Crocker Jarmen

First public screening of Lynch's Eraserhead supposedly took place at an LA film festival on March 19th 1977 for an audience of approximately twenty-five people.

I first saw Eraserhead when I was in Grade 8. The local art gallery was having a screening. This was during the time of Twin Peaks so my father and I were eager to check it out. The art gallery didn't have a proper theatre; it was just a large room with plastic chairs. There wasn't even a projector booth, they just had the 16MM sitting at the back of the room, so its loud clanking and the sputtering of the film going through the gate was audible the entire screening. There would be a white screen and a pause with each reel change.

The primitive screening set-up only enhanced my viewing experience. I remember being absorbed completely by the movie, I'd never seen anything like it. The high contrast black and white, the weird sense of humour where I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be laughing or not...

And that baby freaked the shit out of me. It was so pitiful looking, I was horrified by the thought, "What if that's a real thing? Some deformed animal." When there was the shock cut to the close-up of the baby's face with all the sores on it I just about lost my shit.

Obviously, the movie has stuck with me ever since. I keep my old VHS copy still. Would love to see a film print of this bizarre masterpiece again.

Mabuse

Having the projector in the room is an odd thing that Lynch probably would have liked.

kd5

I just recently picked this movie up at a flea market (Absurda release), I'd never seen it before but I'd been curious for many years. This has to be one of the most bizarre movies I'd seen in a long time, I don't know if I liked it or disliked it, it was that bizarre, like a shock to the senses. A reviewing is definitely in order although with as many DVDs/BDs as we have it will be awhile until we get back around to it.

mndtrp

I agree that your viewing experience probably would have enhanced the movie.

asianxcore

Back in July/August, I took someone I was dating to a Double Feature of Blue Velvet & Eraserhead at a local theater. Mostly because she told me she wanted to watch more David Lynch films.

We stopped seeing each other the day after

inri222

She's not the right one. When I first met my wife we went to see a midnight screening of Lost Highway and she loved it.

whotony

I thought this movie was garbage.

Last time I saw it was 2 decades ago but I feel like it's weird just to be weird and
not for the sake of art.

Supermallet

It's not garbage but I do think it's reputation overshadows the actual quality of the film. The imagery is potent but the pacing is glacial and it definitely feels like an art student project at times. Of Lynch's classics it's the one I watch the least, both because it is kind of a slog and also because the imagery stays with me so powerfully that I don't need to rewatch it often.