Eraserhead

Rating:
Summary: a glorious nightmare
Review: thats the best way for me to describe this psychotic,highly disturbing masterpiece.my assuption is that mr lynch gathered up all his childhood nightmares and transformed them into celluoid.there is no way this can be remade as so many directors/studios are so deparately seeking.the originality level is too profound for todays flash in the pans.all gollywood is able to produce are mob heists gone wrong then right,scarry movies that dont scare anyone to such degrees parents are bringing their preteens along and quasi comedies...that after the commercial,the jokes are hard to find.not everyone will enjoy sitting through eraserhead.it is extremely bleak in plot(yes there IS one)there arent any rappers/models pushing their upcoming cd/mag,no product placements,in fact there isnt even color.its in black and grey and its soundtract is basically an omnimous mechanical hum.the set design is from my POV the aftermath of some war.very few survivers,and no one in a rush to find any.though a war is never discussed,no other event can create such a''society''.the central charactor is jack nance,he is an eraser maker for pencils.and this is his story.a day in the life sort of thing.but as i mentioned up top,im sure this a nightmare mr lynch tried to explain to himself.those who are fans of his/extreme off the wall films will take away/interpret this probably in another way.but the opinions of its brilliance will not alter.for non fans curious to see what the fuss is about will probably hate it.it isnt your run of the mill,TRL crowd,everything laid out and explained for viewer in the 1st 10 minutes movie.no one and i mean no one will be able to relate to this.but yet,thats what adds to its greatness.it stands the test of time.love it or hate it,you will never forget it.

Rating:
Summary: In Heaven... Everyone looks funny
Review: I'm reviewing the new DVD of Eraserhead (now that it's available via David Lynch's Web site). I first saw this film about 20 years ago and couldn't figure it out-- but I thought it was amazing in the way it could conjure up a parallel universe.

Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) is a regular guy forced to live in a rotten industrial neighborhood. His wife is tired of their baby's constant crying and goes home, leaving Henry to do the right thing. He dallies with the Beautiful Woman Across The Hall, but The Baby frightens her off. Finally Henry cuts the bandages off the Baby's body and finds out that the Baby can't be physically alive. The Baby is basically a glob of organs wrapped in bandages; Henry pokes at them and they spew stuff that looks like egg yolks. The Baby dies in agony (or ecstasy?) and Henry's world collapses around him... but he ends up in the arms of the Lady In The Radiator, who has been singing songs about Heaven to him all this time.

That's basically the story. If you've seen movies like "Mulholland Dr." and "Lost Highway", you'll get some idea of the weirdness involved here. David Lynch is not interested here in telling a story; he wants to explore ideas and create a mood-- so if you're looking for a traditional story line the synopsis above is about as close as you're going to get. It's a mood piece based on Lynch's experiences as a new father in a bad part of Philadelphia, if that's any help. But to ask what Lynch's more abstract movies are about is like asking what Bach's Brandenberg concertos or Brian Eno's 'ambient music" are about. Charlie Chaplin once observed that if you exaggerate any human hardship enough it becomes funny. Don't be afraid to laugh; "Eraserhead" is a comedy in the classical tradition.

The DVD itself is almost too well-packaged (it's hard to open); it comes in a box that could hold a stack of 45s, wrapped in a tight-fitting sleeve. But the transfer is very good (the widescreen format helps provide information that sets the tone of the film), and there is a feature-length video ("Stories") in which Lynch talks about the making (but not the meaning) of "Eraserhead". He also calls up Catherine Coulson (Jack Nance's first wife, who worked on "Eraserhead" and played the Log Lady in "Twin Peaks") and yaks with her on a speaker phone. "Stories" seems to have a greenish tint that comes and goes; I don't know if it's a video artifact or if it was put there on purpose ("Stories" is in black-and-white)-- but the effect doesn't appear in "Eraserhead". I've heard that there's an Easter egg on the disk (it supposedly allows you to access extra footage on Lynch's Web site), but I haven't found it.

If you're a big Lynch fan, or if you just want to know what he's all about (and he's an engaging storyteller), you'll really enjoy this version of "Eraserhead". If you've heard about the movie but have never seen it, this is a much better copy than anything previously released. There is no extra footage (the 'director's cut' WAS the final release, as Lynch points out), but the picture and sound quality are fantastic-- the DVD even includes a section that allows you to adjust your TV for the best picture quality. As to WHAT you'll see once you have your TV adjusted properly-- well, that's for you to figure out.

Rating:
Summary: New Dvd available
Review: The new dvd is available only from davidlynch.com. The film has been cleaned frame by frame. It was originally slated for year 2000 release but delayed for technical reasons. David Lynch doesn't record audio commentary for any of his dvds. This special release has Lynch describing the making of this movie in a small documentary....beautiful transfer...digitally remastered...the soundtrack (also restored) is also available on the website too.

Rating:
Summary: GO TO DAVID LYNCH
Review: "Eraserhead" is the sickest, scariest, most depressing, bleak and funny movie ever made. (Check out the foreign release dates! Five more years for UK release!)

I've been waiting for this since DVD's were first made; it's obvious Lynch had trouble getting it done. The box is labeled "2000" despite it's 2003 release. But the booklet & special features are excellent, as well as the packaging.

Rating:
Summary: Truly a Top Ten Cult Classic...
Review: I saw this movie when it was first released. When it came out, it was only shown in three cities from my understanding - NYC, Los Angeles, and Ann Arbor, MI near where I live. I read the description in the Ann Arbor Film Co Op Guide ( I used to travel from Plymouth to A Squared every week back then while a teen to see the coolest foreign non-Hollywood films with encouragement from my HS teacher who taught Approaching the Arts), and the description said, "...a coherent plot description is useless...". I knew I had to see it. It is the most bizarre, weird, strange, wild film I have ever seen. I loved it then, and love it today.

It's my understanding that this was his senior project while attending Film School in NY. He went on to direct Dune and create twin peaks.

My only wish is that this film be available in DVD on amazon.com.

This film will be known as one of the top ten cult classics of all time, IMHO. - Student B.

Rating:
Summary: The greatest independant film ever made...ON DVD!
Review: Well, you've probably heard about "Eraserhead" FINALLY on DVD in a transfer that is too good to be true. And it IS true. Packaged beautifully in a 8" x 8" box with a nice 20 page booklet (quite big, actually), I don't believe I've seen a cleaner-looking picture on DVD.

The first time I saw this movie was in the summer of 2002. I had maxed my cable modem gigs for that month, then when I found it on DivX to download for the first time, I'd wait weeks just to have that download finish (the highest that it was downloading: 1.5 kbps, when it WAS downloading). One week later--the hottest day of that year--the download finally completed. The transfer? Oh my God..."transfer". [Laughs] That's a good one. I sat there for an hour and a half, and I probably had seen half of the movie...basically because the picture was MUDDY (and completely black in some scenes), AT BEST! Irremovable French subtitles took up half the screen, the audio lagged behind every now and then, and to say the least, the sound was under pillows with scratches, hiss, crackle, and pop...all enough to even have those rice crispies guys in full blush. Nonetheless to say, I was half-satisfied...but after seeing the film for the first time, who, in the right state of mind, WOULD be fully satisfied with THAT?!

Then after a few days of mind-numbing research, I found it on DVD in the ONLY place available within a reasonable price (I'm sure you've seen some ridiculous prices people charge for VHS copies on eBay). Of course I needed a credit card to purchase it, which I didn't have. But FINALLY I got one, and after my purchase about a month ago off of davidlynch.com, I am EXTREMELY satisfied (mind you, I live in Canada, so paying in USD on my VISA didn't look too pretty to say the least)!

And the DVD? Well, the main menu for the film has a really unsettling scene for a background, in which Henry is tugging at the leash of a dead cat (or a dog?) on the ground with his foot...with no facial expression to mark the meaning. The theatrical trailer (being my favorite DVD feature out of any) is creepy at best, sending a chill of curiousity through your body. And finally, a very informative brand new hour-and-a-half special featurette called, "Stories", in which David Lynch talks about everything that has to do with "Eraserhead", answering any of those questions that might have plagued fans about the film (sorry, he still doesn't say ANYTHING about the creation of Henry's child). And as for the film's treansfer itself...well, for such a rich price of $.. USD (not including shipping), I'll only say this: I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW MUCH OF THE MOVIE I MISSED...and besides, with the original 1.85:1 transfer FULLY supervised by the master himself, how could you go wrong?! All in all, this is the BEST DVD PURCHASE I have ever made.

So, to anyone who isn't quite sure of purchasing David Lynch's new DVD version:
- "Do I just cut 'em up like regular chickens?"
- "That's right, just cut 'em up like regular chickens."

Rating:
Summary: the long awaited release of Eraserhead on DVD
Review: I just purchased the new DVD release of Eraserhead from the David Lynch website and I am happy to report that it is superb!!!
The extras include a story as told by David Lynch himself about the making of the film. Priceless!!! The quality is as I have reported!!! Yes I know that the film is dark, disturbing and like a dream that you would not like to have but as a cinematic work of ART it is excellent!!! It is a collectable for the collector. I am severely pleased that this "new" DVD release was very well done. I hope that it is released soon to the general public so that they might experience Eraserhead in a format that is "as good as it gets!". Thank You David Lynch for a job well done!

Rating:
Summary: Now Available
Review: This great work of experimental cinema is now available in the US only through [a website.] This is a painstakingly remastered version of the film.

Rating:
Summary: Straight to the subconcious
Review: My first exposure to this unique and nightmarish film was on cable in the early eighties, surrounded by people who were too busy partying to take notice. I sat glued to the screen in what might as well have been an empty house. You could spend hours trying to analyze this movie, but in the process you would miss the whole point (understandably, many people do.) Lynch really took a knife and fork to our most visceral impulses here, dealing with a cinematic language informed by those memories formed before the mastery of speech has had an opportunity to suppress other senses. Hideously beautiful - or beautifully hideous, rich in an aural and visual language that must be recaptured in order to thoroughly experience this film. A masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: Haunting
Review: This is a must-have David Lynch cult classic. It's a bizarre, even nonsensical story about man, his alien baby, and the lady in their radiator set across a neo-industrial wasteland and with gritty, gothic cinematography. One of the eeriest and strangest movies ever made.