Lost Highway (1997)
A lost road on the edge of strange...
A tormented jazz musician finds himself lost in an enigmatic story involving murder, surveillance, gangsters, doppelgängers, and an impossible transformation inside a prison cell.
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| Type | Movie |
|---|---|
| Released | 15 January 1997 |
| Genre | Drama, Thriller, Mystery |
| Director | David Lynch |
| Starring | Patricia Arquette, Bill Pullman and Balthazar Getty |
| Runtime | 134 min |
| Rated | R |
| Scores | Rotten Tomatoes (average) 6.2/10 · Rotten Tomatoes 69% · Metacritic 53/100 · TMDB users 7.6/10 |
| Box office | $4 million worldwide |
Where to watch Lost Highway
We could not find Lost Highway on any of the subscription services we track in the US right now. That changes often; open it in Binge Boss and we will show you where it lands.
Rent or buy
You can rent or buy Lost Highway on Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube and Fandango at Home.
Where to watch Lost Highway in 2 other countries
| Country | Streaming on (price a month) |
|---|---|
| Japan | Netflix ¥1590 JPY, U-NEXT ¥2189 JPY |
| Portugal | Filmin |
Subscription, free and ad-supported services we track; prices where Binge Boss has a price list for the country. "About" marks a price the service bills in another currency, converted at the day's rate. All countries as data.
What kind of watch this is
Lost Highway is a 134-minute labyrinth where a jazz musician’s life unravels into a fever dream of surveillance and identity theft. David Lynch treats the mystery less as a puzzle to solve and more as a psychological pressure chamber. The film does not explain its logic; it trusts you to ride the disorientation. One character transforms into another inside a prison cell, and the movie refuses to apologize for the impossibility. It is a slow, hypnotic ride that demands you stop looking for answers and start feeling the unease.
What the critics said
The reception is a study in inconsistent arithmetic. Rotten Tomatoes holds a 69% Tomatometer score as of August 2024. Yet the average rating on the same site sits at 6.2/10, a number from October 2021. Metacritic lands on a 53/100 Metascore as of August 2025. The gap between the percentage and the average is wide enough to park a car in.
What came next for the cast
Patricia Arquette moved from True Romance and Ed Wood to Boyhood and Severance. Bill Pullman, fresh from Independence Day, returned to that franchise for Resurgence while also appearing in The Equalizer. Balthazar Getty went from Natural Born Killers to Charmed and Megalopolis. The credits do not prove Lost Highway caused these shifts. They just show where the roads led next.
Where it left its mark
The film’s reputation grew after its release. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 70% score based on 63 reviews, calling it a foreboding mystery that arguably leads to a dead end, though one marked by haunting images. Metacritic scores it 53 out of 100. It placed 323rd in Sight & Sound’s 2012 critics' poll. Scholars and writers have debated its coherence. Scott Tobias argues it digs for truths in the subconscious. Jeremiah Kipp sees it as Lynch at his most personal. It also inspired the Silent Hill 2 video game. The confusion is part of the design.
If you liked this
TMDB's recommendations for people who watched Lost Highway.
Read more: Basic Instinct
Sources
- Lost Highway on TMDB — synopsis, cast, ratings and recommendations
- Wikidata Q289204 — review scores, box office and awards (CC0)
- “Lost Highway (film)” on Wikipedia, by its contributors (history) — reception, audience figures and legacy, summarised and adapted here under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Where to watch and prices: Binge Boss, from TMDB watch-provider data (powered by JustWatch) and our own provider list
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