Have you seen?: Eraserhead

Horror movies traditionally follow a rather simple pattern, where there is a clear and obvious threat that must be fought or escaped in order for the characters to save themselves or others from a terrible fate. David Lynch’s Eraserhead however takes a very different approach, by instead bringing the audience into a stunning and utterly bewildering black and white nightmare of madness and insanity. The result is perhaps the most terrifying piece of horror cinema ever conceived.

The basic plot may seem rather simple - it follows Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) who is made to take care of a strange and malformed child that may or may not be his, what results is a series of very strange and disturbing events. What makes the film so terrifying is that throughout we are continuously bombarded by strange and utterly surreal visuals (not least some maddeningly disturbing encounters, such as when he eats what has to be the most bizarre and disturbing chicken in all of cinema). Strange figures dominate the film, like the Man in the Planet who seems to somehow pull the levers that control the protagonist's life, while perhaps the most disquieting of them all is the mysterious Lady in the Radiator who sings that “in heaven everything is fine”, when of course in Henry’s life it couldn’t be further from the truth.

To anyone that hasn’t seen the film this may all sound utterly bizarre and incomprehensible, and indeed to a large extent the film is. David Lynch has never revealed what the film is actually about, the most common theory being that it was about his own fear of fatherhood (a claim he has denied). What the film does do is reach down and somehow manage to connect with all our most primal and buried fears of isolation, impotence, madness, despair and an inability to tell reality from fantasy. To achieve this, Lynch used a stunning mixture throughout of incredible visuals beautifully shot with simply stunning black and white cinematography, creating an effect unlike almost anything in any other film (except perhaps Darren Aronofsky’s mysterious PI). As for the creature at the centre of the piece, Lynch refuses to explain how it was created, although according to legend it is a preserved calf foetus animated from within. The most terrifying aspect of the film is Alan Splet’s simply phenomenal sound design which enhances dramatically the sense of unbridled terror and confusion, with a bizarre mixture of sounds that help create the perfect atmosphere.

Eraserhead is a quintessential cult film, and for many it is one of the most shocking and disturbing films ever made. Admittedly, however, it is not for everyone and there are many who are simply left perplexed by the strange and peculiar dark vision that unfolds before them. Yet for many others the inability to understand strengthens the film, with our uncertainty only adding to the nightmare.

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