Eraserhead

 Watching this movie was… an experience. I’m familiar with David Lynch’s reputation, but until watching Eraserhead the only film of his that I’ve seen was Mulholland Drive (loved it, but it’s weird as shit). I chose this movie because, like White Zombie and Viy before it, it was a film I’d not seen before that appears in my 101 Horror Movies You Must Watch Before You Die book. While I can’t say I got it, I definitely enjoyed my experience watching the film.

Eraserhead was written and directed by David Lynch and was released on March 19th, 1977. Eraserhead had a relatively small opening, earning an estimated $7,000,000 (against a budget I’m unsure of), and was largely ignored at the time of release. In the 43 years since it was released, however, the film has become a cult classic.

Roughly an hour into my viewing Eraserhead I became curious about whether David Lynch had become a father around the creation of this film. My brief research determined that his first child (filmmaker Jennifer Lynch) was born nearly ten years previously and his next (Austin Lynch) was born nearly five years later. While he may not have been a new parent while making this film, the fear of parenthood seems to be a significant theme throughout (I’m saying this, admittedly, as someone who is not a parent and doesn’t have plans to ever be one).

Eraserhead follows Henry Spencer (Jack Nance, Twin Peaks) who becomes a father to an inhuman child. While I would normally delve more into the plot machinations, there really aren’t any. What follows is a series of trippy sequences and non-sequiturs. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

As I mentioned, I’m not super familiar with Lynch’s work, but from what I’ve seen he’s not particularly interested in plot. Normally that would bother me, as a writer I’m particularly focused on story and character, but Lynch has such a fascinating directorial style that I can find a lot to enjoy even if I don’t understand everything going on.

Eraserhead is an incredibly strong and self-assured directorial debut by Lynch and the imagery is stunning. Most impressive is the sound design of the film. Sound design is not something I tend to focus on unless it’s either really good or really bad and this was really good.

If I’m being honest (which is kind of the point of these), I don’t have a whole lot more to say. I’m not typically a fan of plot/character-light “arthouse” films, but Eraserhead is so well made that it doesn’t bother me. I was genuinely engaged for the entire film even when I was yelling internally (and externally), “what the fuck is going on?”.

Rating: 3.5 weird snake babies out of 5.

Other Observations

• Does the Dog Die? I don’t think so, but it was all so abstract.

• Harrison’s Favorite Scare: The “baby” organs at the end. Gross.

• Thank you to my wonderful friend and Booze & Buffy co-host, Jason, for lending me his Criterion Blu for this review.

• Next Week: Accidentally continuing this trend of abstract psychological horror, we’re gonna visit Black Swan.