David Lynch started his career as he meant to continue, with this disturbing surrealist tale of a man who discovers he is to be the father of a grossly disfigured child. As he and his new wife care for it, they slowly descend into madness.
Eraserhead quickly sucks the viewer into its drab industrial dystopia with some of the most ominous, chilling sound design work ever put to film. A low hum throbs through the whole picture, it’s uneasy and relentless. Putting so much work into the soundtrack was a clever move, it helps create a world outside without having to build expensive sets and hire lots of actors, while still being incredibly effective.
Although the film was made on a shoestring, it never feels cheap. Lynch borrows heavily from film noir and builds on it, taking the genre in a new direction.
Almost 40 years since its release, Eraserhead is as bold, innovative and downright unsettling as it ever was.
http://benoliver999.com/film/2016/10/29/eraserhead/
It kinda reminds me of Memento in the sense that its scale and ambition pale in comparison to some of the director’s later works; however, intellectually and artistically we meet a filmmaker who’s already really well formed and defined. Industrial sound design, surrealism, mystery and abstractions; it’s all here already. Probably not the easiest film to get into if you’re new to Lynch’ filmography, but also not his most challenging by any stretch (especially if you understand how to read movies like this).
8/10
“Eraserhead” is one of those symbolic movies, more like a collection of unsettling moving paintings. It’s Lynch's only feature film to be old-school surrealist, though the way reality is distorted could be considered as expressionist.
There are sequences that could be interpreted in multiple ways, but the main plot is pretty straightforward. Not that the plot is the main focus here: most situations seem to be visually unsettling just for their own sake. The dark and eerie atmosphere that permeates the whole film is disturbing but at the same so fascinating that it gets addictive over time. You don't exactly know why, but you want to go back and rewatch it every now and then just to feel those weird sensations again, like a haunted house. Every shot has been meticulously constructed with the aim of deeply resonate with your subconscious and awaken feelings or sensations that are hard to express logically.
Sound plays a crucial role as well: there is no music at all, extremely limited and uncanny dialogues, but a lot of humming and wheezing mechanical noise which melds perfectly with the cold, hostile wastelands and bare, wretched houses and apartments.
That baby is probably one of the most disturbing I have seen in a movie. I still wonder how they managed to make something like that on their own.
David Lynch you are a genius.
Never before have I seen a movie that disturbed me, grossed me out and left me confused, but for some reason I can't stop thinking about it. Eraserhead is both shocking and unique, as this movie drives into the mind of a man who's having a crisis rising a child that he never asked for. What David Lynch is so good at doing is making he's movies feel like a nightmare or a dream, just by how it's directed and shot creates the effect perfectly, and Eraserhead is the icing on that cake.
Watched the movie twice already and after thinking about it, Eraserhead is a work of art.
Now I understand why it is a cult movie, I love this kind of movies where you have to spin your brain to discover the message of it.
I love how it represents the fear that fatherhood generates in the protagonist and how his subconscious deals with it.
David Lynch's movies are not easy to review, in fact I think words can not describe Surrealist "movies" generally speaking. Yeah I put that by purpose in brackets because they are not like ordinary movies where you expect a clear storyline, character development, an appropriate soundtrack and so on, but here you really have to feel them and be in the correct mood, have enough concentration and be open minded and patient.
You can ask ten people what Eraserhead is about and you'll get ten different answers, so there is no really 'get it' or right or wrong rather a lot room for interpretation and conjecture.
Anyway Eraserhead is David Lynch's first feature-length film after a row of short movies which are exactly what you think they are, really Lynch-like. We find ourselfs trapped in a black and white, dystopian world at an unkown time and follow the Story of Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) who impregnates his girlfriend and she gives birth to a malformed baby. overchallenged and desperate by that situation she leaves Henry with the baby alone.
That's basically the main storyline and everything that is obvious and clear, adding more to that would be kind of a spoiler and is open to everyone's imagination anyhow.
very cute and cosy film
This black-and-white, overcast film is irrepressibly unsettling and immerses the viewer in a visual experience that is almost like peering into the mind of a madman. David Lynch's crazy visual universe began here and reached its climax with "Mulholland Drive". It is a film that transcends the categories of mere avant-garde and surrealist cinema, and is a film of overwhelming experimentation, dinners that abnormal psychologists and psychopathologists are in hot pursuit of, and eerie images that look like a psychological test created by a psychiatrist as a desperate measure for the sake of untreatable mental patients. Even ten years after my first viewing, the eerie images stick in my mind like mold. It is David Lynch's masterpiece and perhaps one of the most important films made since the 1970s.
The first thing I thought when I went into the film was that it was an imitation of Ingmar Bergman's cinema: A noisy silence, the expressionism use typical of European cinema (for example, "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari"). However, this is not the case. It is a unique film of its own, with a totally terrifying dystopian setting. The sets are dingy, dark, and set in some gnawed and sick 1920s.
The story, in a nutshell, deals with the delusions of a man upon learning that he is the father of a "worm" son. A Kafkaesque story.
For me, although I may not have understood the film, or the nightmares of the protagonist, I am totally enraptured by the aesthetics of the film.
I watched this... I had no idea what I watched, but... I am glad I did. It is one of the more unsettling movies I have ever seen. The atmosphere is terrifying. A lot of the movie has no dialogue, but that is quickly overlooked because of the background noise. There is always one, and that's what makes it more unsettling. It is frightening without any need for physical horror.
Easerhead appears on many lists as a “too see movie”, but I have to say it’s terrible. I’m sorry, but just because it’s David Lynch’s first movie doesn’t mean you have to like it. I couldn’t get past the first 20 minutes of this movie. It has all the traits of being a student film but somehow appears as one of the best sci-fi movies on many lists. Sorry but it’s terrible. There’s no amount of weed which would make this a great experience.
One of the best films I've ever watched. Every time I see it I see new things. This one always stays with me. Also, this is the first and only movie I own on 4K. I don't even have a 4K TV but the Criterion collection blu-ray (which was restored with the help of David Lynch himself) was worth saving up for. (Yes I am broke haha) I am no good at reviews.
Probably one of the weirdest & most surreal films that I've seen, but still one of the best.
As if I didn't need another reason to stay child free. I can't imagine the stress parents have with a kid, much less a new baby. I've never seen any of David Lynch's other works, and I'm hesitant because I didn't care for this movie.
Dark as it should be,with an excellent black & white usage. The plot however...
The movie had a 50s twilight zone kind of vibe to it :sparkles: :dizzy:
I know that it's supposed to be a weird mindfuck movie. Still, I didn't freak out, and that could be because I looked at the more profound meaning of how society is affected by industrialization/capitalism and the negative consequences. I could be off, and it could have many other interpretations or none at all.
I'd recommend this to people who have watched some weird movies so that they can feel a bit comfortable with this one. It's not scary, but it is strange for sure. I had a good time.
Even if you don't get it, it's a totally mesmerizing film. I've seen more expensive movies that failed to held my attention for even a half of its length.
I can appreciate the cinematography, the score, and a big ball of weird being left up for a whole lotta interpretation. But I found this film to be more frustrating than entertaining.
I finally decided to check Eraserhead out after seeing it at the tippy top of a bunch of lists and receiving recommendations from friends. In the end, I just wasn’t as satisfied as so many other viewers were.
I can comfortably and repeatedly say David Lynch is a "no" for me. In every way. In those ways that haven't been invented or given words yet. So many ways, just "no."
Beautiful and creepy, but where's the plot?
Slow, creepy, doesn’t make sense, little dialogue and makes me feel uncomfortable after it’s over. Yup this is a David Lynch movie. Not sure if I like this one or not.
I like some of David's movies but thought this was terrible. Blue Velvet was good. Twin Peaks was so bad it was good but also had geniunely great moments. But this? For a movie that relies on visuals it can be very good but also boring. I don't mean boring in the sense that it's supposed to be to make us feel a characters boredom. I mean it's visually boring as cinematography goes and it's made worse being minimal as it has nothing else to offer when it goes tits up. Your left with some man with crap hair in black and white to look at. David's use of sound with visuals I used to really like and still do in small amounts but this is like he's trying to show it off too much to please the art crowd. Self lauding overkill. The movie tries too hard to be arty with its sluggish for the sake of it pace, lack of narrative because that's so mainstream and it's opportunist quirks in all scenes when possible just to add some more bizarreness.
This movies mentality is 'what should or would a movie usually do'? 'OK let's just do something weird because I want to be taken serious as an artist and this is the easy way.' It's the Lady Gaga of movies. I'm glad he never made a movie this bad again. This should have ended him in a saner world without narcissism driving creativity but as we know that world doesn't exist anymore.
It failed to entertain (even if it's not that kind of movie), involve me with stimulus or tell me anything interesting. You know it may be pretentious when characters talk to each others with a 10-20 seconds delay between replies even though they're next to eacn other and when they do reply they mutter a single word if possible... long pause... because words are so conventional.
I wanted to like this movie but held back watching it for a long time as deep down I knew it would be hip trash. If you think a man with ridiculous hair doing a silent movie walk into a puddle is meaningful then please watch it.
When I was younger I used to like Lynch but I grew up and got perspective on the world and real hard work creativity.
I didn't really "get it" to be honest but the Lynchian madness and beautiful shots were enough for me to get through it and enjoy it a little bit.
I was pretty interested about finally watching this much talked film, a favorite film for many people and after all, I didn't liked it.
I think it's an open minded film, you can take many interpretations from what you are seeing, and I bet many of the people who love this film have their reasons to love it and that for me has to do mostly with the fact that they found a great interpretation and meaning for it. For me doesn't passed from super bizarre wtf moments.
It just didn't worked for me.
Shout by DeletedBlockedParent2014-06-09T14:40:45Z
One of the only genuinely frightening films I can think of. Lynch taps into the fears of parenthood and portrays them in his signature surrealist manner, within the setting of a dystopian, industrial world. Explaining anymore would simply ruin the brilliant moments that this film consists of, but I'll end here by saying it gives new meaning to the phrase "winner winner chicken dinner".