Vashirdfel
Simply A Masterpiece
SpuffyWeb
Sadly Over-hyped
Marva
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
groovy-vic
..Meaning that I can't conceptualize how one person on this entire earth can tolerate it, much less the fact that most people love it. I've never felt compelled to write a review until today because my opinion on a film has never been so polar opposite to the consensus; even when I hate a movie, I can usually see how it might appeal to others. I'm not going to tell you not to watch this movie, but I will break the style down a bit and you can decide from there. If you like films like Possession (1981) or Suspiria that are 'artsy' and where nothing that seems to contribute to any sort of coherent plot occurs until 15 minutes from the end, then you'll probably like this (Suspiria wasn't actually too bad compared to this movie though). The only difference with Eraserhead is that there is no plot at all and nothing significant happens at any point (except the mutant baby existing). I have an image in my mind of how the idea of this movie came about... *Watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre*
"Why did Tobe Hooper go through all the effort of making Leatherface kill people? He's ugly enough that it would still be a horror film if he just sat around crying all the time.. but I guess a couple freaky dream scenes should be added to trick people into thinking something is actually happening in the movie..." *lightbulb* I HAVE AN IDEA"....
.....I feel like this movie being called a horror film is insulting to real-life dysfigured people if you think about it, because there is no real danger in the movie, only an ugly baby. It's crazy this guy went on to direct The Elephant Man (which I haven't watched, but is supposedly sensitive with regards to the issue).I was reading an interview with the director David Lynch before I watched the film, and learned that when he first told the company he wanted to make Eraserhead, the script was only 21 minutes long.. Thus, he had to stretch it out. How did he do this? With long, drawn-out scenes where nothing of significance and no dialogue occurs, such as Henry looking at stuff or walking around. For example, the first 6-ish minutes consist of a slow zoom-in on a moon-looking planet. About 12 minutes in my dad asked if this movie has any dialogue at all, so I looked to see if there was any IMDB quotes. After watching the film, I'm convinced every line that occurred in Eraserhead has been documented by IMDB. Not much is said in the movie, and even less actually happens.I gave this a 2 instead of a 1 because I appreciate the visual style, such as the only view outside the windows being brick, which sets an ominous mood. Why can't movies have a stylish artsy flair but also have a coherent plot and move at a pace faster than a dead snail? It seems you can't have both.2/10 would not recommend (and 0/10 from my dad)
jimbokwright
This was one of the worst viewing experiences of my life. Awful and pretentious under the guise of somehow being highbrow art. David Lynch's Uber weird just for the sake of being weird. He has no intention of entertaining the audience so do not watch this film if that's what you are seeking.
SerDelon
I see a lot of critique on this film about it not really having a plot, fleshed out characters etc.. I think this kind of critique is misplaced when it comes to a movie like this, this is clearly not meant to be just a normal movie for a casual viewing... It's more of an avant-garde art project where the visuals, sound, atmosphere is the focus. And this is not really a weakness either, artsi-fartsiness is fine as long as it's effective and engaging and I think that's the case here.So yeah, expectations are the issue here, you have to watch this movie in the right mindset.
Asif Khan (asifahsankhan)
A young David slaved over this film for three years and even ended up sleeping in the same bed as Henry for over a year. All of it was worth it though. Even directing legend (and friend of Lynch), Stanley Kubrick loved the film and made the cast of his masterpiece, The Shining, watch Eraserhead to get in the right frame of mind.No one knows what the film is actually about, and no one ever will. Although, Lynch has said that in all these years he still hasn't heard the correct interpretation. There's no point trying to explain the plot, because that's something you have to figure out for yourself. The film is an utter dreams-cape which combines unsettling industrial sounds with startling, surrealist black and white photography. A man with groovy hair walks around a possible Dystopian future and encounters a series of strange events. One involves a moving tiny roast chicken which spurts some sort of liquid out and another involves a seriously creepy chipmunk lady who sings in a radiator and also stamps on sperm. Eraserhead is one hell of a trip, and it's a trip which thoroughly exhilarated me.
