David Lynch's 1986 masterpiece Blue Velvet is now available to stream for free on Amazon Prime Video in the UK. The film, which revitalised Lynch's career after the commercial failure of Dune, was initially rejected by major studios due to its graphic sexual and violent content.
Starring Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern, the neo-noir mystery follows college student Jeffrey Beaumont (MacLachlan) as he returns home after his father's stroke. When he discovers a severed ear in a field, he teams up with detective's daughter Sandy Williams (Dern) to investigate, leading them into the dark underworld of psychopath Frank Booth (Hopper) and lounge singer Dorothy Vallens (Rossellini).
Despite dividing critics upon release, Blue Velvet earned Lynch his second Oscar nomination for Best Director and was hailed by the National Society of Film Critics. In 2008, the American Film Institute named it one of the ten greatest American mystery films. It currently holds a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The film's arrival on Amazon Prime comes nearly a year after Lynch's death at age 78. His cause of death was confirmed as cardiac arrest due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a condition linked to his lifelong smoking habit. Tributes poured in from fans and collaborators, celebrating his visionary work from The Elephant Man to Twin Peaks.
