A woman’s nightmare plays out against a backdrop of bizarre shapes and textures: a small organic figure gives birth to the letters of the alphabet while a mixture of children’s voices and an operatic tune are singing.

Described by its writer-director as “a nightmare about the fear connected with learning,” David Lynch’s second film is unmistakably his. An avant-garde blend of animation and live-action, The Alphabet prefigures his later features in its menacing marriage of naive innocence and simmering darkness.