I watched it with my mom too, and she poo’poo’ed it. It’s one of the big cult films that I waited a long time to see, so long that my expectations went stale, but wow! The first half or so is hilarious, but then it fades into tragedy. I can’t say to much about it though cause I only saw it once and it’s something to see a million times to appreciate.
Myabe that’s why I appreciate it so much. I’ve seen it near 30 times.
My favorite thing about Eraserheard isn’t actually in the movie itself, but the fact that Lynch dedicated so many years of his life to one, undying artistic vision, nearly destroying his relationship with his wife and family.
Also, one of my favorite stories from any director about their early films is how Lynch was completely burned out after so many years of making Eraserhead, and he was at the point where he only needed one sequence of Henry Spencer walking across the room. Jack Nance was unavailable at the time, but Lynch was so fueled by his desire to simply finish the movie, that he decided just to make a little clay Henry Spencer and shoot the scene in stop-motion. Thankfully, Jack Nance’s scheduled almost immediately cleared up, and he was able to shoot the scene the easier way.
It’s a super film. Fear of reproduction, urban dystopia, death fantasies, how can you go wrong? Eraserhead is also notable because motifs that Lynch has used throughout his career begin to show through; the blond vs. dark haired woman, alternate worlds and disturbing familial problems.
how creepy was the women in the radiator tho… love the fact that it was made in ’66 (i think) yet it is as provoking now as it ever was.
I love it. It completely changed the way I see film as a medium, and it’s the only movie that’s ever truly horrified me. The experience of Eraserhead is incredible and indescribable. While I was watching it, I really felt trapped in Henry’s world. It’s like a feverish, hallucinatory nightmare you can’t escape from. I really can’t praise it enough…Some nights, I still wake up sweating and panting after seeing the Lady in the Radiator in my dreams.
I love this movie. It’s my fav lynch film. I LOVE the lady in the radiator. That would be a cool spoof. Lady in the Radiator- and shoot it like Lady in the Water.
here is a great article one of my friends wrote on Lynch and the public’s difficulty with his work (and other directors):
http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/62/62lynch.html
I watched Eraserhead one night in an extremely dark and altered state of mind (I also watched Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer that night). I was no stranger to Lynch at that time, but to this day, I have never replicated that off-kilter, disturbed feeling I got after watching those films. Eraserhead is clearly the dominant of the two. There is no director alive that can get inside my head like David Lynch. This is not a film to watch with others, or to watch during the day with sunlight beaming. One should be alone, late at night, with all the lights off and the sound turned up loud, with no distractions of any kind. Only then can you begin to lose yourself in Lynch’s perfectly created nightmare world. But even nightmares have their moments of hilarity…
ERASERHEAD was Charles Bukowski’s favorite film. There’s an unusual endorsement.
I saw it in 1979 and I was floored by it. It doesn’t seem as remarkable now, but it’s still a one-of-a-kind work that doesn’t look or feel quite like anything else.
It was one of Kubrick’s favorites too. He would show it to the crew of The Shining, trying to give them an idea of the feel he was trying to create.
Andre – it was ’77, but began filming in ’73 I think.
Eraserhead is one of those movies that I can say I saw, but I’ve ever quite gotten the “allure” of it. I, personally believe it is overhyped and a bit overrated.
One of the few respected films I won’t watch again… I found it very stomach turning and quite disturbing. I get the feeling Lynch is trying too hard, which is a feature of all his flawed work, whereas his great stuff seems effortless. I think I ‘got’ it, I just didn’t want it.
i am with you, LOOFRIN… i’ve come back to the film several times over the years, thinking somehow my tastes have changed, I had become more of sophisticated cinemaphile blah blah blah, and each time (5 or 6, now), same response: Whaaaaaaaatevvvvver.
I dressed up as Henry Spencer for Halloween last year, and wouldent ya know? only one person knew who I was, funny cause he was the elephant man. I even had the little inchworm in a locket in my pocket. One of my fav Lynch films (tough to compile a top 5), this underrated classic even inspired Kubrick when shooting “The Shining”. Loved by cinephiles and hated by their girlfriends, “Eraserhead” set the tone for future Lynch classics.
The ‘dream you can’t escape from’ is precisely the way I feel about it. There is an intangible off-centeredness about that film that nothing I have watched since has caught. Fats Waller’s organ music bcomes so eerie within the film, as if Lynch looked right through the commercialism of the music and into its dark heart in a way that Waller most likely didn’t intend.
Also, has anyone ever caught post-industrial (or whatever you want to call them) landscapes like this film? It’s as if WW3 did happen but some of us survived. Including Henry’s “child”.
The only thing that keeps this movie from being totally dull is how obnoxiously surreal it is. The most remarkable thing about Eraserhead is that people are still talking about it after more than three decades.
This is a great “industrial” film, similar to The Red Desert, the industrial sorroundings modify the characters to turn them crazy and bizarre, like in Tetsuo, the character changes his state because of his alienating and hostile environment. The nightmare and strange aura achieved in this film really produce in the spectator certain unease, certain alienation to the film and with ourselves is achieved in this film, we lose our head entirely in this film.
i’m a big lynch supporter, but i have yet to see this film. looking forward to sitting down with it one day.
Great movie, I love smiling father scene, I think is the most surrealist scene of the movie.
For me, the best David Lynch movie.
Great movie, I love smiling father scene, I think is the most surrealist scene of the movie.
For me, the best David Lynch movie.
I really ‘enjoy’ this film, (I think it’s really stunning visually) but I remember it seeming to get more and more depressing every time I watch it (been 4 times I think – twice in the theatre). Haven’t seen it in about 5 years and just got the ‘Lime Green’ Set so I’ll be watching it again in the next couple weeks. I’ll have to check back in then.
the only question i have is the ending. I don’t really know what its trying to get at. Can it be a dream like the opening segments led me to believe it was? or did he die and go to heaven? i’m not sure any other interpretations would be very helpful…
a movie that changed my life. absolutely a predecessor to The Shining in the way the camera floats through endless space in Henry’s apartment. Pre-dates the Stedicam too, which is interesting. Apparently Lynch used to build tracks, weigh down the camera with sandbags, push the rig and then just let it glide.
the ultimate movie about being a dad.
Don’t you think the start of Benjamin Button when his mum has him in her room, is sort of like Eraser head?
Finally got around to seeing this and found it an ugly film and an all around unpleasent viewing experience.
Yet a huge cult surrounds Eraserhead. Why?
Because it’s a great movie, is why.
its a surrealistic masterpiece that seems to be timeless.
Nate the Movie Mate
Talk about everything to do with David Lynch’s masterpiece here!
It’s one of my favorite movies and rave and rave and rave and blah blah blah, you get where I’m going.
So what do YOU guys think about it? I love it, my friends hate it, my brother says it’s stupid shit, and ma thinks it’s annoying.