“Eraserhead” is very likely the most widely seen experimental, avant-garde, cult horror movie ever made.
That does not entail it is the best of its kind or even remotely widely loved.
It is the first feature film directed by David Lynch, and those who are a part of Lynch’s cult followers have not all made the journey beyond “Mulholland Dr.,” “Blue Velvet,” his TV series “Twin Peaks” or “The Elephant Man” to this film.
Those that have are equally polarized to its meaning and to its appeal.
While many today embrace “Blue Velvet” as a masterpiece, there was a time when it was released where critics either heralded it as a masterpiece or shunned it as one of the most shockingly manipulative films ever made. That film earned remarkable critical attention back in 1986, making it the most controversial film of the ’80s, and then it achieved cult blockbuster status in midnight screenings around the country.
“Eraserhead” did not have such attention. It was released in 1977 to low reception at the box office and from critics, but it did begin to cement Lynch as a visual wizard.
In 1986, Roger Ebert addressed “Blue Velvet’s” firestorm by summing up the critical reaction to it. He found that some critics saw “Blue Velvet,” a film of unprecedented melding between sexuality, power and violence, in the same way he saw Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange” and Bertolucci’s “Last Tango in Paris.” The film is all style, and for many critics, that is enough. A film need be about nothing more than itself, and given the similar themes of “Eraserhead,” that same logic can be applied.
Ask six people what “Eraserhead” is about and you will get six different answers, but there is no denying that all six people saw and absorbed the same strikingly powerful film. This post-apocalyptic, futuristic, alien nightmare, mind-bending experience is impossible to classify in any one of those realms, and it becomes most nearly “Eraserhead” itself.
The claim that a film should be about nothing other than itself is defensible in the sense that “Eraserhead” as a film is a candidate for one that achieves the level of pure cinema. It has not one performance that stands out, very minimal dialogue, campy but immensely powerful special effects and few other external elements that make the film unforgettable. Like Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” Lynch plays on the moods and emotions of his audience purely through his own creation.
His black and white cinematography, his desolate and haunting editing style, his other worldly sound effects that resemble nothing else. These are all elements of a pure film. Thus to attempt to describe any aspect of it would be an effort in futility.
If I have not given a good impression of my opinion of the film, it is perhaps because I do not have one. I can say I felt as uncomfortable as I did while watching “Blue Velvet” or “Mulholland Dr.,” if not more so. Lynch’s films captivate to the point that no one can forget what they have just experienced, be that a good sensation or bad.
I’ve never seen this movie, but it was a really good article. Keep up the good work.
Happy? I finally read this and commented on your site. Really like the update BTW.
So you finally saw both Eraserhead and Blue Velvet? What was the occasion?
I still have to see Mulholland Drive.