I love this movie so much

Good concept, poorly executed.

Absolutely the worst movie.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I went to go study film in the University of Miami and attended their Film Club for a short period. They wanted the club to choose a movie to be played for the next meeting. I remember writing down "Empire of the Sun", as it not only was a classic war epic made by the great Steven Spielberg, but featured Christian Bale in his first ever starring role as a 13 year old kid when Christopher Nolan's Batman had recently been released. It seemed appropriate. The club chose Eraserhead. I watched in complete horror for what felt like 5 hours of just complete nonsensical story telling and randomly inserted clips that reeked of "deeper meaning" that just wasn't there. I remember looking over at the other members watching it with fascination and wondering if they were just faking it to gain approval with their enlightened kin-folk, because only a lowly commoner like me could not appreciate watching torture for an hour and a half. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility, as I had done the same thing as a teenager when attending functions for my high school's drama class. I know now my hypothesis has been proven. With the introduction of modern art, there have been hilarious examples of "art" that is so bad it has been sat on, thrown away by janitors and in numerous hilarious examples people leaving behind mundane objects on purpose, only to have people appreciating them as art. People want to be special. What better way to be special than to pretend to "get" something that no-one else can, except a select, privileged few? That is the entire essence of Eraserhead.

EraserheadIt defines the genre for not only its physicality screams horrific poems but so does its deeply layered thought-provoking concept and an heart-screeching exaggeration of the consequences of the actions of the humankind. The metaphorical term can be inedible and uneven for everyone to grasp it, even after the curtain drops for the feature remains subtle throughout the course of it and doesn't lose its tone at any point. It is rich on technical aspects like cinematography, sound effects, and editing. David Lynch; the writer-director, has done a brilliant work on writing the gripping script and has shown guts to pull off such a convoluted plot and get the anticipated vision on screen creating the perfect impact on the audience who is in awe of it. The performance is hold on tightly by Jack Nance on his portrayal of protagonist that is eerily sociopath and hard to be judged at. The only conundrum in here would be the imaginative bubble depicted in here which is dark and brutal and cringe worthy too, where the makers could have step lightly. Eraserhead is an art that neither can be erased nor ignored, it is bold, unafraid to tell its own story on its own terms.

The first time I saw "Eraserhead" was in the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton. My friend Gerry had already seen it in San Francisco and was still in paroxysms of praise for the picture so I went in with high expectations; even so, I still wasn't prepared for what I saw that night. I was meeting Gerry in the bar next door afterwards but when I left the cinema I was still in something of a daze, or perhaps a trance, and started walking in the wrong direction. I knew I had seen some kind of masterpiece but I also knew here was a film I wouldn't want to sit through again, at least not for a very long time. Well, here we are 40 years later and I've just seen "Eraserhead" again.For anyone still ignorant of the fact, "Eraserhead" was the film that introduced David Lynch to the world and a few minutes into the film was enough to tell us that here was a singular new talent worthy to sit on a pedestal next to the young Welles, not that Welles would ever make a film like "Eraserhead"; indeed who, other than Lynch, would.There is a plot of sorts but essentially Lynch's film, luminously shot in black and white by Frederick Elmes and Herbert Cardwell, unfolds like a living nightmare, but whose? Lynch's? Henry's, (the central character that established Jack Nance as a cult actor for a new generation), or our own? Certainly there are images here enough to give the strongest of us nightmares, images and sounds, (this film has some of the finest sound designs ever recorded).It has been described as experimental, as avant-garde and by some just as a plain old horror film. You could say it's also a kind of love story, though a very warped and forbidding one. Lynch, of course, would go on to the likes of "Blue Velvet" and "Twin Peaks" and would never fully abandon the sensibilities first seen in this extraordinary film. I was more prepared for it this time but it still blew me away.

My initial reaction?AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHA HAAAAAAAAAAA HAHA!! HAHAHAHA!!!*doubles over, takes deep breath*HAHAHAHAHA HAAAAAAAAAAA HAHA!! HAHAHAHA!!! HAHAHAHAHA HAAAAAAAAAAA HAHA!! HAHAHAHA!!!Okay, I'm fine now. No, honestly. No, I don't need any water. I'm good. Thanks.Oh, God...where do I start with this? Well, let me start with what's good about Eraserhead.The cinematography and imagery is top-notch, beyond hypnotic. I was mesmerized from start to finish with what I saw, even if I had no idea what the hell was going on the entire time, stuff like the plant growing out of Henry's nightstand, the bizarre moment he cuts open the baby's swaddling and it turned out to be holding in its organs, the weird radiator lady...all very fascinating, memorable stuff that just etches into your brain. The movie's imagery was so creative that I'm 100% positive that countless other movies have begged, borrowed and stolen from it without shame. For example, there's no question now in my mind that Ridley Scott saw and incorporated some of Eraserhead into this movie. The scenes with the slimy alien baby are reminiscent of the infamous scene when the alien bursts out of Johm Hurt's chest.Also, everyone is bang on about the sound design. I never pay attention to sound in movies. This was the first one where the ambient noise grabbed me by the eardrums every moment. For example, there's a scene where Henry's girlfriend rubs her eye, and you can actually hear a squishy noise as she does it. There are other memorable sounds, such as the unsettling noise of a mother dog nursing her pups and the baby's haunting cry.Okay, with that being said, there's a huge problem with Eraserhead. It's just being weird for the sake of it. There's no purpose to it, no real reason behind it. It was basically David Lynch saying, "Let me just see how much weirder and grosser I can make this, no matter how incoherent, no matter how alienating." It's this kind of thing that keeps an otherwise inventive, surreal and creative movie from being great. Because there's no story or anything to grab onto, it can have you feeling as if you wasted your time. I didn't feel I wasted my time but I can definitely see how others may have felt that way. Normally, I would've given a movie like this a 1/10 but the artistry, cinematography and sound design more than makes up for the self indulgence and incoherent story so it's a 7/10 from me.