Twin Peaks References in Longlegs

        

“That [Twin Peaks: The Return] scene with Caleb Landry Jones under the tree was the moment that Oz saw something in me, and it led him to think that I could be his Ruth,” Witt says. “And [Perkins] handed me the greatest gift, the greatest honor and one of the greatest collaborations I’ve ever been blessed to have. So it all comes back to David Lynch.” - Alicia Witt, The Hollywood Reporter

Perkins states that Lynch was on his mind while making the film in an interview with The Evolution of Horror. 

In this Deadline interview, Osgood Perkins states that the original series of Twin Peaks was an influence on him when he was growing up.  

This post focuses on the possible Twin Peaks references I've noticed in the Osgood Perkins film Longlegs. Some "coincidences" may seem a stretch. Sometimes if you focus on something enough, as I have with Twin Peaks, you can see it when it isn't there, but I am including all that came to mind nonetheless. I've seen The Return only four times, and none of my viewings were recent. I've more than likely overlooked a reference. If you know of any other possible references, please leave a comment.

As a warning, spoilers are included. Do not proceed if you haven't seen Longlegs or Twin Peaks. This post will also include mild images of gore. 

• Many have noted that Longlegs and Twin Peaks occur in the Pacific Northwest. Longlegs is set in Oregon while Twin Peaks is a town in Washington. The distance between the two is less than 400 miles. Madeleine Ferguson had to travel a greater distance to visit her aunt and uncle in Washington than it would require Longlegs or Agent Harker to pay a visit to the town. 
  
  
• Oregon is mentioned more than once in Twin Peaks, most notably when Gordon Cole shouts the word over the phone while speaking to Agent Desmond in Fire Walk With Me. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Aside from being set in the Pacific Northwest, Longlegs also takes place in 1993 1.), close to when Twin Peaks originally aired (1990-91). 
  

• Lee Harker, the film's main protagonist, is an FBI Agent. Special Agent Harker, like Special Agent Cooper, is unusually intuitive. At one point, her partner, Agent Carter, refers to her as "half-psychic" after she scores well on a psychic abilities test. Also like Cooper, Lee uses her abilities to help solve the case.  
  
  
• Lee, in my opinion, bears a (very) slight resemblance to a young Kyle MacLachlan. 
  
  
  
  
  
• As Lee examines crime scene photos, we can see a body covered by a shower curtain. The plastic is partially transparent, similar to plastic sheeting. However, this may be an homage to the film Psycho.

• The first time Lee Harker remembers seeing Longlegs, a dark memory she can barely grasp, he is enacting a game of sorts. She remembers him peeking out from behind her house, and, in a sing-song voice, saying, "Cuckoo." He moves his hands over or by his face, almost playfully hiding his features in a game of peek-a-boo. Longlegs' sing-song way of speech initially reminded me of BOB's sing-song rhymes from the international pilot in the hospital boiler room. In The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, Laura recalled that BOB used to play with her in the woods before he began abusing her. I feel there is an undercurrent suggesting sexual abuse may be perpetrated by Longlegs. Like BOB, Longlegs targets prepubescent girls and their families. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Longlegs' real name is Dale Ferdinand Kobble. 
  
  
• Kobble's visage, menacing air and persona is somewhat similar to BOB. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Longlegs is played by Nicolas Cage who appeared in David Lynch's Wild at Heart and Industrial Symphony No. 1.
  
  
• In his first, and most striking appearance, Longlegs wears a vintage white jacket. Judging by the fabric at the cuffs, Longlegs' jacket does not appear to be denim, but it is reminiscent of the fabric. 
  
  
  
  
  
• The first case Lee investigates in the film sees her find the suspect in a house covered with plastic sheeting. 

• Lee is assigned a case that involves a series of mysterious killings. The Police and FBI can find no evidence of forced entry. The only evidence that a killer is somehow involved are coded messages left at the crime scenes. It's as though the victims willingly participate in the murder of their loved ones. "No signs of forced entry. In fact, forensics says there's no indication that he was ever in the house at all." The fathers always kill their families before committing suicide. Lee surmises that it's as though someone enters their home and tells them what to do. As the film plays out, we discover that the men are possessed and made to murder their daughters - a strong resemblance to Leland's possession and subsequent murder of his daughter in Twin Peaks. It's also worth noting that when Ronette Pulaski's IV was tainted by BOB, she had a guard at her hospital room door 24/7. No one was seen entering her room, which seems similar to the concept of a crime without a culprit. 
  
  
• Longlegs' habit of leaving coded messages at crime scenes could be a callback to the Fire Walk With Me note left at the scene of Laura's murder and the letters under the nails of BOB's victims.
  
  
• Agent Carter shares that one family of four, the Horns, are among the victims. The Horne family we know consists of four members: Ben, Sylvia, Johnny, and Audrey.
  

• As Lee reads newspaper clippings and public records, one death certificate has Bend, Oregon as its location and its street address as 22894 Gordon Parkway. Gordon Cole had "official business" in Bend Oregon during the original series. 

• When Lee studies crime scene photos, we see a splatter of blood on the wall that instantly made me think of the blood and gore on the cell door after BOB wounds Leland. 

• As Lee is driving home, we see the surrounding trees alongside the road, reminding me of Twin Peaks.

• Like Margaret Lanterman and Windom Earle, Lee lives in a log cabin in the woods.

• The cabin's interior walls are somewhat reminiscent of those in Agent Cooper's room in The Great Northern Hotel.

Lee's cabin (above) Dale's hotel room and the hotel hall (below)

• Lee sees the silhouette of someone watching her from the woods. This image is similar to what we know of BOB's behavior and Dale Cooper watching Laura Palmer from a distance in Part 17 of The Return. 

Longlegs watches Lee (above). Dale watches Laura (Below).

• The sight of the silhouette is accompanied by a musical strike similar to what we often hear when BOB appears. We hear this "strike" more than once throughout the film. 
  
  
• We may hear an owl outside Lee's home at 24:35
  
  
• Lee has several boxes in her home that are a close match for the evidence boxes seen in Twin Peaks: The Return and Fire Walk With Me. 

• Lee is associated with horses. As a child, she had horse toys and a lamp. As an adult, she has a painting of a horse. In the original series and Fire Walk With Me, Sarah Palmer beheld a white horse. In The Return, Carrie Page has a small horse figure in her home and wears a horseshoe necklace. In The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, Laura deeply cared for a pony named Troy. 

• There is a poster on Lee's wall that seems to depict a mouth holding a cherry. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• We see both Kobble and Lee drive from the same angle. The framing of their scenes seems similar to when we first see Agent Cooper in the Twin Peaks pilot. 

• When Agents Lee and Carter find a doll in a barn, they discover that it has a silver orb within its head. The orb ties to Twin Peaks in that Tulpas are manufactured from a golden seed, which on their death, leaves them via their heads. 

• The agents are told the orb is hollow and empty, yet it emits a low, ringing noise. The sound the orb emits is akin to the mysterious sound Ben Horne and Beverly Paige investigate at The Great Northern Hotel in The Return. 
  
  
• Longlegs creates dolls to resemble the young girls he aids in murdering. The dolls, from what I understand, are connected to the girls in that they are possessed by emissions sent from the devil via the orb. The link extends beyond that, as though an invisible thread exists between them in other ways as well. Tying the orbs to figures that mirror a character's physical appearance is also similar to the idea of Tulpas in The Return. The orbs and their power connects to the idea of BOB and his power of possessing his potential victims. 
  
  
• At one point, Lee speaks to one of Longlegs only living victims. Before entering her hospital room, she and Agent Carter speak to an administrator whose office is decorated with a poster that depicts two circles meeting, one red, one blue.  
  
  
  
  
  
• A very faint song can be heard in the background of the administrator's office. It may be the song listed on IMDb as Llewelyn's Gift of Healing. I cannot find the track online, but other songs by Llewelyn are of the New Age variety. When I heard the song in the theater, it registered as sounding like The Living Novel, but hearing it at home on headphones, it clearly is not the same track, though similar. 
  
  
• The girl, Carrie Anne, had been in a coma for nine years; waking only after a doll with her likeness is found and its orb destroyed. Like Ronette Pulaski, Leo Johnson, Audrey Horne, and Bob Lyedecker, Carrie Anne was in a coma. Ronette Pulaski survived BOB's attack but was in a coma for several days afterward. 
  
  
• Lee asks Carrie Anne how she feels and the girl answers, "Different. Like a long dream. And so dark. A world of dark." Dreams are a constant throughout Twin Peaks and David Lynch's work. 
  
  
• In The Return, Sheryl Lee portrayed a character named Carrie Page. A prop-replica of Laura Palmer's autopsy report revealed that her middle name is Ann. Heather Graham portrayed a character in Twin Peaks named Annie Blackburn. 2.)
  
  
• When I saw Carrie Anne, her hair style, though entirely different, reminded me of Teresa Banks. Carrie Anne's bangs seem an homage to Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Lee's mother, Ruth, is portrayed by Twin Peaks and Lynch veteran Alicia Witt. 
  
  
• In Twin Peaks: The Return a character we never meet, but who plays an important role in the series, is named Ruth Davenport. 
  
  
• When speaking to her daughter, Ruth Harker says no big bad wolves have visited. In Twin Peaks episode eight (2.001, May the Giant be With You), Ben Horne refers to himself as The Big Bad Wolf when he visits the new girl (Audrey Horne) at One-Eyed Jacks. In episode nine (2.002, Coma), Audrey tells a story about The Big Bad Wolf.
  
  
• The face of the Ruby Carter doll in its infancy reminds me of a mask and consequently Caroline Earle's death mask.
  
  
  
  
  
• Throughout the film, we can hear what sounds like a rapid heartbeat, though it also calls to mind the sound of the ceiling fan in Fire Walk With Me. 
  
  
• We can hear a static, electrical sound throughout the film as well, similar to sounds heard in The Return. 
  
  
• Though perhaps a stretch, the barn at the Camera family farm reminded me of the barn behind Mr. C and Hutch. 
  
  
  
  
  
• As we see moments from Ruth and Lee's past, we witness Longlegs tie Ruth's arms behind her back, just as Laura's arms were tied behind her back. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Longlegs wears long johns and a red shirt when he visits a hardware store and later when he is seen building a doll. His combining a red shirt and thermal undershirt remind me of Bobby Briggs. Though comical, his union suit reminds me of Windom Earle's in episode 22 (2.015, Slaves and Masters).
  
  
  
  
  
• Kobble's basement lair is dully lit by candles and an occasional lamp. The lighting reminds me of BOB's killer's lair in the Twin Peaks international pilot. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Like Laura's memories of BOB in The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, Lee initially cannot remember her past with Dale Kobble.
  
  
• Lee finds a Polaroid of Kobble in a chest of toys and mementos in her room. Remembering him, she presents the Polaroid to her partner. Agent Carter asks her if she's certain she wants to start a manhunt with the photo. This is somewhat similar to the BOB wanted poster and Leland regaining a faint memory of BOB. The poster is used by the Police Department in their search for Laura's killer. We never learn of the public's response to Longlegs' image, but he is arrested soon after the photo is released.
  
  
  
  
  
• A past vision of Longlegs is blurred, reminiscent of the blurred image we see of BOB in Cooper's dream.
  
  
  
  
  
• Kobble refers to himself as a "Friend of a Friend." In episode 14 (2.007, Lonely Souls), BOB is said to be a "Friend of her (Laura's) fathers."
  
  
• When Kobble is apprehended, a video of his interrogation is shown. The video could be construed as bearing a resemblance to the recording of Windom Earle's questioning. 

• The paused image of Longlegs reminds me of a promotional photo of BOB. 

• The architecture of the wall in Lee's childhood bedroom is slightly similar to the alcove in Laura's room.
  
  
  
  
  
• When Ruth shoots Lee's doll, the shell of the shattered porcelain head expels black smoke. We know already that the head houses a metal orb, tying the image to that of a Tulpa's end.
  
  
  
  
  
• In the scene where Longlegs is waiting at the bus stop, we can see that he is wearing a white rose brooch. Though white and not blue, roses are nonetheless connected to Twin Peaks. 

• When Lee confronts Kobble in the interrogation room, the way he quickly moves his head, as if possessed, reminds me of Leland when BOB is speaking through him in the interrogation room at the Sheriff's Department. 

• Before dying, Kobble states, "Yes. I'm done. But I won't only be in here. I'll be a little bit of everywhere." This bears a strong resemblance to BOB's ability to possess not only people but also possibly owls and other animals as well. When Leland dies, Cooper, Truman and Albert question what they saw. Truman asks, "If he (BOB) was here, and we had him. Where is he now?" We see a POV from something moving quickly through the woods before an owl emerges from a shaft of white light. I take this to mean you cannot kill BOB. He is everywhere. 
  
  
• Kobble commits suicide by hitting his head against the table multiple times, similar to Leland/BOB's suicide by hitting his head against his cell door. 
  
  
• Lee learns that Carrie Anne committed suicide by throwing herself off the roof of the hospital where she was staying. This seems to have been Kobble's will as Carrie Anne already said she would be willing to die in such a way were Kobble to ask. Frustrated by this and Kobble's death, Carter insists Kobble acted without accomplices. "No black magic, no voodoo, no nothing." Agent Carter was previously accepting of Lee's psychic abilities, among other things, yet voices his disbelief here. This resembles Sheriff Harry S. Truman's acknowledgment of "something evil in the woods," Cooper's deductive techniques, but his sudden change of mind when arresting Ben Horne for Laura Palmer's murder. He tells Cooper, "I've backed you every step of the way, but I have had enough of the mumbo-jumbo. I've had enough of the dreams, visions, the dwarfs, the giants, Tibet and the rest of the hocus pocus."
  
  
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• The film the same as states Lee's psychic abilities are actually a mental link with Longlegs. I believe Ruth suggests Kobble allowed her to see what he wanted her to see and blinded her to all else. Which, to me, sounds very much like situations in Twin Peaks. My interpretation of the film's ending is that Lee, already touched by the devilish one, assumes his role. We see her wake in his bed, and choose to drive his car. She yells behind the wheel as Longlegs did, and stands by as a woman is murdered. When her gun will not fire and destroy the doll of Ruby Carter, Lee seems unmoved to use another instrument to break it, leaving viewers to question her choice. This can be viewed as a homage to Dale Cooper's fate as well. In the Reddit AMA, a fan asked if Lee was damned for interfering with the Carter family murder. Perkins succinctly answered, "Sure."
  
  
• The film's soundtrack feels inspired by Dean Hurley's musical contributions for The Return along with some of Angelo Badalamenti's darker work for Fire Walk With Me. The track Blue Eyed Bairn faintly reminds me of the track Phillip Jeffries. 
  
  
• Though I believe it is an unintentional connection, Dale Kobble is a fan of the group T.Rex. T.Rex's frontman, Marc Bolan, the originator of glam rock, was a friend of David Bowie. Bowie portrayed Phillip Jeffries and allowed his song I'm Deranged to be used in Lost Highway. Instagram user @seriallogger, replied to my post, reminding me that David Bowie produced Lou Reed's album Transformer and sang with Mr. Reed on Satellite of Love. Reed and Bowie were close as well. I am a fan of Bowie's, but my memory isn't what it once was. 
  
  
• The Birthday Murders website, an official site for Longlegs, has the villain's name spelled in all capitals, like BOB. LONGLEGS.
  
  
• The Birthday Murders site also lists one of Longlegs' victims as a Theresa Applewhite. Theresa with an H is the original spelling of Teresa Banks' name. The site states that Theresa was tortured before she was murdered, like Laura Palmer. 
  Also on the site, in the section titled The Pendergast Murders (Pendergast is the name of one of Laura's Meals on Wheels clients in The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer), the description is, "the bodies were lined up next to each other on the floor in the dining room. The cause of death in each case was determined to be exsanguination, or severe loss of blood." Laura's cause of death was loss of blood.
  The Weir family section states, "After collecting physical evidence, the Tillamook County Medical Examiner's office determined that Ether and her daughters died from profuse loss of blood due to multiple knife wounds." Laura's loss of blood was due to multiple shallow wounds. 
  The Break in the Case section,
  "Special Agent in charge of the Salem Criminal Investigative Division Chester "Chet" Van Adder stated..." In Fire Walk With Me, we have Chester "Chet" Desmond.
  The Horn Family Section lists Mrs. Horn's name as Teresa. The bodies of the Horn family's daughters were found in the basement boiler room. As previously mentioned, BOB's killer's lair was in the basement boiler room of Calhoun Memorial Hospital in the Twin Peaks International Pilot. In the same section, a Dr. Grace Pittock is mentioned, perhaps a reference to Twin Peaks actress Grace Zabriskie.
  From The Readers Column portion of the site, "One of the readers of this web journal wrote to say he heard a rumor that "starched white fur belonging to a cat or rabbit" was allegedly found at several crime scenes." When BOB/Leland attempted to frame Ben Horne, he placed hair from a white fox in Maddy's hand.
  
  
• Longlegs drives a light brown and white station wagon. Though obviously different cars - Longlegs drives a 1970 Chevrolet Caprice Estate - the Hayward family also owns a brown station wagon, as does The Double R Diner for use with its Meals on Wheels program. 
  
                      
  
  
  
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Observations by Others

Though I cannot find the posts now, at least two believed there is a link between Longlegs' hair color and Leland's white hair. 

Reddit user Material-Cut2522 quoted Margaret Lanterman in saying, "Fire is the devil hiding like a coward in the smoke" after showing a photo of Lee's destroyed doll, smoke escaping its head. 

Meemboy on Reddit

"Also the movie had a dialogue something along the lines of what Lynch says. Even bad coffee is better than no coffee at all."

TikTok user Letsseeluciescard

1.) IMDb states the film takes place in 1995, but the dated evidence bag housing a card left by Longlegs places the film in 1993.

2.) Osgood Perkins reportedly wished to name the character in honor of Poltergeist's Carol Anne, but misremembered her name. 

* I've read where some have seen a link between "waitresses in blue uniforms," at the bar where Lee sits with Carter as he drinks, and the waitresses at The Double R Diner. The women we see in the background appear to be flight attendants.