Eraserhead (film)

• Release Date: 1977
• Director(s): David Lynch
• Writer(s): David Lynch
• Principal Actors and Roles: John Nance (Henry Spencer); Jeanne Bates (Mrs. X); Allen Joseph (Mr. X); Laurel Near (Lady in the Radiator); Judith Roberts (Beautiful Girl across the Hall); Charlotte Stewart (Mary X)

Eraserhead (1977) is an independently made movie by American filmmaker David Lynch. It is his first feature-length movie. He wrote the screenplay and produced and directed it. He also edited the film and created the score. Lynch is known for his experimental, nontraditional style. Some of his later movies are Blue Velvet (1986), Wild at Heart (1990), Lost Highway (1997), and Mulholland Drive (2001). They all feature nightmarish images, dark themes, violence, and surrealism.

Eraserhead was filmed in black-and-white. It features a style of storytelling known as dream logic. The plot unfolds using a nonlinear structure. The setting shifts suddenly from one place to another. Characters often behave in bizarre ways that don’t reflect expected societal conventions. Eraserhead is also part of the so-called body horror genre of film. This type of horror movie features graphic images that show the degradation of the human body.

Plot

As the film begins, a man who lives inside the bowels of an unnamed planet pulls the levers of a machine. The Man in the Planet has a diseased, pockmarked appearance. Suddenly, the head of the main character, Henry Spencer (played by Jack Nance), fills the screen. He has an unusual hairstyle. His hair stands straight up—about a foot high. Henry opens his mouth, and a giant sperm cell seems to slither out. It falls to the ground, landing in a pool of water.

The scene shifts to a dystopian industrial area. Henry walks into a building, rides up an elevator, and ambles down a hallway to his apartment. He sees his neighbor, a beautiful, dark-haired woman. The Beautiful Girl Across the Hall informs Henry that he received a phone call while he was out. He is expected at his girlfriend’s house for dinner. Henry nods and enters his squalid apartment. Vegetation sits in unexpected places. For example, clumps of grass and dirt are scattered on the floor near the radiator.

Later, Henry arrives at the home of his girlfriend, Mary X, for dinner. The conversation is awkward and stilted. Mary’s mother serves a small chicken and asks Henry to carve it even though it is still moving. As Henry begins to cut into it, the chicken gushes blood. Mary’s mother leaves the table to confront Henry. She tells him that Mary has given birth to a premature baby. Mary claims she is unsure whether it is actually a child.

Sometime later, Mary has moved into Henry’s apartment, and they are rearing the child together. The baby is deformed and has a snakelike appearance, making it resemble a giant sperm cell. The infant is tightly swaddled in something appearing to be bandages. It cries frequently, disturbing the couple’s sleep. After a time, Mary can no longer bear the noise. She leaves the apartment to return to her parents, and Henry is left alone with the infant. The child seems to be sick, with sores on its face. Henry struggles to care for it.

Henry begins to have visions. He imagines a female performer—the Lady in the Radiator—who shuffles across an empty stage. Her face is swollen and deformed. She stomps on a creature that resembles a sperm cell, crushing it to death. She later sings to Henry in a separate vision. The title of the song is "In Heaven."

Henry has a sexual encounter with his beautiful neighbor, which triggers another vision. He imagines his head is chopped off and taken to a workshop. There, a man uses the decapitated head to manufacture pencils with eraser heads.

Later, when Henry goes looking for his beautiful neighbor, he finds her in the arms of another man. Disappointed, he enters his apartment and discovers the child crying again. Using a pair of scissors, Henry cuts open the child’s swaddling to reveal a mass of internal organs. The bandages had been holding the organs together and keeping the infant alive. Henry slices one of the baby’s pumping organs with the scissors. The organ gushes blood, covering the child.

The baby’s body begins to expand. Its head changes into the shape of the mysterious planet. Henry appears in a billowing cloud of dust. The Man in the Planet struggles to operate the levers, which emit sparks. The planet breaks apart, and a blinding white light appears. Henry next appears to be in heaven, where the Lady in the Radiator warmly embraces him, ending the film.

Significance

Eraserhead is a low-budget film made with independent funding, partially from the American Film Institute (AFI) and the actress Sissy Spacek. Due to financial difficulties, shooting occurred haphazardly and included temporary breaks. Filming began in 1972 and was not completed until 1976. Lynch worked on the film’s score, which includes odd, industrial-type noises. These sounds create a constant hum that can be heard in the background of most scenes. The film also is known for its unusual special effects. It is unknown if a mechanical prop or a puppet was used to create Henry’s infant.

Eraserhead was released in 1977 and became a cult movie on the underground film circuit. It was later described as one of the most important so-called midnight movies of the 1970s, along with The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Pink Flamingos (1972), and other cult films of the era. Eraserhead was noted for its odd, uneasy tone.

Film critics and scholars have debated the meaning of Eraserhead. Lynch refuses to provide an interpretation but instead prefers for viewers to make that determination on their own. Many critics have concluded that the film explores a fear of sex, marriage, and parenthood.

Eraserhead established a style that David Lynch would use throughout his career. After completing the film, he made Elephant Man (1980). Based on a play, it was a conventional film told in a more straightforward manner. However, like Eraserhead, it was shot in black-and-white, included body horror, and had very striking images. Elephant Man was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

In addition to making movies, Lynch created the popular, offbeat television series Twin Peaks, which featured his signature surrealistic style. Today, Eraserhead is considered to be a groundbreaking, experimental film. In 2004, the U.S. Library of Congress chose to preserve the movie in its National Film Registry.

Bibliography

Ebert, Roger. "How David Lynch’s Low-Budget ‘Eraserhead’ Created a Genre." New York Post. NY Post Holdings, Inc., 15 Sept. 2014. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "David Lynch." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

"Eraserhead." The Universe of David Lynch. The Universe of David Lynch, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

"Greatest and Scariest Film Scenes." AMC Filmsite, American Movie Classics Company, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

Sheen, Erica, and Annette Davison, eds. The Cinema of David Lynch: American Dreams, Nightmare Visions. London: Wallflower Press, 2004. Print.

Tobias, Scott. "The Oozy, Woozy Terrors of David Lynch’s Eraserhead." The Dissolve. Pitchfork Media, Inc., 21 Oct. 2014. Web. 18 Feb 2016.