Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily Entertainment GuideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsCannes Film FestivalStar WarsAsian Pacific American Heritage MonthSummer Watch GuideSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

Blue Velvet

  • 1986
  • R
  • 2h
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
232K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
828
110
Isabella Rossellini and Kyle MacLachlan in Blue Velvet (1986)
Watch Official Trailer
Play trailer1:26
24 Videos
99+ Photos
Erotic ThrillerPsychological ThrillerCrimeDramaMysteryThriller

The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have... Read allThe discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.

  • Director
    • David Lynch
  • Writer
    • David Lynch
  • Stars
    • Isabella Rossellini
    • Kyle MacLachlan
    • Dennis Hopper
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.7/10
    232K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    828
    110
    • Director
      • David Lynch
    • Writer
      • David Lynch
    • Stars
      • Isabella Rossellini
      • Kyle MacLachlan
      • Dennis Hopper
    • 895User reviews
    • 248Critic reviews
    • 75Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 18 wins & 18 nominations total

    Videos24

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 1:26
    Official Trailer
    Remembering David Lynch
    Clip 1:46
    Remembering David Lynch
    Remembering David Lynch
    Clip 1:46
    Remembering David Lynch
    'Blue Velvet' | Anniversary Mashup
    Clip 1:31
    'Blue Velvet' | Anniversary Mashup
    Blue Velvet: Do It For Van Gogh
    Clip 1:29
    Blue Velvet: Do It For Van Gogh
    Blue Velvet: Jeffrey Gets Called Home
    Clip 1:23
    Blue Velvet: Jeffrey Gets Called Home
    Blue Velvet: Depression
    Clip 1:21
    Blue Velvet: Depression

    Photos202

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 198
    View Poster

    Top cast31

    Edit
    Isabella Rossellini
    Isabella Rossellini
    • Dorothy Vallens
    Kyle MacLachlan
    Kyle MacLachlan
    • Jeffrey Beaumont
    Dennis Hopper
    Dennis Hopper
    • Frank Booth
    Laura Dern
    Laura Dern
    • Sandy Williams
    Hope Lange
    Hope Lange
    • Mrs. Williams
    Dean Stockwell
    Dean Stockwell
    • Ben
    George Dickerson
    • Detective Williams
    Priscilla Pointer
    Priscilla Pointer
    • Mrs. Beaumont
    Frances Bay
    Frances Bay
    • Aunt Barbara
    Jack Harvey
    • Mr. Beaumont
    Ken Stovitz
    • Mike
    Brad Dourif
    Brad Dourif
    • Raymond
    Jack Nance
    Jack Nance
    • Paul
    J. Michael Hunter
    • Hunter
    Dick Green
    • Don Vallens
    Fred Pickler
    • Yellow Man
    Philip Markert
    • Dr. Gynde
    Leonard Watkins
    • Double Ed
    • Director
      • David Lynch
    • Writer
      • David Lynch
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews895

    7.7232K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    7auberus

    A mesmerizing piece of cinema with element of masterpiece...

    The sexual revolution in film came some ten years after the label's coinage in the late Sixties. It probably began with Last Tango in Paris. Directed by the acclaimed Bernardo Bertolucci, Last Tango is notorious for a sex scene involving Marlon and roughly a third of a stick of butter. Theretofore sex in film could potentially be used as a means of revealing the lightest or the darkest character's traits: primarily, vulnerability, instinct, sadism and impulse. Blue Velvet is a good example of a movie using such a dynamic. Blue Velvet is not a film that is easily appreciated. Likewise, it is not a film that is easily forgotten. It is a timeless controversy, and it is a vision demanding attention if not praise.

    Set in a small American town, Blue Velvet is a dark, sensuous mystery involving the intertwining lives of four very different individuals. The film's painful realism reminds us that we are not immune to the disturbing events which transpire in Blue Velvet's sleepy community. There is a darker side of life waiting for us all. And as a critic said 'you either think it's dementedly wild at heart or a lost highway to nowhere'. Even some eighteen years after the release of Blue Velvet its vision remains wildly adamant relative to the stride of other works of contemporary noir. There have been many films about suburban crime, but none as dangerously imposing as this. Why is that so?

    If Blue Velvet might not be labeled as a masterpiece one has to acknowledge that there are in this movie a lot of so called 'masterpiece element' and if Blue Velvet will never be considered as Mr. Lynch best feature, I personally can see a lot of David Lynch's genius flowing in that movie.

    First of all, the way David Lynch makes Blue Velvet increasingly disturbing is a perfect example of how pristine the dynamics of weirdness and tension are built (remember Eraserhead and Elephant Man). Through this process Mr. Lynch indeed deconstructs the audience expectations. The film setting and mood are introduced in an exposition lifted directly from older films (there are numerous references to It's A Wonderful Life). In result the film is initially expected to follow a particular path. The way Mr. Lynch associate elements of classic narrative methodology and 'his dynamics of noir' (previously explained) appears to be original at worst 'avant gardiste' at best.

    Second of all, the opposition between the creepiness of the plot and the setting of it is definitely for me a masterpiece element. The film is set in Lumberton. This does not represent a quaint, small town by similarity; it is one. Lumberton is filled with characters that are completely typical. I can almost see the cops eating doughnuts in the coffee shop and the local football star dating the head cheerleader. This typicality is definitely not out of coincidence but of intention. In fact these characters function to punctuate the story, not to distinguish it. The 'infamous' individuality of Lynch's vision is established in the darker side of Lumberton. Our perspective throughout the film is fixed on Jeffery, and is deliberately biased by his good nature. Jeffery is portrayed with great subtlety by Kyle MacLachlan (FBI agent from "Twin Peaks"). He is paired with Sandy (Laura Dern), the daughter of a neighborhood investigator who epitomizes to perfection the 'girl-next-door'; in Blue Velvet it is her literal function. Completing this diverse list of roles is a haunting and brief performance by Dean Stockwell as well as Dennis Hopper who creates a flabbergasting portrait of unrepentant and irredeemable evil. The confrontation or those characters or the collision among themselves makes for a mesmerizing experience.

    Once again Mr. Lynch succeeds in the masterful exercise of controlling the audience's attention. Most of us will not quite know what to make of it and we can disagree on the value of such a cinematic experience. However audacious, erotic, disturbing, haunting are adjectives that will always be linked with Blue Velvet. The 'Thriller' has just been re-invented by Mr. Lynch right in front of our eyes.
    10preppy-3

    A masterpiece

    A very strange movie but incredible. A young man (Kyle MacLaclan) comes home to help care for his sick father. Soon he's in love with a detective's daughter (Laura Dern) and mixed up in a mystery involving Dorothy Valdes (Isabella Rossellinni) and psycho Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper).

    Probably David Lynch's best film. The story has gaps in logic, but it's secondary to some incredible wide screen imagery (this has to be seen letter-boxed...no two ways about it). Lynch has said in interviews that he thinks of the image first then works it into the movie. You can tell...things that make no sense at first gradually make sense later on. This movie also demands multiple viewings...I was so shocked the first time I saw it, I couldn't concentrate on it...it took THREE viewings to finally get it.

    As to what the movie is about...it depends who you ask. Some people said it's the Hardy Boys on drugs...others say it's about a boy's sexual awakening...others see it as good vs. evil...each one is a valid statement! To me, that's a true art film...one that means multiple things all at once.

    The performances are top-notch. This film made MacLachlan...him and Laura Dern work well together and give nice low-key performances. Dern is just great...but she does look pretty silly when she tries to cry. Rossellinni is nowhere near as good as her mother (Ingrid Bergman) was, but she deserves credit for taking such a risky role. She's pretty good. Hopper is WAYYYYYYY over the top as Booth...he's both horrifying and hilarious...a great performance. And let's not forget Dean Stockwell as "suave Ben". His "performance" of "In Dreams" is a definite highlight.

    Be warned--the film is very extreme. There's explicit violence, plenty of nudity, sex and tons of profanity. Not for the squeamish. Still, I loved it from beginning to end. One of my favorite films of all time.
    6SkullScreamerReturns

    Weird crime mystery, and Dennis Hopper is nuts

    Oh boy, what a weird movie. How can I even comment it.

    David Lynch films are not easy to get into (at least for me). Usually I don't like them upon first viewing, but at least Mulholland Drive has slowly become my super favorite. I don't expect Blue Velvet to climb as high, but there is some grower potential.

    I liked the beginning the best, when it's like a murder mystery. But then it goes crazy in all directions and I don't really know what to think. But some things are certain: the cinematography is beautiful and atmosperic, and there is a lot of great acting. Dennis Hopper is totally crazy in this film, but others aren't bad either.

    If you like strange movies, see this one. But only if you can stomach some violence and sexual weirdness as well. I will probably get an urge to want to see it again at some point because it has such a distinct atmosphere and style.
    9Spleen

    I've never seen anything quite like this before...

    What surprised me was how very different this was from the two other great David Lynch films I'd seen: "Lost Highway" and "The Straight Story", which are in turn very different from one another. I'd been told by a disappointed David Lynch fan, back in 1997, that the only reason I was so deeply impressed with "Lost Highway" was that I hadn't seen "Bue Velvet", in which he does much the same kind of thing better. "Blue Velvet" may indeed be better (I wouldn't want to say), but in no respect is it the same kind of thing. (The only instance I've encountered so far of Lynch making the same film twice is "Lost Highway" being remade as "Mulholland Drive", which partly accounts for the latter film being so stale and uninvolving.)

    "Blue Velvet" is a simple amateur sleuthing story, but the genius is in the telling of it. It's hard to avoid the feeling that something supernatural is somehow involved, although it isn't, and we know that it isn't. It looks and feels as though we're watching the world through a special enchanted (or cursed) prism: the image has been pulled apart, ALMOST into two distinct images, with the elements of pure evil and pure wholesomeness now distinct from one another, sitting just millimetres apart.

    Unrelated to this, but still contributing to the intense suspense and the overall creepiness, is Lynch's ability to make us familiar with a few ordinary locations, which grow more sinister - or at least more meaningful - every time we see them, until the sight of a simple concrete stairwell in the dark is enough to make us start to panic.
    9ccthemovieman-1

    Lynch's Most Famous Movie? I Think So

    This has always been a unique crime movie, like no story I have seen before or since. In numerous ways, it's a sick film...but utterly fascinating, even after a handful of viewings. It's a certainly a trademark of director David Lynch with its bizarre story and twists and strange characters.

    This movie has one of the most evil characters ever put on screen: "Frank Booth," played by Dennis Hopper. The latter is known for playing psychotic killers and this role tops them all. Hopper was never sicker. Almost as bizarre as him is the female victim in here, "Dorothy Vallens," played a mysterious Isabella Rossellini.

    Kyle MacLaclan is good as the nosy late-teen who just has to find out what is going on in Dorothy's apartment while girlfriend Laura Dern gets caught up in his curiosity.

    In a movie that features strange characters, the strangest scene of them - and there are a number - is in Booth's apartment with Dean Stockwell and his friends. Stockwell's lip-synching to an old Roy Orbison song is really freaky. Make no mistake, though: as bizarre as this film can get, it's mostly a very suspenseful crime story that can get very uncomfortable to watch at times. The language in this film was surprisingly tame.....until Hopper enters the scene. He's about the only character who uses profanity but he makes up for the others by using the f-word in about every sentence. He is so over-the-top, though, that after the initial shock seeing this movie once or twice, I know almost laugh out loud at him and way he acts.

    Visually and audibly, this is another interesting Lynch movie with superb colors, creepy camera angles and a diverse soundtrack. You hear everything from lush classical music to old rock 'n roll songs, and a bunch of bizarre noises (sound effects).

    From discussions I've had, this seems to be a film people love or hate. There is not much room for middle ground. Lynch has done much "nicer" films such as "The Straight Story," crazier films ("Wild At Heart," "Eraserhead") and classier movies ("The Elephant Man") but this will be his trademark film: the one above others he will be remembered for, good or bad.

    More like this

    Mulholland Drive
    7.9
    Mulholland Drive
    Lost Highway
    7.6
    Lost Highway
    Eraserhead
    7.3
    Eraserhead
    Wild at Heart
    7.2
    Wild at Heart
    Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
    7.3
    Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
    Inland Empire
    6.8
    Inland Empire
    The Elephant Man
    8.2
    The Elephant Man
    The Straight Story
    8.0
    The Straight Story
    Twin Peaks
    8.7
    Twin Peaks
    Twin Peaks
    8.9
    Twin Peaks
    Twin Peaks
    8.5
    Twin Peaks
    Blue Velvet Lost Footage
    7.1
    Blue Velvet Lost Footage

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Isabella Rossellini actually was naked under her velvet robe when she did the "ritualistic rape scene", a fact that her partner Dennis Hopper was not aware of until the cameras started rolling and his co-star opened her legs for him to kneel between. This scene was the very first time the two of them ever worked together.
    • Goofs
      Dorothy lives on the seventh floor of Deep River Apartments, a building which has only six floors.

      This is done purposely and occurs similarly in many movies to deter sightseers, fans, and psychos from disrupting people who live in the real location. For similar reasons, "555-" is nearly always used on film and TV as the first three digits of phone numbers, to prevent people from trying the number and annoying people.
    • Quotes

      Frank Booth: Hey, you wanna go for a ride?

      Jeffrey Beaumont: No, thanks.

      Frank Booth: No, thanks? What does that mean?

      Jeffrey Beaumont: I don't wanna go.

      Frank Booth: Go where?

      Jeffrey Beaumont: For a ride.

      Frank Booth: A ride! Now that's a good idea!

    • Alternate versions
      A German version omits the entire scene where Frank first rapes Dorothy that Jeffrey witnesses from inside her closet, and it is only implied that he raped her.
    • Connections
      Edited into Blue Peanuts (1987)
    • Soundtracks
      Blue Velvet
      Written by Lee Morris and Bernie Wayne

      Performed by Bobby Vinton

      Provided courtesy of CBS Records

      Publisher: Vogue Music

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    David Lynch's Movies Ranked by IMDb Rating

    David Lynch's Movies Ranked by IMDb Rating

    See how IMDb users rank the films of legendary director David Lynch.
    See the list
    Production art
    List

    FAQ33

    • How long is Blue Velvet?Powered by Alexa
    • Why was Jeffrey crying?
    • How could had Blue Velvet ended?
    • What was Frank Booth's drug?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 23, 1986 (Italy)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Official Facebook
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Terciopelo azul
    • Filming locations
      • Carolina Apartments, Market Street, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA(Dorothy's apartment block)
    • Production company
      • De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $6,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $8,551,228
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $789,409
      • Sep 21, 1986
    • Gross worldwide
      • $8,671,657
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Stereo
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    Isabella Rossellini and Kyle MacLachlan in Blue Velvet (1986)
    Top Gap
    What is the streaming release date of Blue Velvet (1986) in Canada?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb app
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb app
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb app
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.