Eraserhead Movie Review: David Lynch Steps Out on Stage

David Lynch’s first feature-length film was the black-and-white, enigmatic and beguiling, Eraserhead. It is considered a classic of horror and body horror. A glimpse at the strange plot may give some insight into why Eraserhead was a popular midnight movie for years on end. Eraserhead opens with Henry Spencer’s (Jack Nance) head floating in outer space. He opens his mouth and a sperm-like creature floats out. Then there is a planet, and a strange man on the planet begins to move levers that appear to control the sperm creature as it cruises away into space. Then Henry is seen on Earth, walking through a run-down industrial complex.

Throughout Eraserhead, every set is industrial, run-down, and post-modern. Huge, cavernous buildings make up the landscapes while the apartments are tiny and squeezed close together. Henry has dinner at his girlfriend’s house (Mary X – Charlotte Stewart) with both her parents in attendance. Mrs. X informs Henry that Mary has had a child though Mary is not convinced it is a child. What the child looks like is a mix of that sperm creature from the opening and a skinned lamb’s head dropped into a puddle of organ meat. A befuddled Henry is asked to carve the Cornish game hens which begin to writhe under the knife and spew blood all over the plate.

Henry and Mary move into Henry’s apartment with the baby but the baby will not stop crying, and Mary soon leaves for her parents home while Henry is left behind with the strange creature. Following that are a series of actions that could be taking place for real for Henry and some that are obviously illusions/dreams/visions of some kind. Henry imagines that his head pops off, lands in the street where it lies broken, is picked up by a child, and taken to an eraser factory where the head will be turned into erasers. Henry also begins to see a woman who lives in his radiator, dances upon a stage, and who crushes more of those sperm creatures under her heel. He has a night of romance with the Beautiful Girl Across the Hall (Judith Anna Roberts), and he also takes a pair of scissors to the innards of his sperm-baby creature.

All of this adds up to something. You won’t walk away depressed, though you may be confused about what you’ve seen. There are all types of symbolism to unpack, and part of the fun is doing the unpacking. The imagery is open for symbolic interpretation: surely there is something going on that has to do with a fear of parenting, and the process by which one becomes a parent. David Lynch wrote, directed, produced, edited, and curated the sound design. It is the work of an auteur, and it is clear to see how Eraserhead impacted and influenced later works such as Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks. If you are a fan of horror, body horror, enigmatic symbolism, and David Lynch, then Eraserhead is for you.