Where your nightmares end...
First-time father Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
- Body horror
- Harm to children
- Bleak ending
- Graphic violence
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Character
Bleak, grave, overwhelming and earnest.
- warmbleak
- gravecomic
- cooloverwhelming
- earnestironic
- unpretentiousprestige
Who loves it, who doesn't
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Where do you stand?
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“Is this David Lynch's best work?”
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“Is the ambiguity a cop-out?”
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“Is Eraserhead harder work than it needs to be?”
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A yes-or-no question, answered from what people wrote here, on TMDB and on Wikipedia. Never made up.
Reviews
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Curator Co.'s numbers.
- PostCut_The_Film_Podcaston TMDB · May 20218/10
<div id="buzzsprout-player-8546506"></div> <script src="https://www.buzzsprout.com/1610599/8546506-the-brainburner.js?container_id=buzzsprout-player-8546506&player=small" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script> Listen to the full review above! "For anybody of a given age or someone who is a real cinephile... You only need to hear... David Lynch. The first impression I had was tension, then I watched it again... it's nightmarish." David M. Brown. "It's one of those things that can only be described as a lucid dream come to life. It takes a certain caliber of person to actually put out work like that. And it's not crazy.... It's Genius." Sarah Peterson. "Definitely a brain Burner. It was definitely the weirdest movie I've watched. I can't describe this movie in words... It's not of this earth. I want to go sit in a corner in a dark place and think. This is not a movie.... It's beyond a movie." David Veerkamp
Read the whole review on TMDB - Sigeki Oginoon TMDB · Oct 2022
We believe that films should "make people happy" (euphoria). No, we believe it should. Of course, there were thorny issues in getting there. I used to say that "movies are the art version of pornography" if there was even a hint of sexuality, and in middle and high school I mainly watched "erotic" movies ("A Clockwork Orange" being the first of these). Looking back, I was a "foolish spectator." One day, however, a change came to me. I believe that an encounter with a movie can change your life, and the movie I encountered was "Mulholland Drive," which turned my view of movies upside down, saying, "I have never seen a movie like this. Until then, to my surprise, I had never even heard of David Lynch (I'm embarrassed to say ‼︎). From memory, between the ages of 12 and 13, I saw this surreal, showbiz-crazed entertainment at least a dozen times and was not only never bored, but drawn in. Isn't that amazing? I mean, "It was a 'monumental' movie in my life" (my strongest experience in a movie theater was when I saw "The Return of the King"). ...... So I had to see this film by a great filmmaker. In comparison, "Lost Highway" was an insignificant film. Honestly, I don't know, but it seeme
Read the whole review on TMDB - captain_doucheon TMDB · Dec 2024
Straight up: I don't like this movie. It is a grotesque, bizarre horror movie. There is no real plot. The only thing this movie will do is make you feel uncomfortable. It makes you feel like in a bizarre nightmare. And this it does really well. I give it 3 stars for the artistic creation that it is and the effect it can create on the audience. Disclaimer: I walked out of the cinema after 3/4 watching...
Read the whole review on TMDB - misubisuon TMDB · Jun 202610/10
Score: 10/10 A Singular, Unshakeable Vision of Nightmare Cinema Eraserhead is not a film you watch; it is a film you survive. It is a descent into a world that feels both alien and uncomfortably familiar—a surrealist nightmare that operates on dream logic, industrial dread, and the visceral terror of parenthood. David Lynch's feature debut is a landmark of avant-garde cinema, a work so singular and uncompromising that it defies comparison. It earns a perfect score not because it is "entertaining" in any traditional sense, but because it achieves exactly what it sets out to do: it gets under your skin and stays there forever. The Atmosphere: A World of Industrial Horror From its opening frame, Eraserhead announces itself as something wholly unique. The film's world is a grey, grimy, industrial wasteland—a landscape of hissing pipes, buzzing lights, and a constant, oppressive mechanical drone. The sound design, by Lynch and Alan Splet, is as much a character as any of the humans on screen. It is a masterclass in auditory unease, a relentless assault of ambient noise that feels like the planet itself is in pain. The black-and-white cinematography is stark and beautiful, evoking German
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Cast
- Jack NanceHenry Spencer
- Charlotte StewartMary X
- Allen JosephMr. X
- Jeanne BatesMrs. X
- Judith RobertsBeautiful Girl Across the Hall
- Laurel NearLady in the Radiator
- Jack FiskMan in the Planet
- Jean LangeGrandmother
- Thomas CoulsonThe Boy
- John MonezBum
Crew
- David LynchDirector
- David LynchScreenplay
- Herbert CardwellDirector of Photography
- Frederick ElmesDirector of Photography
- David LynchOriginal Music Composer
- Peter IversOriginal Music Composer
- David LynchEditor
- David LynchProducer
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Pairings
Companions we picked from the closest works, and how to take them.
Similar in taste
Closest on the same fourteen dimensions, from everything scored on Curator Co. Other media included when they land close.
The Zone of Interest 202367% alikeBoth grave, contemplative, prestige.
The Lighthouse 201962% alikeBoth bleak, intimate, overwhelming.
Meek's Cutoff 201160% alikeBoth grave, earnest, contemplative.
Pink Floyd: The Wall 198258% alikeBoth character-led, earnest, overwhelming.
Shirley 202058% alikeBoth grave, earnest, prestige.
Antichrist 200957% alikeBoth bleak, grave, overwhelming; this one is more contemporary.
Johnny Got His Gun 197157% alikeBoth grave, earnest, overwhelming; this one is more raw.
Blonde 202256% alikeBoth grave, overwhelming, bleak; this one is more epic.
Beloved 198760% alikeBook · Both earnest, grave, overwhelming.
Serial Experiments Lain 199856% alikeSeries · Both grave, earnest, contemplative.
Often watched with
Recommendations from TMDB. Opening one adds it to Curator Co.
