euphoria. And when you work with that kind of feeling, you can take chances. You can experiment". Because the material was completely different from anything that would be considered mainstream at the time, Laurentiis had to start his own production company to distribute it.

The finished film was cut down from an original four-hour length to its final 120 minute length. The missing footage was put in storage and apparently lost.

Casting

The cast of Blue Velvet included several then-unknown actors -- Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Laura Dern -- with the exception of Dennis Hopper, who was quite recognized as an actor at the time. Blue Velvet's dark script and low budget limited the number of big names that Lynch could attract. The part of Frank Booth was originally offered to Robert Loggia, then William Dafoe and Richard Bright, all of whom turned it down. Dennis Hopper -- Lynch's third choice -- voluntarily accepted the role, reportedly saying "I've got to play Frank! I am Frank!" In an interview and on the 2002 documentary ("The Mysteries of Love"), Lynch said that he originally wanted Molly Ringwald, who was then a "teen idol", to be in Blue Velvet, but her mother objected to her starring in the film due to the graphic content, and both agreed that it would tarnish her career in the film industry.

Three actresses were offered the role of Dorothy Vallens. Lynch tested and turned down German/Polish actress Hanna Schygulla, then considered Helen Mirren, who was unavailable at the time. While in New York City in early 1987, Lynch met Isabella Rossellini at a restaurant, and she accepted the role. Lynch only had one choice for the role of Jeffery Beaumont: Val Kilmer, who turned the role down, describing the script he read as "pornography". Kilmer later said he would have done the version of the film that finally made it to the big screen; he became very fond of the final version of the film, just not the version he read as a script. Kyle MacLachlan, who had previously starred in one film directed by Lynch, Dune (1984), was asked to play the role of Jeffery. He instantly agreed.

Direction

Blue Velvet introduced several common elements of Lynch's work, including abused women and the dark underbelly of small towns (or large cities). Red curtains also show up in key scenes, which have since become a trademark of Lynch films. Many note that Lynch's directing and camera work contributed to Blue Velvet's success. The opening title features the title cards, and a backdrop of a blue velvet robe blowing in the wind, which sets the mood for the blue velvet and how it consistently appears throughout the film. Much of the cinematography and shots bear similarities to surrealistic paintings, such as the way the streets of Lumberton are lit with very dim light.

Metaphors occur several times throughout Blue Velvet. In an interview, Lynch mentioned that he deliberately placed recurring symbols into the film. The most obvious symbol is that of insects, introduced at the end of the first scene, when the camera zooms in on a well-kept suburban lawn until it discovers, underground, a swarming nest of disgusting bugs. This is generally recognized as a metaphor for the seedy underworld that Jeffrey will soon discover under the surface of his own suburban paradise. The bug motif recurs throughout the film, most notably in the horrific bug-like oxygen mask that Frank wears, but also in the excuse that Jeffrey offers when he first gains access to Dorothy's apartment: he claims he is an insect exterminator. One of Frank's sinister accomplices is also consistently identified through the yellow jacket he wears. Yellowjacket happens to be the name of a type of wasp, which double-layers the symbolism on yet another level, as the USA's economically dominant class is known as WASPs - White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Finally, a robin eating a bug on a fence becomes a topic of discussion in the last scene of the film. Some believe that this is just 'one bug' and that there is still a criminal underworld left (indeed, earlier in the film when the police raid Frank's hideout, it certainly doesn't look like they're winning).

The severed ear that Jeffrey discovers is also a key symbolic element; the ear is what leads Jeffrey into danger. Indeed, just as Jeffrey's troubles begin, the audience is treated to a nightmarish sequence in which the camera zooms into the ear canal of the severed, decomposing ear. Notably, the camera does not reemerge from the ear canal until the end of the film. When Jeffrey finally comes through his hellish ordeal unscathed, the ear canal shot is replayed, only in reverse, zooming out through Jeffrey's own ear as he relaxes in his yard on a summer day.

Music

Another major stylistic feature in Blue Velvet is the unconventional use of vintage songs, such as Bobby Vinton’s "Blue Velvet" and Roy Orbison’s "In Dreams". Lynch worked with well-known music composer Angelo Badalamenti for the first time in this film. Badalamenti would go on to contribute to all of Lynch's future full-length films.

Reaction

Roger Ebert, a film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times praised Isabella Rosselini's performance as "convincing and courageous" but criticized how she was depicted in the film: "degraded, slapped around, humiliated and undressed in front of the camera. And when you ask an actress to endure those experiences, you should keep your side of the bargain by putting her in an important film." Paul Attanasio of The Washington Post said that "the film showcases a visual stylist utterly in command of his talents" and that Angelo Badalamenti "contributes an extraordinary score, slipping seamlessly from slinky jazz to violin figures to the romantic sweep of a classic Hollywood score," but claims that Lynch "isn't interested in communicating, he's interested in parading his personality. The movie doesn't progress or deepen, it just gets weirder, and to no good end."

Janet Maslin from The New York Times wrote,

"Mr. Hopper and Miss Rossellini are so far outside the bounds of ordinary acting here that their performances are best understood in terms of sheer lack of inhibition; both give themselves entirely over to the material, which seems to be exactly what's called for."

She concluded by saying that the movie, "is as fascinating as it is freakish. It confirms Mr. Lynch's stature as an innovator, a superb technician, and someone best not encountered in a dark alley." Looking back in his Guardian/Observer, critic Philip French felt that "The film is wearing well and has attained a classic status without becoming respectable or losing its sense of danger."

Blue Velvet holds a 90 percent "fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.7 rating at the Internet Movie Database with 25,199 votes, which is above average.

Awards

Isabella Rossellini won an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead in 1987.

David Lynch and Dennis Hopper won a Los Angeles Film Critics Association award in 1987 for Blue Velvet in categories Best Director (Lynch) and Best Supporting Actor (Hopper). In 1987 National Society of Film Critics gave the film Best Film, Best Director (David Lynch), Best Cinematography (Frederick Elmes) and Best Supporting Actor (Dennis Hopper) awards. Also David Lynch was nominated for the 1987 Best Director Academy Award.

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed a total of $789,409 in 98 theaters. As of August 7 2006, the film has grossed a total of $8,551,228 domestically. Blue Velvet's release on VHS has contributed to its popularity over the years.

Rankings

In later years, the film's villain Frank Booth was ranked #36 on the American Film Institute's list of list of the 50 best villains in cinema history, and #96 on its 100 Most Thrilling Movies Ever. It was ranked at #84 by Bravo Television Network in the list of 100 Scariest Movie Moments Countdown. While not becoming a box office success given its very limited release in theaters, the film has become a cultural icon in the history of cinema, thanks to screenings on cable and VHS and DVD releases over the years.

DVD Release

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The Region 1 cover of the Special Edition DVD release

Blue Velvet was first released onto a barebones DVD, on April 24, 2000 by MGM, containing just a trailer and some editions had a special trivia booklet. It was re-released on DVD in 2002 (a VHS version was also released) in a Special Edition set, it included an in-depth documentary about the film called The Mysteries of Love, deleted scenes put together in a montage, a Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel interview about their thoughts on the film, a photo gallery, booklet and an original theatrical trailer. It was released internationally on June 4, 2002.

What is Frank's drug?

Throughout the film, Frank Booth uses a mask to breathe a gas from a tank. The identity of this gas is a subject of controversy. Lynch's script specified helium, to raise Frank's voice and have it resemble that of an infant. However, during filming, Hopper, an experienced drug user, claimed to have insight into Frank's choice of drug and that helium was inappropriate:

"...I'm thankful to Dennis," Lynch said, "because up until the last minute it was gonna be helium - to make the difference between 'Daddy' and the baby that much more. But I didn't want it to be funny. So helium went out the window and became just a gas. Then, in the first rehearsal, Dennis said, 'David, I know what's in these different canisters.' And I said, 'Thank God, Dennis, that you know that!' And he named all the gases."

In a documentary on the DVD version of the film, Hopper identifies the drug as amyl nitrite.

Use of amyl nitrites, commonly referred to as Poppers, is depicted in the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. While it is an inhalant, it is pictured as an ampule of liquid that Duke and Gonzo crush, releasing the liquid into a piece of fabric wrapped around the glass. This method of use is similar to the way they inhale the ether with an American flag. Frank's drug is more likely nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas. It is used legitimately for anesthesia and making whipped cream, but in small doses produces a brief but intense high. The gas also produces an auditory hallucination known as the "Waa-Waas" whereby any sounds take on a quality that sounds a lot like Charlie Brown's teacher. Lynch is well-known for the close attention he plays to sound in his films, and if you listen carefully during the nitrous scenes you can detect a subtle "Waa-Waa" quality to the audio track.

Trivia

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A deleted scene from the film.

• The exterior scenes of 'Lumberton' were filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina.
• When Dorothy is slapped by Frank after the first rape scene, one was supposed to see Frank actually hitting her, instead it cuts away to Jeffery in the closet, wincing at what he has just seen. This was removed in order to satisfy the MPAA concerns about violence. Lynch thought that the change only made the scene more disturbing.
• Lynch's original rough cut ran about 4 hours long. He was contractually obligated to deliver a 2-hour movie by D.E.G. and cut many small subplots and character scenes. To this day, footage of the deleted scenes has never been found and only stills remain. David Lynch's final cut of the film ran one frame under two hours.
• Willem Dafoe was originally considered for the role of Frank Booth, as were Robert Loggia and Richard Bright.
• In the same year Blue Velvet was released, Dennis Hopper received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for the film Hoosiers. At the time, it was believed that the Academy wanted to honor Hopper's portrayal of Frank, but gave him the Oscar for his appearance in Hoosiers instead because Frank was just too evil a character.
• The scene where Dorothy appears naked outside after being raped and beaten was inspired by a real-life experience Lynch had in his childhood when he and a friend saw a naked woman walking down a neighborhood street at night. The experience was so traumatic to the young Lynch at the time, it made him cry and he had never forgotten it.
• Val Kilmer was offered a chance to appear in this film, but he declined after reading the script, which he described as initially being "hardcore pornography" for the first 30 pages. After seeing the finished film, Kilmer stated that turning Velvet down was one of the biggest mistakes he ever made, citing that the final version of the film was very different from the script he had read.

References in pop culture

• A number of musicians have sampled Dennis Hopper's character, Frank Booth, in this movie:
  • The Mr. Bungle song "Squeeze Me Macaroni" features the sample, "One thing I can't stand is warm beer, it makes me fucking puke!!" dialogue at the end.
  • Anthrax's "I'm The Man '91" has him clearly saying, "Fuck that shit!", which Frank Booth says in response to what type of beer Kyle MacLachlan's character says he likes. The song also contains a sample of Frank Booth saying, "I can still hear your fucking radio, you stupid shit".
  • Pigface's unreleased remix "Sickaspfuck", found on their 2001 best-of album, begins with Frank's shouting of "Let's fuck! I'll fuck anything that moves!"
  • The Louisiana band Acid Bath also samples Frank Booth in the song "Cassie eats Cockroaches", the final track on "When The Kite String Pops".
  • The Ministry song "Jesus Built My Hot Rod" features the sample, "Let's hit the fucking road!" dialogue halfway through.
  • Amon Tobin in turn referenced Blue Velvet and Frank on the 1998 album Permutation, with the song "People Like Frank", which also samples music from Angelo Badalamenti's score.
  • The Hypnotist (Casper Pound) in "The Ride" (Give Peace a Dance, Vol 3) prominently features the sample "A ride... well that's a good idea" spoken by Frank, as well of other lines from that same scene in the hallway.
  • On the radio call-in show Loveline, the engineer will often drop (play) a sample of Frank shouting "Where's my bourbon?!?" when the hosts and/or the (usually female) caller are discussing abusive, alcoholic fathers, boyriends, etc.
  • Rollinsband (Henry Rollins) released a lengthy 'jam' song called 'JoyRiding with Frank' - the live version starts with Henry quoting Frank: "This Is IT!"
  • The beginning of the Fear Factory song "Concrete" off their album of the same title features a sample of Frank screaming "Next!" after Jeffrey punches him in the face.
• Blue Velvet is quoted a few times in the Kevin Smith movie Clerks.
• In the television series Spaced, Tim says that the people in The Rocky Horror Picture Show have too many posters of Blue Velvet, Betty Blue and The Blues Brothers painted on their blue walls.
• Blue Velvet is referenced in an episode of Arrested Development. Wayne Jarvis comments on Gob's puppet Franklin, asking (in an imitation of Kyle MacLachlan), "Why do there have to be puppets like Frank?"
• Isabella Rossellini wore a blue velvet dress at the Academy Awards Ceremony the year that Lynch was nominated for Best Director.
• Peter Travers, the film critic for Rolling Stone magazine, named Blue Velvet the best film of the 1980s.
• Benediction wrote "Dark is the Season", a song about Blue Velvet having lyrics directly referencing the movie. It is recorded on the Dark is the Season EP. The lyrics sheet further states, "See the film Blue Velvet by David Lynch, freak out & blow your mind!!!"
• In RoboCop 2, the drug under development is named "Blue Velvet", and the scientist working on the drug is named Frank. When the drug is tested, Kane gives the Lynchian response, "It's making my teeth wiggle."
• In Bio Dome, while inhaling nitrous oxide from a tank with a mask, Pauly Shore's character says, "Dennis Hopper, Blue Velvet: 'Oh I'm slutty!, Oh I'm slutty!'" referencing Dennis Hopper's character's crude sexual nature and the scene where Dennis Hopper gets high using an oxygen mask.
• In a brief shot where Jeffrey is clandestinely photographing Frank, the shoebox that the camera is disguised in reads "Jarman" (possibly a reference to filmmaker Derek Jarman).
• In the Capcom video game Resident Evil 4, a recurring treasure is named Velvet Blue in a subtle homage to the film.
• In The Squid and the Whale, set in 1986, three characters choose to see Blue Velvet at the theater instead of Short Circuit.
• In the Konami videogame Silent Hill 2 the main character hides in a closet and witnesses what can arguably be considered rape by a monster. After that he shoots a gun at the same monster from inside the closet. This is a clear reference to similar scenes in the movie.
• A line in the film is said by Frank Booth is exactly the same as a line in Closer (2004).

External links

• LynchNet - Blue Velvet
• Blue Velvet at All Movie Guide
• Blue Velvet Mysteries: two part search for the film's deleted scenes
• Blue Velvet at IMDb
• Blue Velvet at the TCM Movie Database