VIDEO : A Peek Into Lynch’s World

A vocalist wearing a prom dress sings eerie ballads while suspended in midair. A topless nymph slithers up the back of an abandoned car, crawling in a space that’s normally a back window. Standing next to a clarinet player and a young woman writhing in ecstasy, a midget repeats an early, heart-breaking dialogue between a man and a woman.

Welcome to director David Lynch’s nightmare world.

“Industrial Symphony No. 1,” a 50-minute home video that was released this week (on Warner Reprise, $19.98), is a fascinating, constantly intriguing stroll through a dark, bleak, surrealistic landscape, resembling what a city might look like after a nuclear war--one big industrial junkyard.

Everything is smoky and lit by flashing searchlights. All the vocals are performed by Julee Cruise, who has a high, frail, angelic voice and an ethereal, jazzy vocal style. Her dream-like songs, such as “Up in Flames” and “I Float Alone,” provide a chilling contrast to the string of stark, menacing images.

In Lynch’s world, the bizarre seems normal. So when a squadron of dolls slowly descends into a frantic crowd, it seems like business as usual. You never quite know what’s going on, but that’s obviously what Lynch intended.

It starts off with a short phone conversation between a couple (played by Laura Dern and Nicolas Cage, who star in Lynch’s movie “Wild at Heart”) on the verge of breaking up. The succeeding images seem to reflect their turmoil and anxiety.

Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti, who writes the music for Lynch’s “Twin Peaks” TV series, composed a slow, spare, moody, jazz-oriented score--part instrumental and part vocals--that enhances the pervasive, nightmarish mood. Though it looks as if it had been shot on a sound stage using elaborate cinematic special effects, this program was filmed last November during a live performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Opera House.

Because this is a Lynch project, “Twin Peaks” fans might be tempted to sample it. But this wildly unorthodox program is less for that audience than it is for fans of the far-out--for instance, those who love Lynch’s outrageous “Wild at Heart.”