Eraserhead (1977)

Director: David Lynch
Stars: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph
Runtime: 89 minutes

Synopsis: Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.

Verdict: I understand that David Lynch’s debut “Eraserhead” is a favorite amongst fans of the filmmaker but a relatively divisive film overall. Some admire the surreal world it creates to tell the story of Jack Nance’s enigmatic existence that deals with themes of sexual frustration and parenthood above all, while others condemn it for being too inaccessible and ostentatious. For now, I’d put myself in the no man’s land area between the two camps.

The film’s setting being the awkward protagonist’s subconscious, it was primordial for Lynch to capture an atmosphere of dread and unease, something he proved capable of achieving masterfully thanks to an unmatched attention to details. “Eraserhead” is a visual and auditory feast, a banquet that will transport anyone who watches it to a unique universe that only Lynch could come up with.

The whole thing is an incredibly bizarre experience, but one that also left me with a sour taste of frustration. While it’s a technical chef-d'oeuvre, the film failed to capture my attention in the long term as I found it extremely difficult to connect myself with the occasionally nonsensical narrative. I say this in the most subjective way: this movie was not for me. Instead of progressively pulling me in, I only felt more isolated as the short runtime passed by, ultimately reaching a point of total detachment from it in the last 10 to 15 minutes.

I won’t be rushing to revisit “Eraserhead” any time soon, mostly because I don’t feel like I’d gain much out of it upon rewatch, but it wouldn’t shock me if I eventually do sometimes down the line. All I can say for now is that it does exactly what it aims to achieve, and aficionados of the obscure experimental body horror subgenre will likely be satisfied with what it had to offer.

FINAL GRADE: 6/10