Eraserhead Forum

Eraserhead

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I just went through the experience of Eraserhead for the first time. Now, for my film class I must compare Eraserhead to one of Lynch's more recent films ( in terms of narrative structures, visual styles and overall themes) such as Blue Velvet or Mulholland Drive. Does anyone have any suggestions how I ought to approach this? I am perplexed by whether I should have faith in what I personally percieved in the films or what I should have seen...will any one give me some pointers? Thank you if you do.....

>>By perpetualend (Saturday, 2 Nov 2002 23:43)

My vote goes for having faith in yourself. I have only seen Mulholland Drive and it's been one of the best movies I have ever seen. If you compare it to Eraserhead, let us read it !

>>By Doug (Saturday, 2 Nov 2002 23:58)

Eraserhead directed by David Lynch(as a college project)can best be described someone once said as "a filmed nightmare." My only fault with it is that it is not in color(I hate b&w films/tv shows)although, I suppose, this does contribute to its stark atmosphere. Plus I think the Lady in the Refrigerator segment misses the target. Beyond those two minor glitches, the film belongs in the annals as the finest horror movie ever made. The funny thing is, director Lynch's artistic career seems to have gone downhill from there. An idea for another Lynchian coup: a film based on the works of sci fi author Cordwainer Smith featuring soundtrack music by Don Van(Captain Beefheart)Vliet!

>>By The Bobocaster Fairlane, OK? (Monday, 11 Nov 2002 02:43)

Eraserhead has to be one of the finest, freakiest movies that I have ever seen in my life. It is also the hardest to find for purchase! Go to www.davidlynch.com for detailed info on when the film will be released on DVD. Anyways, this definitley was like watching a filmed nightmare. Lynch's use of atmosphere, sound effects, and bizarre imagery create an unnerving feeling in the viewer that is almost unbearable. You never know what is going to happen next. Ever since I saw this film, I have viewed other David Lynch films including Mulholland Dr., Blue Velvet, and Lost Highway. They were all equally weird and disturbing. David Lynch apparently loves his dream logic and sticks to it heavilly. I love his films, though. They force you to use something that people rarely even consider useful when it comes to film: YOUR BRAIN.

>>By Adam (Rink) (Monday, 27 Jan 2003 07:55)

I luvd eraysurhed becaz it waz aboyt eraysurs. I lik eraysurs.

>>By :) (Monday, 27 Jan 2003 07:58)

I like movie the eraserhead. it was good film. i like watching movie eating fry rice. soy sauce is good on this movie. if you like chinese food then i would watch movie eating. eraserhead scare me up my food was coming up. it is movie watching food. i like crab with the eraserhead movie. it is dream. movie is dream. lynch eat chinese watching film. thats why his movie so strange. because he had bad crab. the chinese lynch eating movie. rent if can find. hard to find in country. fry rice good while watching. bye this wan chang going.

>>By Wan Chang (Monday, 27 Jan 2003 08:02)

Dearest Eraserhead,

If you are out there, please read this. My name is Sally. I am a hairdresser in Florida. You are in dire need of a hair cut. Your hair almost made me faint when I saw it. Plus, you need some vitamins. Then maybe your life wouldn't be so weird. Anyways, you need a haircut, baby. I can give you a bikini wax, and shave your testicles. I bet they are as hairy as that head a hair you got theyyur! Please, honey, call me as soon as possible, at 1-809-544-8794. YOU NEED HELP BABE!

>>By Sally Hairdresser **URGENT** (Monday, 27 Jan 2003 08:07)

One more thing be that lynch got crab and clap. he have much sex too many with girls.

>>By Wan Chang (Monday, 27 Jan 2003 08:10)

Perpetulend, Have faith in yourself. I saw Eraserhead when it first came out. I'm not going to give an opinion because I think you should trust yours. I still haven't figured out how he created that mutant baby, though. If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

>>By redcatdave (Monday, 27 Jan 2003 08:58)

you watch Mulholland Drive, yes? Movie also eating. Eating watching movie fun so you know what happen. movie very confuse so you need crab to help think. it a dream. movie dream. all lynch movie is dream. the black box is dream. little people in door is nightmare. man in behind resteraunt nightmare. girl is really the other girl. the acting girl with yellow in hair. she have sex with girl. she make horny. lynch horny. lynch eat horny crab.

>>By Wan Chang (Tuesday, 28 Jan 2003 22:48)

Like the other reviewer said, you should trust your own opinion, but I hope you do well with whatever you are trying to find out. Lynch's films are wonderful and we all need to see them. I love the way he sees life. Good luck!

>>By Katie (Tuesday, 28 Jan 2003 22:51)

Obviously, Wan Chang needs to go back to China. He has no idea about Lynch, or his films. Just an ignorant Chinese man trying to make it in America. Please ignore his ignorant comments. He is probably drunk all the time, and probably beats his children and wife. He probably lives off a welfare check. He sure does sound like it. Abusive chinese bastard.

>>By Childers (Tuesday, 28 Jan 2003 22:54)

WOW, did this conversation get off track or what? STAY ON THE SUBJECT. THIS ISN'T A CHAT ROOM.

>>By Steven (Tuesday, 28 Jan 2003 22:56)

Eraserhead=Life.

He had a child, an easy way to become immortal and become accepted in the world. The child attacking are children rebelling aginst their parents. The look of the child and of Eraserhead: not perfect.

Eraserhead=real state of reality
Real state of Reality=Hell
Hell is Life.
Lesson Done.

>>By Dreamer (Saturday, 1 Mar 2003 16:35)

The movie is about a murder-suicide

>>By Nick (Friday, 21 Mar 2003 21:53)

Erase-her-head

>>By Nick (Friday, 21 Mar 2003 21:54)

I really liked this movie. It was so sweet, and made me cry.

>>By Tohmas (Friday, 28 Mar 2003 16:34)

murders his wife and commits suicide at the end. the movie takes place in his won head - the confusion and the guilt, He reflects on the murder and has a christian dream of forgiveness for his sin but in the end he does himself in. Lost highway was a remake of this (Friday, 28 Mar 2003 21:36)

I didn't really understand this movie. I laughed at a few points, other than that, I thought it was almost a waste of time. Thats why I came here, to find the hidden meaning of the movie.

Then I realized that Lynch also created Mulholland Drive and I didn't really understand that movie either. I do agree, they both are in a dream like state.

>>By gomersrocket (Thursday, 8 May 2003 08:17)

"Eraserhead" is Lynch's fairy tale guide to salvation from the urban Hell. Henry Spencer is a kind of innocent with angelic qualities and so is the Lady in his radiator. But the grimy Man in the Planet disrupts Henry's tranquil existence and dispatches him on a diabolic errand, infecting him with original sin, which Henry conceives in the form of a serpent-like baby. Henry's world is gloomy, loveless, and filled with terror, and dominated by the dehumanized process of mass production. Henry's head, a symbol of his soul, identity, or free will, detached and brought to a pencil factory, in a prophetic dream, is being manipulated by the sinister Man in the Planet to destroy humanity. Part of this scheme is to inflict suffering on women and blame for the misfortunes of humanity. But Henry finds a way by his marvelous Lady who sings about Heaven and inspires him to overcome the Man in the Planet.

>>By Wan Chang (Thursday, 8 May 2003 08:22)

son of betch.

>>By Wan Chang (Tuesday, 13 May 2003 00:54)

This movie is awesome. I'd reccomend eating crab while watching it.

>>By Wan Chang (Monday, 23 Jun 2003 07:46)

The man in the planet IS Henry. He pulls the levers of thought and his plan to murder his wife is hatched. Henry was an affair with the lady next door and decides to kill his wife. The constant staring in the radiator is Henry's contemplation of his life and his lot . He thinks of suicide because of this terrible life and cheating on his wife. He kills his wife and dreams of the radiator lady who is really "death". The worms that fall from the ceiling are all of his sins that Death will stamp out (she stamps them out on the stage - "In heaven everything is alright"). Finally Henry dreams of an all embracing love with the lady next door. He can't do it and finally commits suicide. The monster that he takes care of is his sin of murder. He nutures it and cares for it but hates it and tries to eradicate it. That scene is his suicide.

>>By Nick (Friday, 25 Jul 2003 06:36)

Eraserhead and Lost HIghway both have the same story. I recommend eating pollock while watching

>>By Nickster (Friday, 25 Jul 2003 06:44)

Hm, never really thought that Henry had killed his wife. I can see that it may've happened. The only scene that I don't really see as to how it fits in is the actual sceen involving Henry's head being turned into penicl erasers....

As for Lost Highway being a remake: No. There's not really much more to say on the matter. Similar themes, but nothing more. And it's a damn shame that people would skip over this because it's black and white....

>>By Firmament (Sunday, 27 Jul 2003 02:32)

The head turned eraser is quite simply Henry being erased. Not much more to say there other than the imagery of erasing a life.

As for Lost Highway - you are right that it's not the exact remake but the story is the same. It's a murder-suicide from the view point of the main character. The entire story takes place in the protagonists'n head (sorry I can;t remember his name). Time is wraped because we go inside his head. The beginning is the end and the end is the beginning. The change of identity is his denial of the fact that he killed his wife.

>>By NIck (Sunday, 27 Jul 2003 05:50)

after watching the movie for like 3 times, it still iz difficult to have a certainty on what the movie`s about. personnaly i think that lynch waz talkin` about the original sin which iz portrayed in the tree when his head is cut and the one found in the corridor and the one next to his bed. the reason beyond these several trees is that wee are living the original sin everyday trying to erase it. but the problem iz dat we we are born having one sin and we die wiz zillions, through the course of da movie henry commits lots of sins like when betraying his wife wiz his neighbor woman and when he kills the baby. the man in the planet is tghe one controlling the evrything that we do bad ,like in many of lynch`s movies. in lynch`s movies we can see wierd situations as well as characters this iz due to the fact that every human being in his complex thinking is weird. also in ereser head the story takes place on planet portrays that every human being iz from a different planet.

>>By komosovoski (Sunday, 29 Feb 2004 22:41)

ERASERHEAD's all about traditions, ours versus "God's". Marriage and chickens and things are all our made-up traditions. I'm very glad Steve made me see it some years ago.

Anyway, NICK is a big flirt. In our high school, like in the yard, or the steps we'd mess with eachother. Y'all e-mail me now.

>>By DavidsEggSaladSandwich (Sunday, 26 Feb 2006 10:33)

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