Eraserhead
by David Lynch
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DVD details
Actor: Allen Joseph, Charlotte Stewart, Jack Nance, Jeanne Bates, Judith RobertsDirector: David Lynch
Brand: Ryko Distribution
Cinematographer: Frederick Elmes
Cinematographer: Herbert Cardwell
Editor: David Lynch
Producer: David Lynch
Writer: David Lynch
Producer: Fred Baker
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Black & White, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 89 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-01-10
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Absurda/ Ryko
DVD Reviews of Eraserhead
DVD Review: A Must Have for Lynch Fans!
Summary: 4 Stars
The Eraserhead/Short Films of David Lynch DVD set is a must have for all true David Lynch fans. The DVDs contain hours of interviews with David Lynch and booklet with photos and production notes. The only reason I give this product a 4/5 is because of the way the DVD discs were packaged. They put the disks into cardboard sleeves instead of a hard plastic cases, so there is the risk that the disks will scratch when frequently removed from and inserted into the cardboard sleeves. Overall though this is an excellent addition to any Lynch fan's DVD collection!DVD Review: David Lynch at his best!
Summary: 5 Stars
I love all of Lynch's films, but Eraserhead changed the way I view cinema. This is one of the greatest movies ever made. A great dvd for all of us used to awful bootlegs.DVD Review: As wacky As Advertised
Summary: 4 Stars
David Lynch's first film, Eraserhead, is a very odd beast. The hype on this one is for real, this movie truly is odd and very dark, though it may not be scary, especially for people who are used to or merely find surreal, bizarre, creepy things extremely entertaining and awesome (raise hand). However, while Eraserhead is a great showcase for David Lynch's talents, some of the confusion, pace and lack of story doesn's quite make a masterpiece.
First the good. I will say it again (and many have said it before, but I will emphasize that this is not an easy watching. This is extremely surreal, and many of the imagery will be quite scary, especially for those who are not used to anything surreal and like things to be concrete and easy to recognize, and get uncomfortable with anything of that nature. The baby is particulary odd, and what happens to thing at the end is just odd, but very cool. The chicken twitching, the head in the pool of blood, and that really odd ending, the imagery in this is extremely stunning and is very impressive. The setting is absolutely amazing. It's industrial decay, one of my absolute favorites, and his signature use of lighting, of coure is also genious. The bits of dialouge make it a bit more realistic, yet somewhat creepy. David Lynch's artwork truly is art, and it's worth seeing because it's just so cool to be inside a radiator. It's like a bizarre dream, but incredibly cool.
However, the movie does have some downsides. I found the movie to run very slow sometimes, as some of the scenes really are kind of boring. The types of scenes such as the scene where he stands in pure darkness staring at nothing don't work, and some of the imagery such as the beginning (that weird globe thing) really doesn't make any sense. The dream itself is where the story enters nothing but confusion, simply sacrifcing storytelling with some really cool bizarre imagery. While that's nice, I prefer the former, although I can appreciate . Maybe it's just my petty complaints, but I feel that this movie could be at least a bit more logical. I am not really arguing against the surreal images, as they are fun, but I still thought there could be story.
While it's not my favorite David Lynch movie, or really even worth buying, it is quite intriguining at times, though there isn't much story. The Bizarre imagery really doesn't make much sense, but it still is fun to watch at times. It will confuse many, and I'm not even sure what the hell happens after his wife leaves him. While on the whole sometimes tedious, alone, it's just so surreal and it's directing is so wacky that I can't help but reccomending you view it.
B-
DVD Review: I keep coming back after 30+ years...
Summary: 5 Stars
The closest thing to describing Eraserhead is to say it's a film transcription of a very odd dream...
Visually stunning, always surreal. Not sure what the message is (if any) but I'm drawn back to this puppy after I saw it in a theater 30+ years ago...
DVD Review: A mind blowing personal statement from a unique artist
Summary: 5 Stars
I first saw ERASERHEAD at a midnight screening at the Waverly in New York. That was 1978. I was 29 years old at the time. I didn't understand ERASERHEAD then, but the visuals and sounds totally blew me away, and even now, despite the great quality of this DVD, I still maintain that the full effect of the movie can't be appreciated unless experienced in a theater.
ERASERHEAD went through a number of revisions during it's 5 year period of conception, gestation, and birth. David Lynch, had arrived in Hollywood in 1970 to study film at the AFI's Institute for Advanced Film Studies. He had come from Philadelphia, where he went to art school, got married, and unexpectedly became a father. The ERASERHEAD project evolved from a much less ambitious idea. Lynch had already made a number of short animated movies and one combination live action/animated film (the Grandmother),and ERASERHEAD would be his first feature length live action movie. He produced, directed, wrote the script, designed the sets, edited, and mixed the sound of this unique film, which explores the darkest recesses of his then troubled mind, and gave free reign to his wild subconscious imaginings and powerful creative thought processes. Lynch, a child of the small town Pacific Northwest, was deeply affected by his experience in urban Philly. Besides trying to adjust to a dangerous (at times violent) environment that was the polar opposite of what he was accustomed to from childhood, his marriage to 1st wife Peggy, had started deteriorating due to his infidelities. The unplanned arrival of his daughter Jennifer, who was born with club feet, further complicated his life. Rather than collapse under the pressure of these dilemmas, Lynch used them as the source material for ERASERHEAD. The sense of environmental dread, and the conflict between responsibility as a spouse and parent, and responsibilty as a creative artist, vividly manifests itself in ERASERHEAD. Lynch has referred to ERASERHEAD as the real Philadelphia Story.
Henry Spencer, the troubled protaganist with the inflated hairdo, whose life is mechanically controlled by an ominous "man in a planet", is almost a cinematic doppelganger for Lynch himself. Henry solemnly treks through an unnamed industrial wasteland to have dinner with the strange family of his girlfriend Mary X. There he learns that he is the father of a deformed baby. He and Mary take the baby back to his apartment, where it's constant crying disturbs them. Mary X has had enough of the wailing monstrosity and leaves, so Henry alone must care for it, but the temptations of a sexy neighbor, and visions of a strange puffy cheeked blond lady who lives in his radiator and sings a song called "In Heaven" keep distracting him. The inspiration for the radiator lady came from Lynch's discovery of T.M. during the time he was making the film. She represents the means to an escape from a harsh "reality" into an enlightened state. At one point, he dreams he has entered the radiator to commune with her and winds up losing his head which is found by a boy and taken to a pencil factory where it is used as the material for erasers. The symbolism of the mind's ability through meditation to erase a false reality in favor of a heightened consciousness is too obvious to ignore. Henry's squeamish destruction of the baby who symbolized all his troubles in a sick, deformed world, is followed by that iconic image of him, hair ablaze, surrounded by a field of charged particles, as the radiator lady joins him in an embrace that illuminates the screen in white light and abruptly ends in darkness. The "man in the planet" is no longer in control. Henry's mind (spirit) has left his physical body to commune with eternity.
ERASERHEAD was originally 2 1/2 hours long. Lynch pared it down to it's present 90 minute running time for general release. In it we find the dark humor, weird characters, and foreboding use of light, darkness, and sound, that will be hallmarks of later projects. After it's original screening in Hollywood, David Lynch's mother reportedly said to him "God, honey. What have I done?" What she did, was give birth to a creative genius.
Description of Eraserhead
Is it a nightmare or an actual view of a post-apocalyptic world? Set in an industrial town in which giant machines are constantly working, spewing smoke, and making noise that is inescapable, Henry Spencer lives in a building that, like all the others, appears to be abandoned. The lights flicker on and off, he has bowls of water in his dresser drawers, and for his only diversion he watches and listens to the Lady in the Radiator sing about finding happiness in heaven. Henry has a girlfriend, Mary X, who has frequent spastic fits. Mary gives birth to Henry's child, a frightening looking mutant, which leads to the injection of all sorts of sexual imagery into the depressive and chaotic mix.This is where is the Lynchian nightmare began. Though he may have redefined surrealistic cinema in the 1980s and forever altered the face of television in the 90s, for many hardcore fans it is this infamous feature film debut that is David Lynch's crowning achievement. Many words have been used to describe Eraserhead (weird, bizarre, frustrating, enlightening, significant, unwatchable, meaningless, and momentous), but there is no denying it is completely unforgettable. As a surreal work of art, Eraserhead easily holds it own next to the works as Bu?uel, Cocteau, and Dali. And like many surrealistic works, there is no clear answer on what Eraserhead "means." But, if you are trying to find a simple, linear, plot in Eraserhead, you are clearly missing the point. For Eraserhead is not simply a movie to view, but a true cinematic experience, like jumping into someone's nightmare and seeing it from their perspective. Whether you see it as a meditation on the terror of being a new parent, the suffocating feeling of living in an increasingly vapid, industrial wasteland, or a nightmare about the fear of loneliness, the film easily holds up to multiple viewings. And since this film is a dark visual ride and a supreme aural achievement, this long awaited, new transfer is an absolute blessing for David Lynch fans who will finally get to see, hear and experience Eraserhead clearly on DVD. Bizarre experiment? Surrealistic nightmare? Or a meaningless cult film? You be the judge. --Rob Bracco
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