Every David Lynch Film RANKED From Worst To Best

Lynch's debut was a staple of midnight movie screenings and remains one of cinema's most surreal horror films.

Written, directed, produced, edited, and with score and sound design all by Lynch, this low-budget experimental work essentially presents a nightmare, one in which a man (Jack Nance) is left to care for a peculiar, almost alien baby in a desolate industrial landscape. From dancing and bleeding poussin chickens to the woman in the radiator stamping sperm-like flesh deposits to the titular sequence in which the man's head is taken to a factory and turned into eraser heads for pencils, there's no shortage of striking and disturbing imagery in the film.

Surprising, however, is how cohesive the film feels despite its narrative disruptions and surrealistic segues. Eraserhead is a complete cinematic experience and one you are unlikely to forget. Perhaps the finest praise Lynch could have hoped for came when he heard that not only was legendary auteur Stanley Kubrick reportedly showing the film to the cast and crew of The Shining to get them in the right mood, but that Kubrick told Lynch directly that Eraserhead was his favourite film. It's hard to ignore the praise of such a filmmaker.