Lost Highway

Saxophonist Fred Madison receives a cryptic message on his intercom in the Hollywood Hills: "Dick Laurent is dead." Moments later, he hears tires screeching and sirens racing past his house. The next morning, his wife Renee finds a VHS tape on their porch that shows eerie footage of their house. That night, Fred struggles to have sex with Renee and confesses that he had a dream about her being attacked. As he looks at her, he briefly sees the face of a pale old man. The following day, another tape arrives, this time showing footage of Fred and Renee sleeping in bed. They call the police, but the detectives offer little help. Fred and Renee attend a party hosted by her friend Andy, where Fred encounters a pale man who acts strangely and claims they have met before. The man insists he is currently at Fred's house, which he demonstrates by answering Fred's call to his home phone. The next morning, a new tape arrives that shows Fred standing over Renee's dismembered body. Fred is arrested and sentenced to death for her murder. On death row, Fred experiences intense headaches and visions of the pale man and a burning cabin in the desert, before being enveloped in light. The prison guards check on him, only to discover that he has inexplicably been replaced by Pete Dayton, a young auto mechanic from Van Nuys. Pete returns to work, where his gangster client Mr. Eddy (identified by a detective as Laurent) visits for car repairs. Mr. Eddy takes Pete on a drive, where he and his men violently assault another driver, before offering Pete a pornographic VHS. The next day, Mr. Eddy arrives at the garage with his mistress, Alice Wakefield, who resembles Renee. Later that night, Alice returns alone and seduces Pete, initiating an affair. Alice grows fearful that Mr. Eddy suspects them and devises a plan to rob Andy and flee town. Meanwhile, Pete's girlfriend Sheila discovers the affair and leaves him. Pete later receives a disturbing call from Mr. Eddy and the pale man, which pushes him to agree to Alice's plan. Pete confronts Andy at his house, but Andy dies after falling headfirst into the corner of a glass table. Pete discovers a photograph of Dick (who looks identical to Mr. Eddy), Andy, Alice, and Renee together, which causes his nose to bleed. Disoriented, he retreats to the bathroom but finds himself wandering the hallways of a hotel instead. Pete and Alice arrive at a remote desert cabin to sell stolen goods. They have sex outside, during which Alice taunts Pete by saying "you'll never have me" before disappearing into the cabin. In a flash of light, Pete transforms back into Fred. Fred searches the cabin and finds the pale man, who tells him that "Alice" is in fact Renee. He pursues Fred with a video camera, but Fred escapes and finds Dick Laurent having sex with Renee at the Lost Highway Hotel. After Renee leaves, Fred kidnaps Dick and takes him to the desert. The pale man reappears and hands Fred a knife, with which he slits Dick's throat. Dick, confused, asks what they want. The pale man plays a pornographic video made by Dick which features Renee. Cutaways show Renee and Dick watching the video, aroused. Back in the desert, the pale man shoots Dick dead and whispers something inaudible to Fred before vanishing, leaving Fred with the pistol. When police investigate Andy's death, Alice is absent from the photograph Pete found. Fred drives to his home, buzzes the intercom, and says, "Dick Laurent is dead." As the detectives arrive, Fred flees and leads police on a frantic chase through the desert. He screams helplessly amid flashes of light as the scene dissolves to a darkened highway.