Eraserhead (1977) [Blu-ray]
Horror | Mystery

The Criterion Collection

Tagline: Be warned. The nightmare has not gone away...

A dream of dark and troubling things... David Lynch's 1977 debut feature, Eraserhead, is both a lasting cult sensation and a work of extraordinary craft and beauty. With its mesmerizing black-and-white photography by Frederick Elmes and Herbert Cardwell, evocative sound design, and unforgettably enigmatic performance by Jack Nance, this visionary nocturnal odyssey continues to haunt American cinema like no other film.

Storyline: 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. Written by Rick Gregory

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov, August 23, 2014 -- David Lynch's "Eraserhead" (1977) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include various archival interviews; new and exclusive interviews with director's assistant Catherine Coulson, actors Charlotte Stewart and Judith Anna Roberts, and cinematographer Frederick Elmes; calibration instructions by David Lynch; and six newly restored short films. The release also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring an interview with David Lynch from filmmaker and writer Chris Rodley's 1997 book "Lynch on Lynch". In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Eraserhead is David Lynch's debut feature film. It follows a young man, Henry (Jack Nance, Breaker! Breaker!, Barfly), who lives in an industrial desert together with his girlfriend (Charlotte Stewart, Tremors, Slums of Beverly Hills) and their child, a strange and apparently very sick creature with a seriously ugly head. As Henry's relationship with his girlfriend slowly begins to deteriorate while he takes care of their child, his fantasies begin to reshape the world around him.

Eraserhead is a very dark and at times seriously disturbing film that is wide open for interpretation. Some of Henry's fears and illusions are clearly borrowed from Lynch's real world, but logically explaining everything that takes place in the film is virtually impossible.

Certain logic, however, is present in the film. Henry's dark dreams are essentially Lynch's fears about a variety of different subjects. As the film progresses, some are identified, but others are at best only suggested, creating some confusion and even inaccurate perceptions about the main protagonist and his intentions.

Lynch spends a great deal of time studying Henry's face and his surroundings. There are select sequences where the dialog picks up, but overall the film is notably slow and moody, reflecting on ideas in unusual ways rather than promoting them.

The film boasts a remarkable soundtrack, arguably one of the most effective ever done for a project of this nature. It is an integral part of the industrial world Henry and his fears and illusions belong to. Lynch and sound designer Alan Splet (The Elephant Man, The Unbearable Lightness of Being) recorded the soundtrack using various tape recorders, filters and effects devices.

Eraserhead was one of Stanley Kubrick's favorite films. While shooting The Shining, Kubrick apparently repeatedly screened Eraserhead to the cast to get them in the right mood. The legendary Beat novelist Charles Bukowski was also a big admirer of Eraserhead and Lynch's work.

In 1977, Eraserhead was screened at the Chicago International Film Festival. In 1982, the film was also screened and promoted at Fantasporto, where it was nominated for Best Film Award. In 2004, Eraserhead was submitted to the National Film Registry, which each year names "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films" for preservation.

Also included on this upcoming release are six newly restored short films by Lynch. They are: Six Men Getting Sick (1967), The Alphabet (1968), The Grandmother (1970), The Amputee (Versions 1 and 2) (1974), and Premonitions Following an Evil Deed (1995). Each film comes with a two-minute short video introduction by the American director.

It should not have taken such a long time for David Lynch, one of the truly great contemporary American directors, to enter the Criterion Collection, but this Blu-ray release of his debut feature Eraserhead is a special treat that was definitely well worth the wait. After a new 4K digital restoration, Eraserhead looks absolutely fantastic in high-definition, while the supplemental features on the Blu-ray, which include new 2K restorations of six short films by Lynch, are the best that I have seen produced for a home video release of the film in any region. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

[CSW] -3.3- This reviewer said it better than I could: "Some films are meant to be watched over and over again. This is not such a film. With images and sounds drawn from the world of nightmares, David Lynch brilliantly evokes the tragedy of loneliness and isolation in a mercilessly horrific albeit surprisingly compassionate way. This is less of a narrative than a troubling dream-montage of loneliness. See it once if you are interested in how a filmmaker can use image and sound to perfectly evoke the most visceral sadness and fear that we can feel. If this sort of thing interests you, you will marvel at Lynch's achievment, but may nevertheless never want to see it again. Prepare to be haunted by some of these images and sounds."
[V5.0-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box.

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