# I just rented "Eraserhead" \[UNBOXED SPOILERS\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2006, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-rented-eraserhead-unboxed-spoilers/345909 "2006-02-24T09:51:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-rented-eraserhead-unboxed-spoilers/345909/21 "2006-02-26T00:44:22Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > It _is_ the same director, right? Yep. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-rented-eraserhead-unboxed-spoilers/345909/22 "2006-02-26T07:30:16Z")
How could there be spoilers for Eraserhead? ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-rented-eraserhead-unboxed-spoilers/345909/23 "2006-02-26T21:06:10Z")
I saw it in the early 80’s in a cinema in Kilburn, north-west London (a block of flats now stands on the site of which) in a very late night double bill - it started at midnight - with [The Satan Bug](http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0059678/). OK, it was a trifle confusing - having seen it a few times since, I still don’t know what the hell it’s “about” - but I couldn’t help but marvel at the look and sound of it and the excellent performances, particularly by the baby… ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-rented-eraserhead-unboxed-spoilers/345909/24 "2006-02-27T04:29:29Z")
As a big fan of _Blue Velvet_, I first saw _Eraserhead_ at home as a rental. I was probably about 18 or 19. I had about the same reaction as the OP - awed befuddlement. Several years later I saw _Eraserhead_ again on a big screen. I still couldn’t tell you what it’s about, but I was much more impressed. Not only by the striking visuals, but the amazing things done with the sound - like the constant white noise. Very disturbing yet so compelling. I feel it’s a real landmark of cinema. David Lynch is one of those directors you can’t be ‘eh’ about. You either love or hate his stuff, and I’ve felt both ways for different works of his. Even within the terrific show _Twin Peaks_, the quality varied widely from episode to episode, but the ones Lynch directed were always great. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-rented-eraserhead-unboxed-spoilers/345909/25 "2006-02-27T04:47:08Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > How could there be spoilers for Eraserhead? If someone told what the baby is made of. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > It’s not his first film – he did some shorts first that were highly acclaimed, but which I’ve never seen. I’ve seen several of them and I have to wonder how much of the acclaim was drug-induced. There’s an excellent chapter on Lynch with the main focus on _Eraserhead_ in the book [Midnight Movies](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0306804336/qid=1141015173/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-2096200-0914506?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) (and I see there’s now an Eraserhead image on the cover). It covers his career up until _Elephant Man_ and IIRC mentions in a footnote his intention to film _Dune_. I have an old pirated copy of _Eraserhead_ around somewhere but I’ve never been able to watch it all the way through. Every time I start watching it I fall asleep, I think from some sort of hypnotic effect as opposed to tiredness or boredom. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-rented-eraserhead-unboxed-spoilers/345909/26 "2006-02-27T05:00:36Z")
_In Heaven_ is my favourite shower song. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-rented-eraserhead-unboxed-spoilers/345909/27 "2006-02-27T05:03:22Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > There’s an excellent chapter on Lynch with the main focus on _Eraserhead_ in the book [Midnight Movies](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0306804336/qid=1141015173/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-2096200-0914506?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) I. Love. This. Book. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-rented-eraserhead-unboxed-spoilers/345909/28 "2006-02-27T05:46:03Z")
The Pixies did a cover of the “Lady in the Radiator Song”; it’s on the album of outtakes and demos and such that was released as _The Pixies_. (I think it circulated for a while as a bootleg called “The Purple Album” before release?) It brings the word “sledgehammer” irresistibly to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-rented-eraserhead-unboxed-spoilers/345909/29 "2006-02-27T06:40:12Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > I. > > Love. > > This. > > Book. I had John Waters autograph my copy years ago. He’d never heard of it and had no idea he had a chapter. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-rented-eraserhead-unboxed-spoilers/345909/30 "2006-02-27T15:53:58Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > The Pixies did a cover of the “Lady in the Radiator Song”; it’s on the album of outtakes and demos and such that was released as _The Pixies_. (I think it circulated for a while as a bootleg called “The Purple Album” before release?) > > It brings the word “sledgehammer” irresistibly to mind. It’s just Pixies. No ‘the’ on band or album. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-rented-eraserhead-unboxed-spoilers/345909/31 "2006-02-27T16:31:36Z")
> [@labtrash](#): > > I just saw it for the first (and ONLY) time about 2 months ago. > > My reaction was “WTF did I just watch???” > > I did notice that I had heard some of the sound effects befiore (elevator, machinery) in videogames or creepy stuff online. I say that every time I watch this movie. But I’m gonna keep trying. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-rented-eraserhead-unboxed-spoilers/345909.md?page=1)