There is no denying that David Lynch's Lost Highway is difficult to understand and piece together. But what is obvious throughout the film are the methods Lynch uses to enhance the uncanny and the viewer's feeling that all is definitely far from right. In the beginning of the film especially, there is an eerie silence that persists. The conversations between Fred and Renee are soft, adding to that creepy lack of sound. No background music, only the sounds of heavy breathing to enhance the sensations.
This is particularly obvious when Fred is taken to his jail cell – the footsteps on the stairs, the sound of doors opening and closing – every movement is heard and felt by the audience. When the movie makes its turn into the dream state, scenes are louder, richer and the presence of the background soundtrack is frequent, adding to the film and the drama of what Pete is going through.
Also adding to the uncanny, is Lynch’s use of light and dark throughout Lost Highway. His fondness for the close-up is often accompanied by the use of dark to highlight the character’s expressions and reactions. This also gives the audience the sensation that they know little more (if anything at all) than the characters on the screen.
I think your ideas about Lynch's use of light and dark bring up a good point. In the beginning of the movie it was interesting to see how we often saw Fred ominously staring into darkness, paranoid by the video tapes and his encounter with Robert Blake's character. Once Fred gets to jail the lighing scheme seems to change. Instead of darkness there are bright flashes of light that follow Fred, (or Pete's) character. This difference might prove the idea of parallel universes in which the story follows the characters.
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