MatCult

Off the back of my writing for the 25YearsLater blog , I was invited to contribute to the excellent Twin Peaks Unwrapped podcast . You can hear the episodes here and here .

ARCHIVIST’S NOTE: The staff at 25 Years Later are delving deep into  The Secret History of Twin Peaks , exploring the secrets and mysteries to be found within (and between) its mix of fact, fiction, history and mythology. Today, Mat Cult tackles the pages covering Nixon, Doug Milford, and Project Bluebook. When I read the Nixon-era, Project Blue Book section of Mark Frost’s excellent  Secret History of Twin Peaks , just weeks before  The Return  was due to air, I became really worried about the direction the show was going to take. Were they planning to replace the Lodge mythology with a bunch of UFOs and government cover-ups? Was Twin Peaks about to morph into The X Files, with Cooper spending the next 18 hours hunting aliens? I needn’t have worried, obviously. But, having seen how the show panned out, I was keen to revisit this short section of the book – to see how it really related to  The Return . And I’m glad I did – my re-read led me down sev...

As we slowly come to terms with the end of  The Return , wrestling with the meaning and emotional upheaval, it is hard to ignore the void that is left in the wake of this amazing TV show. Without new episodes to anticipate and digest, the rhythm of the week is all out of whack. We need something to fill the void. So, the team at 25 Years Later has formed a self-help group – sharing the films, TV shows, books and other media that we think will appeal to fans of Twin Peaks: The Return . Some are well known, some are a little more offbeat, but all of them have something a little bit  ‘Peaksy’  in their DNA. Of course, we know that nothing will replace something as unique as  The Return , but the list below will definitely take the edge off for those struggling to go cold turkey. And we want you to join the self-help group too! Leave a comment below with any books, films, TV or other media you’d like to suggest – or share your thoughts on  Facebook  and...

“In a nameless city deluged by a continuous rain… three rabbits live with a fearful mystery” Rabbits  is a dark and mysterious series of short films by David Lynch, featuring three performers wearing rabbit costumes and delivering disjointed dialogue punctuated by lengthy periods of silence. As you can probably tell, this is definitely at the ‘experimental’/’arthouse’ end of the entertainment spectrum and probably not an easy watch for many viewers. The fact that this series has been used in a psychology study to induce a state of existential crisis speaks volumes. But for those who stick with it, these mini-movies serve up a perfect Lynchian experience full of dread, mystery, supernatural intrusions, fear and a dreamlike atmosphere like nothing else you have ever seen. The fact that Lynch is able to create such impact in such an abstract and deconstructed way, says a lot about his skill as a film maker and story teller. In typically deadpan fashion, when interviewed, Lynch...