Cute, but Evil Part 6: Irene and her Companion in MULHOLLAND DRIVE (2001)

This is Irene and her companion.

They travelled to Hollywood with an aspiring actress named Betty.

Looks quite harmless, right?

NAME : Irene and Irene's Companion.

AGE : Both appear in their 70s but actual age impossible to determine.

HEIGHT : Varies. Early on they are the average size of someone of their age (5 to 6 foot). At the end though they have shrunken to, oh, roughly a few inches.

POSSIBLE ASSOCIATES : Betty Elms (the aspiring actress who finds herself at the centre of the mystery involving beautiful brunettes with amnesia, the notion of truth and identity, gangsters and blue keys). A burnt out bum (skin burnt off, oily rags, witchy nose) who lives behind Winkie's diner. The mysterious possibly supernatural hired killer known as The Cowboy (although they are never actually seen together they must be connected, right?).

PRONE TO SAY : " Remember I'll be watching for you on the big screen. "

ORIGINS : Impossible to say. But this is what we saw. Irene and her companion first appear with Betty in a brief pre credits sequence smiling together to the left of the screen. They are next seen coming out of the city airport, following a plane trip to Hollywood with Betty. They appear benevolent at this point, symbols of hope and purity. They wish Betty all the luck in the world before taking a cab. They sit in silence with fixed grins in the back of the car facing each other and then turning away. They appear next in their tiny, terrifying incarnations on two separate (kind of) occasions. First they walk out of the darkness of the paper bag dropped on the floor by the Bum who lives behind Winkie's. They appear to come from the blue box placed in the bag by the bum. They walk fast, talk fast in a manic squeak, arms flailing and laughing. Finally, after Diane Selwyn discovers one of the blue keys on her table (one opens the box, the other is a message), they crawl under her door. A loud knocking announces their arrival first followed by the laughing and chatter, and then they appear still in miniature form. Diane runs to her bedroom pursued by Irene and her companion (now back to "normal" size but still insane), screaming to her bed and the fate that awaits her there. They are not seen again although the Bum does appear, his face superimposed across the Hollywood skyline.

LIKES : Scaring the shit out of everyone. Smiling manically. Laughing and chattering manically. Generally tormenting and pestering people towards madness and death.

LOCATION : Mulholland Drive. In the blue box. In Diane's apartment. In your dreams.