4. The Elephant Man (1980)
After working on the underground wheel, his follow up to the insane Eraserhead could not be further removed from what was expected from Lynch. His first and one of only two forays into the Hollywood machine resulted in The Elephant Man. A film that tells the true to life tale of John Merrick, a hideously afflicted Victorian man in London who is saved from a life of misery in a freak show by Dr. Hannibal Lector, sorry, I mean Anthony Hopkins. Underneath his aesthetic lies a sensitive and sensitive man, a man who is forever tortured for what he looks like and not what the loving, sweet nature he harbours inside. The most affecting moment is when he is pursued in a train station, a victim of mistakenly knocking down a child, he is cornered by commuters in a dank toilet. The world famous line uttered by the totally unrecognisable John Hurt sums up the entire film, and indeed, the whole backbone to its morality: "I am not an animal, I am a human being! I...am...a...man!" The film is shot in black and white, instantly depressing and not much like anything Lynch has done since. It has a few moments that knock the door of oddness, but overall It is an incredibly moving watch, something that you would not expect from Mr. Lynch. Save this one until last and it may just change your whole perception of his work.
The Severed Ear Scale of Madness: 1/5