Rewatch:
Eraserhead (1977, Lynch)
As I turn on Eraserhead my heart immediately starts thumping, I last watched this two years ago with a buddy of mine and was practically muted once it was done. For awhile I proclaimed it as my favorite movie (it's still close) and practically followed it as a religion. I believe subconsciously I was putting off this watch out of the pure terror I was in when I first watched it. This time it was far scarier, watching it alone, shivering from the opening moment. This is the greatest horror film ever created, since even the most regular moments terrify me. This is pure surrealism, the greatest accomplishment in David Lynch's filmography, and he has plenty of gems in there.
Every scene is memorable whether it's the chickens or the earser head it self. Like many of Lynch's works people spend time and energy figuring out what it all means. Apparently this is inspired by one line in the bible, but I doubt even Lynch knew what he was trying to say in some scenes. I'm almost positive this film has to do with the sexual revolution, though. Here are some of my many theories: the chicken scene represent the defloweration of a woman, the scary rashed up reapearing man is the baby grown up all mistreated, the woman of the dreams represents contraception as she squashes sperm cells. I have more ideas on what this all means but those are the main ones that I am stuck on.
Perhaps more important than Lynch was Jack Nance as Henry. He comes back in many later Lynch films like Blue Velvet and Lost Highway, but his centered performance here is unforgettable. He has an incredibly creepy vibe to him, he's a highly awkward man, but perhaps the most normal character. That is if you take out his mutualism. We really only see him upset once, when his neighbor brings back another man to her house. Which in my opinion is another representation of the sexual revolution, as it shows casual sex becoming the norm. Indeed even Henry was part of this trend, sleeping with Mary not thinking a baby was even possible. But the older generation still insists he marries her.
Each scene in this film seems like it happened hours ago once the next one starts playing. I don't know why I feel this way but it just feels like so much time elapsed between the scenes. The film is in no way elongated though, it's a film that I wouldn't care if it lasted twice the running time. But at the same time the 90 minutes was more than efficient, even though when the movie credits begin rolling, it feels as if I just sat down. This is a highly disturbing, metaphorical, and intense horror. It is the most frightening of works. The images stay I'm your head and the mood remains in your surroundings.
- An interesting take on Kubrick's classic, although some of the ideas (namely that Kubrick filmed the moon landing) are a little too flamboyant for my liking. It definitely makes me want to watch The Shining again, and I'm sure I will always look at it differently because of this.
- I've yet to see a good Zack Snyder film, and this one is no different. Boring action sequences and a lot of desperate messages on hope and optimism, which sort of makes the film hypocritical, considering we're being given death and destruction for entertainment purposes. 
- The follow-up to this film was so much better, which is probably why I didn't enjoy revisiting this.
- For all its notoriety, this masterpiece among masterpieces has never really received its due.
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