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Blue Velvet
Metascore
75 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 14
  3. Negative: 2 out of 14
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  1. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    100
    Blue Velvet is David Lynch in peak form, and represents (to date) his most accomplished motion picture. It is a work of fascinating scope and power that rivals any of the most subversive films to reach the screens during the '80s.
  2. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Guy Maddin
    100
    The last real earthquake to hit cinema was David Lynch's "Blue Velvet" -- I'm sure directors throughout the film world felt the earth move beneath their feet and couldn't sleep the night of their first encounter with it back in 1986. (Review of 20th Anniversary Re-Release)
  3. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Sheila Benson
    100
    The most brilliantly disturbing film ever to have its roots in small-town American life. [19 September 1986, Calendar, p.6-1]
    All this critic's reviews
  4. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Elvis Mitchell
    100
    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 dak alley. [19 September 1986]
    All this critic's reviews
  5. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Scott Foundas
    90
    What dazzles still about David Lynch's Blue Velvet is its total authority: Not a single false gesture. No shock delivered solely for its own sake.
  6. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Gene Siskel
    88
    One powerful, mesmerizing thriller, a masterful exercise in controlling an audience's attention. [19 September 1986, Friday, p.A]
    All this critic's reviews
  7. Film.com
    Reviewed by: John Hartl
    80
    An exhilarating piece of popular entertainment.
    All this critic's reviews
  8. Variety
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not credited)
    80
    Hopper creates a flabbergasting portrait of unrepentent, irredeemable evil.
  9. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    67
    You either think it's dementedly wild at heart or a lost highway to nowhere.
    All this critic's reviews
  10. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    60
    Lynch and his film will surely be reviled, but as an experiment in expanding cinema's dramatic and technical vocabulary, Blue Velvet demands respect. [Sept. 22, 1986]
    All this critic's reviews
  11. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Gerald Nachman
    50
    Dark, menacing and sexual, with satanic overtones, like a Black Sabbath song, with many moments of genuine fright and harsh eroticism. [19 September 1986, Daily Notebook, p.76]
    All this publication's reviews
  12. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Pat Graham
    50
    It's mostly fascinating, though the unconverted may be in for a rough two hours.
  13. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Paul Attanasio
    30
    Doesn't progress or deepen, it just gets weirder, and to no good end.
  14. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    25
    So strong, so shocking and yet so audacious that people walk out shaking their heads; they don't know quite what to make of it.
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User Reviews

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User Score
7.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 86 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 35 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 40
  3. Negative: 4 out of 40
  1. RickM.
    10
    Excellent, well-constructed movie. People who say this film lacks depth are completely wrong. There is so much symbolism in this film its almost exhausting.… Full Review »
  2. AJ
    10
    It's hard to find the words to describe the experience of watching Blue Velvet. The film is simply a masterpiece.
  3. SherwoodReviews
    10
    Disturbing, bizarre, funny, moving.... "Blue Velvet" is, perhaps, Lynch's finest hour. The imagery is as powerful and the story as frightening as it was in '86.… Full Review »
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