Eraserhead (1977)

Country of Origin: USA
Years of Production: 1972 - 1976
Running Times: 90m
Length:
Format: 35mm
Colour Format: black and white
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Sound: mono (original release)     Dolby (re-release)

DIRECTION

Director: David Lynch

CREW

PRODUCTION
Production Company: AFI
Producer: David Lynch
Production Manager: Doreen G. Small

SCRIPT
Script: David Lynch

PHOTOGRAPHY
Directors of Photography: Herbert Cardwell, Frederick Elmes
Assistant Camera: Catherine E. Coulson

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: David Lynch

MUSIC
Music: David Lynch; Fats Waller
Songs: Peter Ivers, David Lynch

SOUND
Location Sound and Re-Recording: Alan Splet
Sound Editor: Alan Splet
Sound Effects: Alan Splet, David Lynch
Soundtrack Restoration Re-Recording Mixer: John Neff

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Frederick Elmes, David Lynch

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: David Lynch

MISCELLANEOUS
Assistant To Director: Catherine E. Coulson
Crew: Dennis Nance, Anatol Pacanowsky, Carol Schreder, Jeanne Field, John Lynch, Michael Grody, Roger Lundy, Stephen Grody, Toby Keeler

LOCATIONS
Locations: American Film Institute, Center for Advanced Film Studies, Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles, California, USA

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special Thanks: Andre Guttfreund, Ken Fix, Antonio Vellani, David Khasky, David Lunney, Frank Daniel, George Stevens Jr, George T. Hutchison, Jack Fisk, Jim King, Margit Felligi Laszlo, Mars F. Baumgardt, Marvin Goodwin, Mary Fisk, Paul Leimbach, Peggy Lynch, Randy Hart, Richard Einfeld, Roman Harte, Ron Barth, Ron Culbertson, Sarah Pillsbury, Sidney P. Solow, Sissy Spacek

CAST

John Nance (real name: Jack Nance) (Henry Spencer)
Charlotte Stewart (Mary X)
Allen Joseph (Mr X)
Jeanne Bates (Mrs X)
Judith Anna Roberts (beautiful girl across the hall)
Laurel Near (lady in the radiator)
V. Phipps-Wilson (landlady)
Jack Fisk (man in the planet)
Jean Lange (grandmother)
Thomas Coulson (the boy)
John Monez (bum)
Darwin Joston (Paul)
Neil Moran (the boss)
Hal Landon Jr (pencil machine operator)
Brad Keeler (little boy)
Peggy Lynch, Doddie Keeler (people digging in the alley)
Gill Dennis (man with cigar)
Toby Keeler (man fighting)
Raymond Walsh (Mr Roundheels)
Jennifer Lynch (little girl)

PLOT SUMMARY

In a run-down industrial suburb, Henry Spencer lives in a crumbling, dingy apartment. The woman across the hall make clumsy passes at Henry who is already spoke for – he visits his girlfriend Mary and her family for a disturbing dinner (the chicken seems still to be alive) where he learns that he has fathered a mutant, mewling monstrosity. Seeking emotional solace, he takes comfort in the performances of the disfigured lady in the radiator. But for Henry, things are about to get even worse...

CAPSULE REVIEW

Lynch's classic theatrical debut still retains its dazzling power to bemuse, disgust, amaze and anger in just about equal measure. Chock full of bizarre, disturbing and dreamlike images, Eraserhead is quite unlike anything else you'll ever see, an unforgettable one-of-a-kind. It's not a film made for rational analysis – simply sit back, soak up the weirdness and submit yourself to Lynch's warped vision, surely the most singular and extreme in American cinema.

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Mainline Pictures
Video Distributor: PolyGram Video

USA
Video Distributor: Columbia TriStar Home Video
Theatrical Distributor: Libra Films International

Australia
Rating: M

Finland
Rating: K-14

Ireland
Rating: 18

Sweden
Rating: 15

UK
Rating: X; 18 (video rating 1986)

USA
Rating: unrated

1982
Fantasporto, Portugal
International Fantasy Film Award Best Film (David Lynch) - nominated

TIMELINE

1972
May
Day Unknown: USA - production begins

1976
October
Day Unknown: USA - production ends

1977
March
17: USA – theatrical release

1981
May
13: Spain – theatrical release

1993
July
2: Sweden – theatrical release

1994
February
25: Finland – theatrical release

July
8: Portugal – theatrical release

1996
July
Day Unknown: Korea – theatrical release

1998
June
28: UK - shown at the NFT, London (as part of the Stranger than Paradise season)
30: UK - shown at the NFT, London (as part of the Stranger than Paradise season)

2008
November
5: UK - shown at the BFI Southbank, London
7: UK - shown at the BFI Southbank, London

POSTER TAGS

In Heaven Everything Is Fine.

Warning: the nightmare has not gone away

ALTERNATIVE TITLES

Cabeza borradora – Spanish title
Eraserhead la mente che cancella – Italian title
Glowica scierjaca – Polish title
Labyrinth Man – French title
No Céu Tudo É Perfeito – Portugese title

LINKS

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
I Don't Know Jack (2002)
Visions of Light (1992)
Wonderland (1999)

REFERENCES

PERIODICALS

epd Film vol.10 no.10 (1 October 1993) pp.40-41 (Germany)
review (by Georg Seeßlen)

NEWSPAPERS

O Independente, Vida 8 July 1994 (Portugal)
review (by Fernando Caetano)

BOOKS

Cult Movies: the Classics, the Sleepers, the Weird and the Wonderful by Danny Peary (New York: Dell Publishing Company (1981))
review

Cult Movies: a Hundred Ways to Find the Reel Thing by Danny Peary (London: Vermilion (1982))
review

OTHER SOURCES

BFI National Film Theatre programme June 1998 p.16
illustrated listing

KEYWORDS

avant garde, babies, claustrophobia, deformity, depression, dissection, freaks, mutant babies, mutations, nightmares, steampunk, surrealism, worms

Last Updated: 14 March, 2010