" a dream of dark and troubling things . " -- david lynchthere are those who say " eraserhead " makes little sense , and then there are those who say that " eraserhead " isn't supposed to make sense . i'm with the second camp : if " eraserhead " made any sense at all , it wouldn't be nearly as interesting . " eraserhead " is allegedly a horror movie , but i put it instead on that small shelf of films that abandon all pretense at being entertainment and just give you an experience : " begotten " , " the reflecting skin " and alejandro jodorowsky's head-trips ( " el topo " , " the magic mountain " ) are close cousins in spirit to this film . there is a story , sort of . henry spencer ( lynch regular john nance ) is a nerdish , creepy-looking man living in a squalid little apartment . he's accidentally impregnated his girlfriend , and the baby turns out to be a vile little creature that looks something like e . t . after thalidomide . the news about the pregnancy , by the way , comes out during a dinner where the main course consists of chickens the size of one's fist that still move and spurt blood when sliced into . there's also a strangely deformed woman who seems to live in henry's radiator . . . and by this point you're either shaking your head in dismay or wondering where to find the movie . i guess that means i've done my job . " eraserhead " needs to be seen on the big screen to work properly . on tv , the black-on-black photography -- this is the single darkest movie ever made , and i don't just mean in terms of subject matter ! -- reproduces very poorly . also , on tv , the black and white images don't saturate the senses the way they do in a theater . there's also the most creative use of sound in almost any movie i've ever seen : not a single scene in the film is silent . there's always something rumbling , hissing , clattering , bubbling , booming away in either the background or the next room over , and it has the same effect on the audience's nerves as a dentist's drill . before david lynch started screwing with america's mind via " blue velvet " and " twin peaks " , he spent five years , on and off , making " eraserhead " . it shows . there is a level of obsessive care in every frame of this film that many movies costing hundreds of times more don't show at all . people may wonder : if this thing's so weird and so repulsive , why did i give it three and a half stars ? because it dares to be different and succeeds . i don't automatically reward every movie that's " experimental " with a positive review , but they sure deserve the benefit of the doubt . -----------== posted via deja news , the discussion network ==---------- <a href= " http : //www . dejanews . com/ " >http : //www . dejanews . com/</a> search , read , discuss , or start your own 
