Eraserhead

2 Guys And A Chainsaw - A Horror Movie Review Podcast

Вміст надано Todd Kuhns and Craig Higgins. Весь вміст подкастів, включаючи епізоди, графіку та описи подкастів, завантажується та надається безпосередньо компанією Todd Kuhns and Craig Higgins або його партнером по платформі подкастів. Якщо ви вважаєте, що хтось використовує ваш захищений авторським правом твір без вашого дозволу, ви можете виконати процедуру, описану тут https://uk.player.fm/legal.

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In this episode of Two Guys in a Chainsaw, we’re already diving into our second tribute episode of 2025, dedicated to the influential and controversial filmmaker David Lynch, who passed away in 2025.

And what better choice do we have than Lynch’s surreal horror film ‘Eraserhead’? It’s his first full-length film, released in 1977. We discuss its impact, complex narrative, and unique style. We do our best to explore the film’s surrealist elements, its unsettling soundscape, and its enigmatic nature.

We also chat a bit about Lynch’s story, his filmmaking philosophy, and his influence on other directors and the cinematic landscape. Enjoy!

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Automatic Transcript

Eraserhead (1977)

Episode 425, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw Horror Movie Review Podcast

Todd: Hello and welcome to another episode of Two Guys and a Chainsaw. I’m Todd.

Craig: And I’m Craig.

Todd: Well, man, kind of right on the heels of another tribute episode, we just decided we had to dive in and do our, our first tribute episode of 2025. Paying tribute to a person who died in 2025. How’s that? Does that work? Okay,

Craig: uh, you almost lost me, but you got me back at the end. Yeah, a little convoluted.

Todd: David Lynch died last week and we just were in a position to be able to jump right in and do a tribute episode for him. Icon of the cinema. Definitely a controversial and well respected artist. His works will definitely be talked about for years to come. And one of his works that is, uh, talked about obsessively, and has been as long as I’ve been interested in movies, is Eraserhead.

And it is probably the most horror, I suppose, of the movies that he’s done. If you go to IMDb, it’s listed as like 10 different things, you know? It’s, it’s, it’s listed as horror, sci fi, body horror, yadda yadda. Above all, I would say it’s, it’s a surrealist.

Craig: Yeah. For sure. It’s,

Todd: uh, it’s artsy. It’s definitely got enough horror elements in there that we Thankfully can give us enough of an excuse for us to talk about David Lynch and his career and try to I don’t know I don’t know if we’re gonna be I’ve almost said try to pick apart this movie Yeah it seems pointless to try to pick apart this movie and not because

Craig: right see I’ve I have been aware of this movie and Familiar with what it is, and I know who David Lynch is but it’s never appealed to me I’ve never thought, Oh, I need to see that.

So this is my first time with it. I’ve seen it once like yesterday. I’m a little nervous because I feel like there are probably people out there who have watched it a bazillion times and who have given it so much thought and the things that I’m going to say are probably going to sound really stupid and ignorant because.

I’ve only seen it the one time, you know what I mean? Like I just, I cannot, this, this seems like the kind of movie, and I mean this in a very complimentary way, that people are going to have thoughts about and that people are going to interpret in a multitude of ways. So if you’re listening and you’re a big fan, just be aware that I am just scratching the surface.

So I’ll, I’ll probably misinterpret things and not understand things that may be entirely obvious. But like you said, first and foremost, it’s surreal. I mean, it reminds me of a lot of things. It reminds me of older movies. Like it reminds me of silent movies from the thirties. But as I was watching it, I kept thinking, God, this is so Kafka esque.

Like I do the metamorphosis with my kids and I’m like, it’s. Reminds me so much of Kafka and then of course later. I read that that was one of his Inspirations not just Kafka, but specifically that story and I see it that that surreal Nature. Yeah, and I don’t know like Kafka in general is also I don’t want to say obtuse But like the meaning it’s not bold on its face Face like, right.

I don’t know. It’s so surreal. That’s like, I don’t know, maybe I just don’t get it. Like the metamorphosis specifically, that’s kind of a broad allegory that you can apply to a lot of things, but a lot of his other stuff is just weird. It’s just really weird. And I have no idea what it was intended to be.

And that’s kind of how I feel about this. Like I watched it and I really appreciated the cinematography. Like I, I get why people talk about it. It’s weird. I don’t know that I get it.

Todd: Well, I think David Lynch would be fine with you saying that. He famously refused to explain anything about his movies. And pretty much all of his movies are, well, I don’t know if any of them are quite as surreal as this.

But they have elements of surrealism, they have elements of magical realism, they have nonsense. They’re, they’re hard to pin down. They’re not straightforward and sometimes they’re just baffling, but he is absolutely loved for it. You know, it’s interesting because, uh, I was looking up for him and I always imagine David Lynch is this enigmatic figure just because he made these weird movies and didn’t want to talk about them.

But, you know, actually, if you go and you see interviews with him, he seems like a, just a very charming guy, you know, very affable, he’s willing to talk a lot, he doesn’t sit around and brood and in silence like, you know, J. D. Salinger or anything like that, he’s out there making movies, and I’ve seen clips of him directing, and he’s very passionate about it, and it seems very friendly, seems like a, he’d be a really fun director to work with, actually.

But, he very, very distinctly and clearly said, cinema is its own language. And for me to translate that language into English, it’s going to lose something.

David Lynch: The film is the thing. You work so hard to get, you know, after the ideas come, to get this thing built, all the elements to feel correct, the whole to feel correct, in this beautiful language called cinema.

And the second it’s finished, people want you to change it back into words. And it’s very, very, um, saddening. It’s, it’s, um, torture. It’s the film, the language is cinema. When things are concrete, very few variations in interpretation. But the more abstract a thing gets, the more varied the interpretations.

But people still know inside what it is for them. And, um, And even if they don’t trust their intuition, I always say that if some girl named Sally, she comes out of the theater, I don’t have a clue what that means. She goes over with Bob and Jim to get a cup of coffee. Bob starts talking about what he thinks it is, because he knows exactly what it is, he starts talking.

Five seconds later, Sally is saying, no, no, no, no, it’s not that. And all this thing comes out of Sally. So Sally really did know. For herself. That’s the beauty of it. It’s just like life. You see the same, sort of the same things, but you come up with many, many different things as you go along as a detective.

You have everything in the film. That’s the thing. It doesn’t matter what I say. Zip. It can only be a negative. The thing is built so you don’t want to take anything away, and you don’t want to add anything to it. It’s complete. That’s the, that’s it.

Todd: And so, that’s why I don’t talk about my movies. They are meant for you to go, they are meant for you to experience, and you can only get the movie by watching it.

And then, if I try to explain anything to you, if I tell you, start imposing my feelings about it, it’s gonna take something away from you and your experience of the film. It’s true. I get it. And I’m totally on board with it. Peter Greenaway feels very much like this. He may be even more hardcore that cinema is so much its own language that it doesn’t even need a story.

And he felt like cinema will not ever come into its truest art form until people stop trying to make stories out of it. I don’t, I wouldn’t go that far, but, you know, I think every piece of art is like this, right? You go to see an impressionistic painting in the museum. You, you’re meant to sit and look at it and experience it.

You’re gonna get something a little different out of it from time to time. You revisit it when you’re older. You’re gonna feel something different. You revisit it on a good day or a bad day. You’re gonna get something different. It just is, and so, I’m not gonna sit down and explain to somebody Van Gogh’s portrait or whatever like that.

It just, you can do it, but It doesn’t do justice to the original. And I think a lot of artists feel this way, but not many are willing to really hold to that like he was. And so, in some ways, it puts a movie like this a bit out of reach for us. But he would say, no, trust your intuition. Trust your intuition as an audience member and go with it.

The movie is meant to be experienced and, you know, you take away from that movie what your intuition tells you and don’t listen to me or anybody else try to tell you what to feel about that movie. Now. Sometimes when people say this about art, I feel like it’s a cop out. Ha ha ha ha ha! Sometimes when an artist is asked to explain their work and say, Oh, you know what?

It’s whatever you think it’s supposed to feel. There’s something behind that that I get very cautious about. I go, Oh, wait a minute. Were you just bullshitting me then? Did you really have an intention behind this? Are you really truly trying to communicate something? What difference does it make? Yeah, well, that’s true.

Exactly. And that’s the point I’m getting to. It makes no difference. The art is out there. It speaks for itself. You really got to see it and experience it.

Craig: Exactly. And there are things that I want to talk about, but I agree with you that, listener, if you have not seen this movie, like me, it’s something that you’re potentially interested in, but you’ve not yet seen it.

If you want to watch it, you shouldn’t listen to this because we’re going to describe, we’re going to talk about some things and it’s going to sound weird because it is, but like you said, it is like a whole experience. I also think that it’s interesting that, I don’t know, I’ve read different things, but I, I read that.

He didn’t approve chapter breaks. Like if you buy any DVD or Blu ray copies of his films, if they are Lynch approved, they don’t have chapter breaks because he feels like the movie should be experienced from beginning to end. And I totally get it. And that’s fine. Whatever. I don’t care, but I kind of agree with them on this.

Like sit down with this one. Like it, cause it’s a trip if you know what I mean? Like, It’s uh, I don’t know, have a glass of wine or some other recreational material and sit in the dark and watch it. It’s wild.

Todd: But, to be honest with you, I also feel like a movie like this takes a lot of pressure off of the audience because it should be very clear that this isn’t this, like, very easy to pin down, linear narrative that makes sense, that can be easily picked apart and stuff like that, so you’re not under the impress the pressure to try to do that.

You can just experience it like you would experience a painting and go with the flow and the feeling and get that out of it and not have to think about it. But again, if you want, if you want to dive into it and pick it apart, you can, but you’re not going to feel any stupider or smarter than the guy next to you because none of you are going to know.

None of you are going to be the authority on this film, you know?

Craig: Yeah, I think that’s fair. Maybe if I hadn’t been watching it. specifically for the podcast, I would have felt differently because I felt like I needed to be so invested. Like I kept asking myself, what is that? What does it mean? What is, what is going on now?

Again, I did understand that it’s broad and you could interpret it in a lot of different ways. And I think a lot of it is. Clearly intended to be impressionistic and not to be taken literally like I have things in my notes bolded because I didn’t want to forget them like sperm monsters and foreskin in a tiny box Maybe

Todd: I didn’t even think

Craig: Yeah, okay I don’t know, such, such, just weird random things that you couldn’t possibly like, fetter out like the right answer, but I was, and, and I think that this speaks to the quality of the art.

I desperately wanted to know what was going on. Like, I was so,

Todd: like,

Craig: I kept waiting and hoping that there would be more explanation. And ultimately, like, I knew I wasn’t going to get it. So, I was being satisfied with just the little bit that it was showing me. See, I’m already getting all heady about it, because that’s the kind of movie that it is.

Like, how do you even say what the movie’s about? Like, it’s just, like, it’s absurd. It’s insane.

Todd: You can have your ideas and your thoughts. For a long time, people assumed and thought very openly that this was, uh, had something to do with Lynch, like it was a personal movie. Because he said this is the most spiritual and personal of the movies that he’s ever done.

It was also his first real, I mean, he did some shorts, but this was his first feature length. And, and they’ve said, oh, well, because he You know, had a pregnant wife, very young, 21, they moved to this new house and whatever. It’s all about his anxieties as a, as a new father. And one of the things he has said explicitly is it’s not that.

However, I’d be hard pressed to not believe that watching this, because it’s clearly about a guy who has, among perhaps many anxieties, anxieties about being a new father.

Craig: A new father, but God, it’s It’s so crazy, like, the first part of the movie was the weirdest part for me. Because it moves through things relatively quickly, I guess.

I guess I only say that because eventually it becomes Very focused in one place with a very limited group of characters. But they have to establish it very quickly. You say he’s a young father. No. He’s this guy who’s living in, like, some kind of industrial wasteland and has I guess been on a date with a girl, but then hasn’t heard from her in a long time.

And his sexy neighbor across the hall, who I want to talk about more, but um, his sexy neighbor across the hall tells him,

Clip: are you Henry?

Yes. Girl named Mary called on the pay phone and said she said her parents and you’re invited to dinner.

David Lynch: Oh yeah.

Craig: Thank you very much. And he goes there and Everything is weird. Like, there’s no way to describe it. It is just surreal. They are all acting. Bizarre and it’s Kafka esque in that they’re all behaving in super bizarre ways and like having fits and freaking out and like really strange personal tics and

Todd: yeah,

Craig: like there’s an old lady that just sits in the kitchen and doesn’t move and they just stick a cigarette in her mouth every once in a while.

But it’s Kafka esque and surreal because like in a dream, everybody just acts like nothing is. Out of the ordinary, right? Yeah, when somebody just had like when somebody has a physical conniption like Right, like a seizure at the table. Nobody reacts like well, that’s just how things are like it’s yeah, so bizarre and The most bizarre part.

So many bizarre things happen and I wrote them down, but you’re right. What’s the point of talking about every little detail? But eventually the mother pulls him away as like,

Clip: did you and Mary have sexual intercourse?

Did you,

are you asking me this question? I have a very good reason. And now I want you to tell me

David Lynch: I’m very, I love Mary

Clip: Henry. I asked you if you and Mary had sexual intercourse. Well, I I. I don’t think that’s any of your business. Henry. I’m sorry. You’re in very bad trouble if you won’t cooperate.

Todd: And then starts to make out with him?

Craig: Yeah. Well, like, she’s like kissing his neck, like passionately. Until Mary comes in weeping, and she’s like, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, and the mom’s like, there’s a baby, and Mary says,

Todd: They’re not even sure it’s a baby, yeah.

Craig: They’re not even sure it’s a baby yet, and the mom’s like, well it’s premature, but it’s a baby, so you’re gonna have to get married.

Todd: And he’s like, that’s impossible. The implication is that it’s been too soon. Oh, yeah. Like, she couldn’t have possibly had this baby, because maybe they had sex like a couple days before, you know, who knows.

I think that the lead in to the whole movie is kind of important, because the opening of the film is a superimposition of this guy, sideways, kind of floating out in space, like literal outer space, because there is a small planet behind him. At least it looks like a planet. We’re

Craig: never really sure anything in this movie.

I, in my notes, I call it the turd planet. The turd planet?

Todd: The moon, the meteorite, whatever. It almost seems in a way kind of a parody of Star Wars because he’s floating there in front of this and he’s terrified. He looks like he’s slightly horrified pretty much throughout the whole movie. Until the very end of the film this guy has one look on his face.

Yeah. And that is like confusion and or terror but it’s also quite blank like I there’s nothing I can do about this like I have no agency. Yes. He keeps up that look through everything until the very last shot. I have to think that’s significant. By the way the man his name is Henry his he’s played by Jack Nance and Jack Nance sadly died in 1996.

He was in most of of David Lynch’s films. This was not his first movie, but it was among his first. He was in Ghoulies. He was also, we did, uh, the Blob remake. He was a doctor in the Blob remake as well. And he was, uh, working quite regularly up until his death. He has this look, and he, at one point, opens his mouth.

And when he opens his mouth, a superimposed, what can only be described as a sperm creature, comes floating out of it.

Craig: Yes! That’s exactly what I said. And weird sperm creature comes out. Yeah. Yeah. This is all like just at the beginning. It’s crazy. Yeah. It does zoom in on the planet, but not before we see some weird monstrous guy, like sitting in front of a window, like Pulling levers

Todd: it does well it zooms in on the planet it takes us through kind of a trench of the planet into darkness and then to this what looks like a Building or box or something on the planet that’s with a part of it That’s been torn out and zooms into that and then we get this guy looking out the window And I don’t know if the impression is this guy is on this planet inside this box.

He’s def he looks like he’s half melted In a way. Or he’s got boils and things all over his body. I just don’t know what’s going on with him. And he’s got three lovers. He

Craig: shows up again later at like a really interesting time and I’m like, Oh, I’m supposed to connect this. And he’s like, I don’t know. I

Todd: don’t get it.

I’ll tell you the impression I got first, right, was that he is maybe this sort of like, sad god like character. That he’s looking out the window from this high above place on this planet, but it’s all broken, and it’s all very depressing and sad looking. But then he pulls these levers, and as he pulls these three levers, it seems to set into motion the story, if you could call it that, of the film.

That’s true. I think he pulls the first lever, and that’s sort of when we see that thing float out of the guy’s mouth. He pulls the second lever, and then he pulls the third lever, and we see a puddle, I believe. I feel like his levers are launching the sperm. That’s what it feels like. Cause he pulls that last lever and that sperm just shoots into that puddle.

And it moves away. And then, there’s

Craig: a That’s, that’s When you like, cut a YouTube trailer or something, that, that’s the clip. It just needs to be And the sperm just shoots right into that puddle.

Todd: And then it kind of zooms into the puddle and like we kind of see it fall into the water like we’re under the water And then we get clearly I think a birth type Into the light down a tunnel the tunnel even at the ends got a little hair on the outside edges of it and then And we’re into the light, and then suddenly, we’re now in this guy’s world, right?

Where he’s walking, and he’s got this wacky hair, it’s sticking straight up on his head. And apparently, this actor, because this film took so long to shoot, Oh my god. Five years. Five years. It’s hard to believe.

Craig: It, I mean, it was his, it was his first movie. He did have some funding. It’s not like he, I don’t think he was funding it himself.

I think the American Film Institute was helping him out with funding, but Oh, it’s so funny. It went on for so long. But he was also, like, this was really his side gig. Like, he also had to have a day job to support himself. He was like roofing

Todd: and stuff.

Craig: And like painting houses and stuff. Mm hmm, mm

Todd: hmm.

Craig: Just making money so I get it It’s just I think movies like this when I hear these backstories and this movie, you know is notorious It’s got a huge cult following so I knew there was something to it But when I hear these backstories about the fact that it took five years to make doesn’t impress me What impresses me is that the people involved in it were so invested that they invested five years

Todd: Yeah, to

Craig: do it and not only that, but the actors and maybe the crew too, I don’t remember worked for no money and even put money into it themselves.

Like that’s cool.

Todd: The actor apparently just Kept his hair teased up all five years because he never knew at a moment’s notice when he might be called in to shoot a scene. It’s kind of funny.

Craig: And I think his wife was the hair person. Well, it was a small crew. Yeah, it was a small crew and a small group, but they were tight knit.

Yeah. Friendly, apparently. They say, I mean, I don’t know that I necessarily noticed, but the actor that you mentioned who plays Henry and others have said that there are parts of the movie where From one cut to another, like Henry will close the door and then open it. And when he he’s aged two years, because literally he had like, cause it took five years to shoot.

I, I do feel like I kind of noticed him looking a little bit different from time to time, but not knowing the truth behind that. That is the least. Of the oddity, you know, like, Oh, he looks a little bit older in this scene. That’s strange. No, that’s not strange. What’s strange is that there is like just organic material.

everywhere that again, they just don’t acknowledge. Like I kept thinking there’s gotta be something to it. There’s gotta be something to it that there’s like a mound of dirt with a tree growing out of it on his nightstand. Again, I went into this movie knowing nothing. I’ve read a little bit about it now.

I I’ve read that this is just a thing that David Lynch does. Like he puts organic material in Scenes I guess where it shouldn’t be like the it’s also there’s something growing out from underneath the radiator And

Todd: there’s a whole pile of that stuff on top of his he goes into his house Of course, he’s walking through this desolate.

It looks like a factory Wasteland like you said nobody else is around but we hear sounds I mean something’s happening But it’s all the sounds of machines and humming

Craig: How did you watch it? Did you, or I’m, I should ask, how did you listen to it? Did you have a nice, cause I, as always, I listen to it with my earbuds.

Todd: I listen to it on a, on my big screen TV with the sound turned up. So, I mean, it wasn’t ideal, but, but it was, uh, I could hear everything, yeah. It

Craig: was insane to me. There is always Always something going on in the sound and often it’s I don’t want to say grating but it’s not pleasant like the sounds in the background are unpleasant and so For me it made me tense A lot of

Todd: the time it really is.

Yeah.

Craig: Everything that was going on in the soundscape felt very, very intentional. And so I was glad this is one of the few times that I was glad that I was watching it by myself with earbuds in, because

Todd: I

Craig: felt like the sound was a big part of the Experience of the movie.

Todd: It was a huge part. I mean, um, David Lynch and his, um, sound designer Well, they worked together to design and create the sounds for this movie and they spent another year just on Scoring.

I mean, there’s no music. Well, there is one song actually in it That is sung, but oddly enough, but, but the entire movie is scored with these sounds that are, like you said, they come in, they’re grating, they’re droning, they get shrill at times, they’re very uncomfortable, everything is kind of uncomfortable about it.

And honestly, I, if you watch this movie with the sound off Without that soundscape behind it, it just wouldn’t be the same. You really, really need to hear it. So, yeah, they spent a whole year on the sound just to get it right. Again, puzzling, but, uh, impressive. You know, that that much care and effort was, uh, was put into it.

I, uh, I, I was impressed. But, yeah, so there’s these, these cold and life threatening Uh, he looks nervous and unnerved the whole time. We’re feeling it too. He even gets into his apartment which is a, like, he lives in an apartment complex, it’s like a shithole. He goes in, he checks his mail, and there’s nobody else around.

He walks into his elevator and presses the button and has to wait, like, 30 seconds, patiently. That’s interesting. For the door to close and go up. It just feels very bleak, like we’re at the mercy of these machines, we can’t escape it. You know, you start to think, okay, I get it, the movie’s going in that direction.

It’s like Joe at the beginning of Joe vs. the Volcano, you know?

Craig: Yes! Right? I thought of that movie too. Did you really? I thought of that movie. Yes, I did. I thought of that movie. And I also thought that in this scene, him just standing there waiting for the elevator doors to close and it’s a, the, the camera is pulled back pretty far.

It’s not unlike the shot from the shining Kubrick’s. The Shining, and they were fans of each other. Stanley Kubrick really liked this movie.

Todd: Oh God, David Lynch also says, talks about this in another interview. Well, this is him reading from his audiobook. He wrote a book about himself and his life. He narrated it.

David Lynch: Stanley Kubrick is one of my all time favorite filmmakers, and he did me a great honor early in my career that really encouraged me. I was working on The Elephant Man and was at Lee International Studios in England, standing in a hallway. One of the producers of The Elephant Man, Jonathan Sanger, brought over some guys who were working with George Lucas, and said, they’ve got a story for you.

And I said, okay. They said, yesterday, David, we were out at Elstree Studios and we met Kubrick. And as we were talking to him, he said to us, How would you fellas like to come up to my house tonight and see my favorite film? They said that would be fantastic. They went up and Stanley Kubrick showed them Eraserhead.

So right then, I could have passed away peaceful and happy.

Craig: Oh, that’s so cool.

Todd: Isn’t that cool? Yeah. He was such a big fan. And, you know, when you think about it, Very similar in the fact that we talked about The Shining, and we talked about how that movie is more of an experience, you know, than a straightforward story.

Those long, lingering moments, this, this very deliberate soundscape. Uh huh. I imagine The Shining has a lot to, uh,

Craig: A lot. A lot. Yeah. Yeah. I totally see the Eraserhead influence in The Shining. The Shining is far less abstract. Eraserhead is Um, mood, like, I feel like that’s what the kids would say today.

Like it’s, it’s a mood. And so I get, I get why Kubrick wanted to show his people to be like, this is the mood I’m going for. And I see it. I see it in The Shining.

Todd: You’re right. You’re right. It is. The whole movie’s a mood, really. Yeah. And it’s weird! It’s weird. There’s the there’s the fringe of a story, but it’s hard to There

Craig: is a fringe of a story, right?

And that’s what I feel like So, he’s told we have to get married, and Mary, through her tears, is like, You don’t mind, right, about getting married? And apparently he doesn’t, because the next time we see them, they’re together in his apartment with some thing. That, I guess, they Think is a baby. I, it’s, it’s the, it’s the weirdest, most surreal thing.

I, I read again, I think this is something that Lynch kind of was. Illusive about like he kind of said things here and there about it, but it was never clear You know how serious he was being but people believe that it was made from like an embalmed calf Corpse or cow fetus or something like that. It’s impressive and I can see that.

Yeah, I could see that Well, it looks organic. It looks real Yeah, it’s

Todd: kind of wet and Skin, it’s like all skin and bone. It’s disgusting. It’s gross. It’s like, you know, when you first see what a baby bird looks like for the first time, you’re like, ew, you know, that’s gross. That’s not what I expected. Kinda.

But it’s an impressive effect. I mean, the eyes move and the mouth and everything and at some, at different points in the movie, it spits up. I think it’s kind of impressive, actually, for this otherwise. Odd, low budget movie. It’s fascinating! Supposedly, he blindfolded his projectionist, who projected the dailies, as part of some way to keep the projectionist from knowing how they accomplished this effect.

It remains to this day a closely guarded secret, for reasons we will never know.

Craig: It’s fascinating. It reminds me of other movies that we’ve done. It reminds me of Basket Case a little bit. Um, the, uh, that other movie by, I think the same guy who did Basket Case where that guy had like a brain damage for that guy had like a Penis guy that would pop out of his neck

Todd: or whatever.

Yeah. Uh huh.

Craig: It reminds me of that in that we are in this world where this creature just exists and it’s, it’s, it’s strange. But

Todd: they’re not happy. I mean, it’s strange to them too, right? is it? I mean, she’s trying her best to feed it. She seems very apprehensive about it. Now, one can argue that this is obviously the reluctant.

Look, I felt helpless when I had a baby. I felt like I couldn’t read. enough things to prepare me for it because I felt helpless and so it would cry and I wasn’t ever sure I was doing the right thing, the thing that the baby needed. Maybe my second child, I would have been full of confidence, but my first child, I felt lost and listless, just like these people do, so I can certainly see that metaphor, you know, in there.

Of course. But this thing is crying in the most annoying way, you know, Screeching. She’s trying to feed it. It’s spitting up everything she gives it. Finally, she just gets frustrated, right? And she storms out. She’s like,

Clip: I can’t stand it. I’m going. What are you talking about? I can’t even sleep. I’m losing my mind.

You’re on vacation now. You can take care of it for a night. Well, you’ll come back tomorrow? All I need is a thesis and I

Todd: sleep. Takes forever to pull her suitcase out from under the bed And leaves

Craig: that was so weird. Everything was weird. Is

Todd: that supposed to be sexual?

Craig: I don’t know. I thought that she was trying to do something under the bed Like she’s got something like I don’t know jammed up Inside there that she has to unlodge or something.

But yeah, it looks like she just, she’s standing at the foot of the bed and the perspective is us looking from the head of the bed. So she ducks down. So where she’s mostly covered by the mattress and she’s just like thrusting and grunting like, And I only began to think it was weird because it went on for so long.

I imagine that that’s probably intentional.

Todd: Of course.

Craig: Because I, of course, I started to ask myself, is she jerking off? And then no, she just pulls that thing out. The suitcase that she apparently already had packed. Now look. Look, I get what you mean about how you get it about being a new parent and feeling helpless and not knowing what to do, as a metaphor, but this isn’t a baby.

It is some weird, freakish, tumor creature. I mean, but It’s apparently their baby. It has no explanation. I mean, it’s their tumor creature. It came from her. And maybe that’s his sperm monster? I guess? Who knows? Sure, it’s there. It’s fine, but like, it’s like the head of a calf fetus. And if you’ve ever seen an animal that’s been stripped of its Hide and seen the head like there’s still flesh, but no skin or fur.

That is really what it looks like Yeah, or if you’ve seen like a like a fetal animal, it’s kind of like that but Weird and you’re right like you said it cries in a really annoying way. I felt like it’s cries weren’t as Annoying as actual human baby cries. It was continual. Like it was constantly like, yeah, it wasn’t even that loud.

I’ve heard human babies cry. That’s an, that’s horrible. That weird head. But then the whole bottom of it, it doesn’t even have a body. It’s just got a really skinny neck that goes into, it’s all just wrapped in gauze.

Todd: Yeah. It’s just bandages.

Craig: bandages. Ultimately, it kind of looks like a tick, like it’s got this weird pointy head and then just this round weird mass at the bottom.

And it looks strange. You said she tries to feed it. She does try to feed it. She eventually leaves. It apparently comes to enjoy his company, but they never do anything with it. That thing never moves off of that pillow. On that bureau. Ever. I don’t think.

Todd: No, it’s there the whole time, you’re right. It never leaves that spot.

I mean, the very end gets wacky, but it never leaves that spot. And he’s like, Okay, you should just go home then. Again, everything just happens to him. He is nothing but reactive. to this whole thing. So he goes over to the baby, and he decides to put a thermometer in its mouth. And he pulls the thermometer out, and I guess he determines that it’s okay.

So he turns around, but then the baby starts crying again in a different way. And when he faces the baby again, like when he turns right back around suddenly, the baby is covered in like gross boils and spots, and it looks like Even grosser than it looked before. And he goes, Oh, you are sick. And so he gets a humidifier going and he sits down there dazed by the baby for a while.

And then later it’s not sick, I guess. I don’t know. It’s not like it gets sicker. Later, we just see it, anyway, a lot of shit happens, right? He goes to check his mail, and there’s a tiny box, and he pulls out what you, I didn’t even think about it being like a foreskin, but that would kind of make, there’s so much sexual imagery in this movie.

There’s a puddle thing that keeps happening, you know, the very beginning of the movie, we saw that sperm splash in a puddle, but he steps in a puddle, or in the movie, later in the movie, he sees some people fighting down below his apartment, and around a puddle, and. The puddle comes in at the end and so there’s like this puddle imagery that I think was Supposed to be sexual.

I mean vaginal or something like that. I guess who knows But then there’s the woman who lives in the radiator

Craig: That’s right when you were talking about The baby creature being sick. It’s disgusting. Like when the, when the baby thing is sick, it is disgusting. Like its eyes are all pussy and like cloudy and looking around and it’s got this disgusting, like ooze coming out of its mouth and its tongue is moving around.

It’s got pustules. All over its face. It really, I didn’t make the connection at that point, but later the monstrous man, who I mentioned earlier with the levers makes another appearance and there’s a similarity in those designs. Didn’t you think like, doesn’t the monstrous man kind of have the same kind of.

Like, sores or whatever it is that that creature has?

Todd: It sure does seem like it. There was a point where I was wondering, is this like, what that baby grew up to be? In the midst of the movie, I was wondering if this was some sort of looping kind of thing, like, or maybe the baby died and he’s kind of looking down from heaven and pulling the strings or something.

Craig: I just thought There’s some connection. Yeah Symbolic or thematic. I don’t know but it seems like there’s some connection there and you’re right I mean, then there’s the lady that lives in the radiator because He apparently can’t Leave the apartment. Right. If he tries to leave the apartment, the baby cries.

Like, it’s, it’s satisfied if he’s there, but it cries if he tries to leave. So he can’t leave the apartment at all. It’s surreal, so it doesn’t matter. But like, they don’t eat. It seems like they’re always emphasizing in the sound, it’s always emphasizing how windy it is. So, I’m thinking that they’re constantly cold.

Like, they’re just in this desolate. One. Room, apartment. Yeah. And there’s a lady that lives in the radiator. Right.

Todd: Yeah, sometimes you have to call an exterminator for that, but.

Craig: How well versed are you in Lynch? Cause I’m, I’m really not. I haven’t seen a lot.

Todd: I’ve seen, uh, Mulholland Drive, I’ve seen, I actually haven’t seen Twin Peaks, I’m going to rectify that immediately because I hear especially when you, when you add the new stuff that he’s done, it’s quite good, I saw The Elephant Man when I was a kid, like really young and I don’t remember it, I saw Dune, when it came out, and I remembered enjoying it, but thinking it was weird, but it was very sci fi.

And I saw Blue Velvet, I think, when I was in university, and I loved that film. It scared me a lot. And that is a really, it’s, it’s got a story, but it’s a very disturbing story. And, you know, people say that Lynch, you know, this is the kind of thing that he seemed very fascinated with, is the horror of suburbia.

That just beneath the surface of all the, you know, the kind of the niceties that we create for ourselves, and the relationships and everything in Suburbia. There are actually horrors happening, you know, behind closed doors. And so all of his movies sort of seem to play with this. I don’t know.

Craig: This one I read, not, I don’t know if suburbia is the right word.

Todd: Well this doesn’t feel like suburbia.

Craig: Yeah, he grew up in a pretty rough area

Todd: of Philadelphia, I think? No, he moved there when he was 21. He had a really nice childhood in the Pacific Northwest. Oh. And then, moved, yeah, there when he was 21 with his, you know, with the woman that he, he got pregnant later, his wife.

And that’s, you’re right, it was very rough. It, he, he speaks to it, of it as like it was hell. Hmm. He says it was like, like seriously, like my whole faith in humanity just sort of changed. He’s like, he said, our apartment got broken into all the time. There were robberies. I got robbed on the street a bunch of times.

There was always fighting going on. It was just, he said, this nasty, filthy, horrible place. And so again, you got to feel like that, you know, when he says this is one of his most personal and spiritual films, like it seems like a direct correlation, you know, something he’s trying to get across here. Yeah. I mean, these people, they live in their apartment, the, the window looks right on to a brick wall.

Right. You know, they can’t even look out the window and enjoy, uh, anything like the sky.

Craig: I have seen this, I’ve seen not the Twin Peaks television series, but I have seen Twin Peaks Fire Walk with me. And at once, when I was in college, I remember liking it, but that’s all I remember about it. And, Mulholland Drive.

I was talking to Alan last night, we were reminiscing because, we’ve seen Mulholland Drive because my sister and brother in law, we were visiting them, they were living in LA and we were visiting them, and they were like, you’ve gotta watch this movie, it’s totally up your alley. And so we started watching it, but it was late at night and I was so tired.

And like, they were trying to explain things. They were trying to explain things as it was going on. And I was like, uh, I just kept falling asleep and I didn’t know what was going on. That’s not a movie you can watch tired. I kept waking up. I’m like, who is that?

And I, I don’t think I even made it through. But what is Mulholland Drive inspired this? whole line of discussion because the thing that I remember most about that movie, there’s a great jump scare. And I feel like it happens more than once, but like this freaky lady thing pops out from behind something.

And I saw that kind of, uh, In this stuff too, because it’s, I don’t even know, like, from this point, yeah, there’s a foreskin in a box, and then he like puts it in a special foreskin cabinet, and I kept thinking, I don’t know what I was thinking, I was like, surely there’s gonna be something about that foreskin, I

Todd: don’t know.

You call it a foreskin, I didn’t think about that, I guess, it looked like a little worm or something to me, but I didn’t know what it was. It, yeah. It animates at some point.

Craig: Yes, and then it comes alive at some point. Gosh, you know, I feel like we talked about the first half hour of the movie at length and now there’s a big part in the middle where it’s not like not a lot happens, but it’s also isolated that it seems like not much is happening.

There’s a, there’s a whole other thing where His hot neighbor from across the hallway who I immediately recognized. I don’t even have her name written down, but I immediately recognized her. I was like, why do I know that lady? She’s gorgeous. And so I went to her IMDb page and she was the villain from that movie dead silence about.

The dolls and puppets. James Wan, I think. She was Mary Shaw. And I was not surprised that I recognized her from that because she has very distinctive bone structure. Oh, right, right. And she’s beautiful. And, and there’s a whole part where she comes over and seduces him. And then they do it in his bed that turns into kind of like a A puddle.

steamy cauldron hot tub and then it’s like another puddle a puddle that’s a good point and they go down into it so very slowly this was so odd I thought that this must have to do with the technicality of getting them both under the water because it happened kind of slowly and

Todd: awkwardly

Craig: they’re making out in this foggy Hot tub kind of thing that’s his bed and she hears the baby crying and just distracted by it momentarily But he brings her attention back to him and they’re making out or whatever and then they start to sink in and she Kind of comes over the top of him so that he goes down first and then she goes down, but it’s a little bit awkward and it takes a long time.

And at the end, her wig is left floating in the pool. And I almost had to wonder if like they, they’re like, Oh shit, her wig came off. And he was like, it’s fine. Shoot it. Like get a real good closeup of it. Like circle around it. We’ll make it look weird.

And then she’s gone and at some point he goes to her door and knocks on the door to like try to find her and when he comes back in the baby laughs at him. Like what happened? Did the baby eat the hot

Todd: lady across the hall? I don’t know. Well, the hot lady across the hall is with another guy at some point.

Oh, that’s right! There’s just some weirdo there who she’s already making out with, and he’s just like, oh, okay. Did

Craig: you notice, like, didn’t that, didn’t that weird guy that she brought home, like, he was older and not, like Stereotypically attractive, but it also looked like there was something wrong with his face.

Todd: Yeah, there was some, some mark on his cheek or something. It was on his right side at least, yeah. Well, when they’re making out and they’re going to that puddle, again, like I said, it was kind of reminiscent, everything is kind of reminiscent of that alien planet again. They go all the way underwater, and then at this point, the singing girl and the radiator sings her number.

Craig: We haven’t talked about her at all.

Todd: The water’s kind of milky and the milk separates and then it’s darkness and then the woman comes out of the darkness and now she’s on the stage and she sings, In heaven everything is fine. Now, we’ve seen her before.

Craig: And you and I have referred to her several times but we’ve never really explained it.

At first, well, I never really understood who she was supposed to be but apparently, when he looks deep into the radiator, a light comes on and it’s like a stage light. And you’re like in this little theater and this woman, she first appears, I think after Mary leaves. So I thought at first that maybe he was like projecting Mary, but I don’t think they’re the same actress.

I referred to her as. The Garbage Pail Kid lady, cause that’s kind of what she looks like. Yeah. Normal for her body, she’s, I feel like, kind of dressed like a baby doll, kind of, and she’s got blonde hair and kind of traditional baby doll, I think, if I remember correctly. But, like, monstrously, like, chipmunk cheeks.

Like, abnormally and, and grotesquely large. And it’s weird, and she just dances around.

Todd: I thought she was supposed to be like a grotesque Betty Boop. Because Betty Boop has cheeks that come out. It’s that vibe. Yeah, it’s that, well and definitely with her on the stage and her singing and this kind of sweet high voice.

But she’s blonde of course. Do

Craig: you remember that nightmare on Elm Street? I think it was five where there was like this really hot girl and so like when Freddie came to her nightmare, he made her eat a lot and he just kept shoving food in her face and eventually her engorged. It looks like that. Yeah, you’re

Todd: right, it does.

Craig: But you’re right, it is a very Betty Boop thing, and like, we see her early on, and then we see her kind of midway when she dances, and those little sperm monsters start falling on the stage all around her. And I kept thinking, like, is one gonna land on her head? Like, is this gonna be like, Oh, look, she’s Pregnant.

Now I , but that doesn’t happen. Instead, she just goes around squishing them and it’s,

Todd: at first she’s avoiding them and then she starts squishing them on, on purpose and,

Craig: and they’re splatting all over gross the whole end, you know? Gosh, I chronologically, I don’t remember, but the ending gets wild. It does at some point.

Henry’s head. Pops off.

Todd: Yeah, it’s when he’s watching her.

Craig: Falls into the street and kid runs by and grabs it and takes it to a place where he, like, sells it to a man who, like, drills a hole in it and pulls something out and puts it in a machine that makes pencils.

Todd: Yeah. Apparently, this is what set off the whole movie, was Lynch had a daydream about a kid running in with a head and a guy at a pencil machine taking a core out of the head and And making a pencil out of it.

I mean, the movie’s called Eraserhead. I know! After he makes the pencil out of it, on the machine, he sharpens the end, and he writes something, we can’t ever tell what he’s writing, and then he erases the hell out of it, so there’s big, there’s lots of these erasers, you know, god, I forgot what it was like having an eraser, but yeah, shavings of the eraser.

He turns and he goes, It’s okay, it works, or something like that, and they all look relieved. And then he brushes those shavings off of the table, and that takes us, transitions us into, once again, like, it’s like dust going into the air behind Henry. And that brings us back. Yeah,

Craig: as though none of that happened.

Yeah, he’s just back in his room in his bed. I could see how one might find that frustrating because these things just aren’t explained. I feel like because of my limited, but my knowledge of Kafka and surrealism, I understand. That not all of the questions are meant to be answered. Right. They’re not. And so that doesn’t bother me.

I can understand how it might frustrate someone who’s watching this and has just watched this guy’s head get popped off and blood everywhere. And now we just come back to the same isolated mundane scenario that we were in before as though nothing had happened.

Todd: With no

Craig: explanation.

Todd: If you wanted to get kind of literal about it, which you shouldn’t, but like, you know, one way to look at this is that Henry has this Just this propensity to slip off into dreamland a little bit.

Sure. And that some of what we’re seeing is his Dreams or his frustrations or whatever playing out as daydreams of his because it always does transition quite nicely In fact transition back to him in his apartment dealing with this weird ass baby. But it’s, it’s after this point that he sees the woman across the hall with the other guy and you said the kid laughs at him and he comes back in and it’s like he’s for the only time I think in the whole movie that he actually does something he decides he’s gonna Cut open the bandages on the child.

I don’t know if it’s out of curiosity I don’t know if he thinks he wants to kill the baby. It’s not really clear. No, it’s not He just starts snipping the bandages and it opens up and it’s like the bandages are his skin I mean it opens up and it’s just the inside of this creature. It’s like he’s halfway to killing it Really?

There’s a I wouldn’t call it a heart

Craig: Well, it’s internal organs are exposed. Yeah.

Todd: And he, uh, stabs his scissors into it. I

Craig: know, I

Todd: was surprised. Yeah, and the baby pukes up blood. And then, like, oatmeal? Oh my God. It just starts pouring out of this baby. That’s what

Craig: I said too. It’s in my notes, I swear to God.

Mounds of oatmeal pour out of the body. The more I looked at it, I was like, No, I think that looks more like grits, but I just, I’m just gonna leave oatmeal in there. It’s an easier reference. It’s true. Grits is

Todd: more accurate for sure. I’ll give you

Craig: that. And the light Flicker and then there’s like a weird hippo in the room What the fuck was

Todd: that?

It looks like it’s the baby’s head like in giant size. That’s what I that’s how I thought it was Well, because because the baby’s crying and you think it’s dying but then for some reason its neck extends way out Almost into darkness. Yeah, like feet To where it almost looked like the sperm again, I felt like uhhuh.

It was like the, the head was way out and the neck was really skinny and coming out, and I was like, oh, we’re, we’re back to that sperm imagery. And then, yeah, the lights are flickering and the electricity’s going off. By the way, the sound at this point is going nuts. Uh, it’s going nuts. And, uh, you’re right, the, when the lights flicker on and off, we see glimpses of this.

Huge head. I thought it was the baby’s head, head on, on the desk, and then kind of next to the desk, and then kind of floating over by the light, and it’s just like, in there. And he’s just staring at it, but then we cut to the guy on the planet again, who had the levers, and he’s even worse looking now. He’s, like I said, it’s like almost half of his face and body is melted, and he’s clearly struggling to put the levers back, but he can’t.

So, something’s been set off and he’s trying to End it, but he’s unsuccessful, I think, at doing that.

Craig: See, I don’t know, I didn’t, like, to me it was just, Oh, him again. Like, I didn’t know what he was doing, it’s just the guy with the levers, like, I don’t know. Well,

Todd: I mean, he pulled the levers at the beginning, so I felt like this was the He’s creating a life by pulling the levers.

He’s either ending or signaling the end of a life by pushing them forward, you know? I

Craig: will tell you what I tell my Students, I think that that is a perfectly defensible interpretation. I, I definitely think that that is a defensible interpretation. Is that what it really is? I don’t know. Who knows? Well, I don’t know either.

It’s, it’s, it’s very abstract as is the whole movie. I’m glad that you mentioned the sound again here at the end, because in my opinion, the sound is essential. So, if you’re watching it with your lover. Like, great, but turn it way up. Like the sound is essential. If you’re not, if you’re watching it alone, I always say put on some good headphones, you know, if you have those nice, fancy, expensive headphones that people buy, put those on, you paid for them.

You may as well use them. But I just use cheap, cheap wireless earbuds and. Still, just because it’s in my ears and I can hear the nuance of it that I might not be able to hear if I were just watching it through my computer speakers, it makes a world of difference, an absolute world of difference in this movie, especially, I don’t know what to make of it.

And I feel like this is the type of movie that. deserves a second watch. And I also feel like it’s the type of movie that you could probably watch it over and over and over again and constantly find new things, things that you may not have noticed before, whether it be in the sound or in the. The visuals, the imagery, and I think, you know, it feels like art to me.

You know, it feels like something that deserves consideration. I don’t know that just one viewing is enough. I’m stu my kids are studying po studying. Poetry right now and I tell them you have to read it more than once you have to read it two three four times You’ve got to let it settle in

Todd: come back to it the next day.

Craig: Uh huh, right? Yeah, sleep on it. Think about it go back and look at it again, and I feel like this movie deserves that That’s why I said at the beginning I was nervous about talking about it because I’m not well versed in it I’ve only seen it the one time so it’s these are my first impressions, but ultimately I understand why John water is and Stanley Kubrick and H.

R. Giger and Mel Brooks and and so many other innovative and creative filmmakers have been open admirers of Lynch’s work. I get it. He has a very unique Style and voice. It’s crazy. You know, Lynchian is, uh, recognized in all of the English dictionaries to describe things that are like him . I, I can’t, it’s like Kafkaesque, , Kafkaesque.

I, I, I can’t imagine. You know what a legacy like Yeah. Your na, your name. something, you know, a word that people are going to use for ever as far as we know. And even though I’m not super familiar with it, his work remains, I think, well respected and you had mentioned earlier, I didn’t watch any interviews.

I just read stuff. So, but. I assumed that he must either be good to work with, or a genius, or both. Because the same people kept wanting to come back to work with him. And he was the type of guy who, he found space for the people that he liked working with. And so you’ll see the same actors popping up.

across his body of work and, and the same, I think is true of the technicians and other people that he worked with. And I think I will be inspired. I don’t know how soon, but I think that I will be inspired to go back and watch some of his other stuff. Maybe even Mulholland Drive again, maybe I need to give it a shot, but I’ve always been interested in Blue Velvet.

I I’ve seen clips of it. And I know that Dennis Hopper is like famously unhinged in it. So I may have to check that out soon,

Todd: especially for horror fans. You know, again, it’s more of a thriller. And drama than a horror, but I think horror fans especially would get a real kick out of Blue Velvet. Again, I haven’t seen everything of his, but it feels like it must be one of his more accessible works.

I feel like, even though it’s, you know, it’s got its odd moments and it’s a bit of unclarity as far as, you know, is this really happening? What’s kind of going on here? It definitely leaves a strong impression. It’s a pretty disturbing movie, I think. And I think an important movie as well. I’m with you. I agree.

It is so Rare, really, that we get a singular type of director, you know, an artist with this sort of singular, very distinct vision whose movies are instantly recognizable without even knowing who directed them. It’s just a rare thing in history for any artist. What a great thing! And to have a legacy of work behind him that he has left, he’s certainly been prolific.

108 Things he’s directed whether they be shorts whether they be episodes of something whether they be full on movies Definitely a lot out there to explore. So that is such a joy that we have this I’m kind of inspired to read his biography actually, I think that would be very interesting. I’m sure I’m not an audiobook guy But I’d kind of rather hear it narrated by him to be honest, and I do not Imagine that this kind of success for this kind of person doing this kind of thing would come as easily now as it did in the 70s.

I don’t know. This movie played on midnight circuits at the urging of its, of one of the distributors and producers who just cajoled a theater owner into continuing to show it at midnight even though it was not bringing in crowds. It was not a success. It was almost entirely critically panned when it came out, but just like, you know, we talked about it before, like we talked about it with movies, we talked about it with music, certainly with poetry and things like that, sometimes the more time you spend with something, the greater an appreciation you have for it.

And it’s just hard for me to believe that something like this would not come out, be seen, oh well that’s weird and that’s quirky and then people are already moving on to the next thing and are never going to give themselves the opportunity to marinate in it for a while and try to live with it and understand it or at least appreciate it for what it is.

I just It’s hard for me to believe that this, that this kind of thing could happen today. So, um, he was probably born at the right time and had the right circumstances as well to, to kind of let his light shine. So, we’re grateful for that. All right, well, it was great talking about this. Those of you out there who are big and maybe more aversed in his films in this film than we are.

Please drop us a line, let us know what you think, we’d love to explore this a little deeper with you guys. You can just find us online just by googling two guys and Chainsaw Podcasts, we have a comments section on our website. You can start leaving things. there. Our YouTube channel, obviously, Facebook, Twitter, X, you can call it now, wherever you can find us online, please drop us a note, we would love to have a discussion coming.

I’m sure our patrons are going to have a lot to say about this as well. Go to our website and follow the link to our Patreon page. And if you would like, for just five bucks a month, you can join the crew and get deeper discussions with us behind the scenes as well as mini sows and other things that we do as well for our patients.

Until next time, I’m Todd. And I’m Craig. With Two Guys and a Chainsaw.

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Eraserhead

2 Guys And A Chainsaw - A Horror Movie Review Podcast

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We also chat a bit about Lynch’s story, his filmmaking philosophy, and his influence on other directors and the cinematic landscape. Enjoy!

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Automatic Transcript

Eraserhead (1977)

Episode 425, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw Horror Movie Review Podcast

Todd: Hello and welcome to another episode of Two Guys and a Chainsaw. I’m Todd.

Craig: And I’m Craig.

Craig: uh, you almost lost me, but you got me back at the end. Yeah, a little convoluted.

Craig: Yeah. For sure. It’s,

Craig: right see I’ve I have been aware of this movie and Familiar with what it is, and I know who David Lynch is but it’s never appealed to me I’ve never thought, Oh, I need to see that.

And that’s kind of how I feel about this. Like I watched it and I really appreciated the cinematography. Like I, I get why people talk about it. It’s weird. I don’t know that I get it.

But, he very, very distinctly and clearly said, cinema is its own language. And for me to translate that language into English, it’s going to lose something.

Todd: And so, that’s why I don’t talk about my movies. They are meant for you to go, they are meant for you to experience, and you can only get the movie by watching it.

Exactly. And that’s the point I’m getting to. It makes no difference. The art is out there. It speaks for itself. You really got to see it and experience it.

None of you are going to be the authority on this film, you know?

Todd: I didn’t even think

I desperately wanted to know what was going on. Like, I was so,

Todd: like,

Like, how do you even say what the movie’s about? Like, it’s just, like, it’s absurd. It’s insane.

However, I’d be hard pressed to not believe that watching this, because it’s clearly about a guy who has, among perhaps many anxieties, anxieties about being a new father.

Craig: A new father, but God, it’s It’s so crazy, like, the first part of the movie was the weirdest part for me. Because it moves through things relatively quickly, I guess.

And his sexy neighbor across the hall, who I want to talk about more, but um, his sexy neighbor across the hall tells him,

Clip: are you Henry?

Yes. Girl named Mary called on the pay phone and said she said her parents and you’re invited to dinner.

David Lynch: Oh yeah.

Todd: yeah,

Craig: like there’s an old lady that just sits in the kitchen and doesn’t move and they just stick a cigarette in her mouth every once in a while.

So many bizarre things happen and I wrote them down, but you’re right. What’s the point of talking about every little detail? But eventually the mother pulls him away as like,

Clip: did you and Mary have sexual intercourse?

Did you,

are you asking me this question? I have a very good reason. And now I want you to tell me

David Lynch: I’m very, I love Mary

Todd: And then starts to make out with him?

Todd: They’re not even sure it’s a baby, yeah.

Craig: They’re not even sure it’s a baby yet, and the mom’s like, well it’s premature, but it’s a baby, so you’re gonna have to get married.

Craig: never really sure anything in this movie.

I, in my notes, I call it the turd planet. The turd planet?

And when he opens his mouth, a superimposed, what can only be described as a sperm creature, comes floating out of it.

He’s def he looks like he’s half melted In a way. Or he’s got boils and things all over his body. I just don’t know what’s going on with him. And he’s got three lovers. He

Craig: shows up again later at like a really interesting time and I’m like, Oh, I’m supposed to connect this. And he’s like, I don’t know. I

Todd: don’t get it.

And it moves away. And then, there’s

Craig: a That’s, that’s When you like, cut a YouTube trailer or something, that, that’s the clip. It just needs to be And the sperm just shoots right into that puddle.

Craig: It, I mean, it was his, it was his first movie. He did have some funding. It’s not like he, I don’t think he was funding it himself.

Todd: and stuff.

Craig: And like painting houses and stuff. Mm hmm, mm

Todd: hmm.

Todd: Yeah, to

Craig: do it and not only that, but the actors and maybe the crew too, I don’t remember worked for no money and even put money into it themselves.

Like that’s cool.

Todd: The actor apparently just Kept his hair teased up all five years because he never knew at a moment’s notice when he might be called in to shoot a scene. It’s kind of funny.

Craig: And I think his wife was the hair person. Well, it was a small crew. Yeah, it was a small crew and a small group, but they were tight knit.

Todd: there’s a whole pile of that stuff on top of his he goes into his house Of course, he’s walking through this desolate.

It looks like a factory Wasteland like you said nobody else is around but we hear sounds I mean something’s happening But it’s all the sounds of machines and humming

Craig: How did you watch it? Did you, or I’m, I should ask, how did you listen to it? Did you have a nice, cause I, as always, I listen to it with my earbuds.

Todd: I listen to it on a, on my big screen TV with the sound turned up. So, I mean, it wasn’t ideal, but, but it was, uh, I could hear everything, yeah. It

Todd: the time it really is.

Yeah.

Todd: I

Craig: felt like the sound was a big part of the Experience of the movie.

It’s like Joe at the beginning of Joe vs. the Volcano, you know?

It’s not unlike the shot from the shining Kubrick’s. The Shining, and they were fans of each other. Stanley Kubrick really liked this movie.

Todd: Oh God, David Lynch also says, talks about this in another interview. Well, this is him reading from his audiobook. He wrote a book about himself and his life. He narrated it.

So right then, I could have passed away peaceful and happy.

Craig: Oh, that’s so cool.

Those long, lingering moments, this, this very deliberate soundscape. Uh huh. I imagine The Shining has a lot to, uh,

Like it’s, it’s a mood. And so I get, I get why Kubrick wanted to show his people to be like, this is the mood I’m going for. And I see it. I see it in The Shining.

Todd: You’re right. You’re right. It is. The whole movie’s a mood, really. Yeah. And it’s weird! It’s weird. There’s the there’s the fringe of a story, but it’s hard to There

Craig: is a fringe of a story, right?

Yeah, I could see that Well, it looks organic. It looks real Yeah, it’s

It remains to this day a closely guarded secret, for reasons we will never know.

Todd: or whatever.

Yeah. Uh huh.

Craig: It reminds me of that in that we are in this world where this creature just exists and it’s, it’s, it’s strange. But

Clip: I can’t stand it. I’m going. What are you talking about? I can’t even sleep. I’m losing my mind.

You’re on vacation now. You can take care of it for a night. Well, you’ll come back tomorrow? All I need is a thesis and I

Todd: sleep. Takes forever to pull her suitcase out from under the bed And leaves

Craig: that was so weird. Everything was weird. Is

Todd: that supposed to be sexual?

Craig: I don’t know. I thought that she was trying to do something under the bed Like she’s got something like I don’t know jammed up Inside there that she has to unlodge or something.

I imagine that that’s probably intentional.

Todd: Of course.

Todd: Yeah. It’s just bandages.

Craig: bandages. Ultimately, it kind of looks like a tick, like it’s got this weird pointy head and then just this round weird mass at the bottom.

Todd: No, it’s there the whole time, you’re right. It never leaves that spot.

I mean vaginal or something like that. I guess who knows But then there’s the woman who lives in the radiator

Like, sores or whatever it is that that creature has?

Like, they’re just in this desolate. One. Room, apartment. Yeah. And there’s a lady that lives in the radiator. Right.

Todd: Yeah, sometimes you have to call an exterminator for that, but.

Craig: How well versed are you in Lynch? Cause I’m, I’m really not. I haven’t seen a lot.

Craig: This one I read, not, I don’t know if suburbia is the right word.

Todd: Well this doesn’t feel like suburbia.

Craig: Yeah, he grew up in a pretty rough area

Right. You know, they can’t even look out the window and enjoy, uh, anything like the sky.

Todd: don’t know.

You call it a foreskin, I didn’t think about that, I guess, it looked like a little worm or something to me, but I didn’t know what it was. It, yeah. It animates at some point.

Todd: awkwardly

Todd: lady across the hall? I don’t know. Well, the hot lady across the hall is with another guy at some point.

Oh, that’s right! There’s just some weirdo there who she’s already making out with, and he’s just like, oh, okay. Did

Craig: We haven’t talked about her at all.

Craig: And you and I have referred to her several times but we’ve never really explained it.

Like, abnormally and, and grotesquely large. And it’s weird, and she just dances around.

But she’s blonde of course. Do

Todd: right, it does.

Now I , but that doesn’t happen. Instead, she just goes around squishing them and it’s,

Todd: at first she’s avoiding them and then she starts squishing them on, on purpose and,

Craig: and they’re splatting all over gross the whole end, you know? Gosh, I chronologically, I don’t remember, but the ending gets wild. It does at some point.

Henry’s head. Pops off.

Todd: Yeah, it’s when he’s watching her.

Craig: as though none of that happened.

Todd: With no

Craig: explanation.

There’s a I wouldn’t call it a heart

Craig: Well, it’s internal organs are exposed. Yeah.

Todd: And he, uh, stabs his scissors into it. I

Craig: know, I

Todd: was surprised. Yeah, and the baby pukes up blood. And then, like, oatmeal? Oh my God. It just starts pouring out of this baby. That’s what

Craig: I said too. It’s in my notes, I swear to God.

Todd: more accurate for sure. I’ll give you

Craig: that. And the light Flicker and then there’s like a weird hippo in the room What the fuck was

Todd: that?

So, something’s been set off and he’s trying to End it, but he’s unsuccessful, I think, at doing that.

Craig: See, I don’t know, I didn’t, like, to me it was just, Oh, him again. Like, I didn’t know what he was doing, it’s just the guy with the levers, like, I don’t know. Well,

Todd: I mean, he pulled the levers at the beginning, so I felt like this was the He’s creating a life by pulling the levers.

He’s either ending or signaling the end of a life by pushing them forward, you know? I

Todd: come back to it the next day.

I I’ve seen clips of it. And I know that Dennis Hopper is like famously unhinged in it. So I may have to check that out soon,

Until next time, I’m Todd. And I’m Craig. With Two Guys and a Chainsaw.

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