David Lynch’s infamously enigmatic cult classic Eraserhead launched the director’s wild odyssey of a career thanks to a second release on the midnight movie circuit. His first feature was an independently made labor of love and utterly unique invention born from several years of work on and off, depending upon the ebb and flow of funds. With sets echoing a vaguely midcentury industrial nowhere, the black and white introspective nightmare features Jack Nance’s mild-mannered Henry Spencer struggling in a bleak life with his girlfriend and their unplanned “baby.” Punctuated by sparse dialogue with the stilted delivery of an early talkie, the film is an alternate universe of skewed nostalgia where Eros and Thanatos find their unnervingly neurotic, beautiful and absurd expression, both visually and through an intricate, eerie soundtrack. Many Lynchian signatures and tropes—even the carpet pattern of the Red Room in Twin Peaks—were born in this formative, singular work of art.

Kristine McKenna is no longer able to attend and present, so we are now offering a double feature with 35mm prints of both Eraserhead and Wild at Heart.