Twin Peaks And The 2000s Fantastic Four Movies Have A Surprising Connection

When you think of "Twin Peaks," you probably think of David Lynch. After all, it's Lynch's bizarre stylings and penchant for the surreal that the franchise is most famous for. But it wasn't all Lynch — far from it. The property was co-created by Lynch and writer Mark Frost, who had previously cut his teeth on the popular 1980s TV series "Hill Street Blues."

While Lynch brought his auteur filmmaker sensibilities, Frost brought recent, prominent experience from the TV drama realm — a space where he had already experimented with the more ambitious long-term storytelling that made his collaboration with Lynch so appealing. Frost also returned alongside Lynch in 2017 for the long-awaited third season of "Twin Peaks" (aka "Twin Peaks: The Return"), ensuring that the unique combo that made the original TV show so successful stayed intact.

In between, of course, Frost worked on a number of other projects, from books to films and other TV shows. But some of those projects might surprise you. Specifically, Frost was brought on as a writer for both of the Tim Story-directed "Fantastic Four" movies in the 2000s. That's right: The guy who helped create Special Agent Dale Cooper also brought Johnny Storm, The Thing, the Invisible Woman, and Mister Fantastic to the big screen. And while those films have a pretty lackluster reputation these days, there's still a lot of fun to be had if you decide to revisit them.

The superhero movie genre wasn't nearly as big back when Story's "Fantastic Four" came out in 2005. While DC had ruled the medium in decades prior, starting with 1978's "Superman: The Movie," that was no longer the case by the end of the 1990s. By the time Frost was brought aboard to co-write "Fantastic Four," Marvel had taken over, with the "X-Men" films and Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" movies being the biggest properties.

If you were a kid at the time (guilty), "Fantastic Four" and its 2007 sequel, "Rise of the Silver Surfer," just felt like an extension of those movies. And while they may not be as well-remembered today (for good reason; boy did they do Jessica Alba so dirty), the tone was very similar. The films were silly, campy, and reliant on early CGI spectacle. But the cast was solid, especially Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm/Thing and Julian McMahon as Victor Von Doom.

The main thing that stands out going back to those movies now, when compared to modern Marvel Cinematic Universe films, is that they're kind of slow. There isn't all that much action, with much more time spent on overt comedy and character relationships. Perhaps it's that long-form dramatic sensibility that Frost brought to the table.

Is it good? Your mileage may vary. But it's certainly interesting to watch a superhero blockbuster made on a budget of "only" $100 million.