David Lynch’s feature-length debut, Eraserhead, is a fantasy-horror about a man named Henry Spencer who endures a twisted home life, and bizarre hallucinogenic encounters.
Henry’s surroundings are heavily industrial, with constant, droning factory noises and loud, hissing machinery; the bludgeoning sound is inescapable from his tiny, squalid apartment. While this noise creates a suffocating atmosphere, Henry’s blossoming relationship with his girlfriend Mary X, turns sour after she prematurely gives birth to a mutant child that never stops crying. The additional cacophony is too much for Mary to bear, who leaves the child with Henry, in order for her to get some sleep. The mutant child quickly turns ill under Henry’s care, who tries his best to help the situation, but ends up journeying on wild and weird dream-like meetings with strange characters.
The surrealist nature of Lynch’s vision is most evident in this film. Eraserhead is largely experimental, drawing upon some of the European influences in cinema of that time, and before. The film made a name for itself on the midnight horror circuit in the United States, becoming a cult classic for fans of the genre. Initial critical reaction to the film was largely negative, many critics slammed Lynch's diabolical techniques and his penchant for the graphically disturbing. It was not until later years, once the cinematic world had become accustomed to Lynch's methods, that a renewed appreciating began for the film, and people could see what he was trying to achieve, and where his later themes/style originated from.
Quite uncomfortable throughout, Eraserhead offers no rest bite for viewers, creating an atmosphere of unrelenting exhaustion. Henry's character is vivid and intriguing, becoming a sympathetic figure during the crushing pressure of his experience, but the unreality of his world makes him seem like a dream fragment, just as much as the mutant baby, or the "woman inside the radiator". There is a kind of hopelessness about the story, and the conclusion can seem quite unfulfilling. This being said, the film does raise some of the anxieties of adulthood in a dramatic and compelling way: the aforementioned exhausting atmosphere reflects the tumultuous time in Henry’s life, and his recurring visions of strange, foetus-like creatures is an obvious link to his insecurities about fatherhood.
Lynch's original music during the film is another factor that expertly adds to the discomfort for viewers. Many have praised Lynch for his work in sound technology, but for those of you taking on his work for the first time, the experience could be shocking, and ultimately un-enjoyable. Like many of his films, Eraserhead deserves a couple of views - once you have acclimatised to the environment, you can witness some of the genius direction which is occurring in the mise-en-scéne.
The best filmmakers try to raise the bar, and it seems with Eraserhead, Lynch had a clear objective to try and offer something new to the horror genre, and the film transcends the boundaries, becoming an enlarged social commentary, rather than a freaky thrill. Whilst honourable in his intentions, the film is not the best example of his work, but rather a platform in order for others to understand his later pieces more comprehensively.
