--- title: "Eraserhead: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/eraserhead/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/eraserhead" critics_score: 81 critics_reviews: 14 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Eraserhead (1977): what the critics said Critics' score 81 from 14 reviews: 13 positive, 0 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics respond strongly to Eraserhead, with praise clustering around its industrial sound design, alien imagery and oppressive atmosphere. The reviews repeatedly connect its sensory force to fears of parenthood and isolation, finding recognisable anxieties beneath the surreal horror. Several also stress the macabre humour: Lynch’s nightmare unsettles through the proximity of ordinary life to bodily disgust, while its meticulous construction gives the dreamlike scenes a disturbing coherence. The disagreement concerns how much that experience offers beyond discomfort, though the split is lopsided: thirteen reviews are positive and one is negative. More measured supporters describe a difficult but rewarding film, while others embrace its resistance to conventional storytelling. Variety is the stark dissenter, finding bad taste and little substance or subtlety, even while acknowledging inventive sound mixing. The score range is therefore wide, but rejection is the exception rather than a substantial strand of the consensus. ## Time Out — Tom Huddleston Rating 5/5. 9 September 2008. The critic calls it the greatest student film ever made and praises its re-release in a new print remastered by Lynch. They single out the immersive clarity of Lynch’s singular vision and the total absence of compromise in its harrowing, soul-plunging world of horror and isolation. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/eraserhead) ## Little White Lies — Joel Blackledge Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 3 February 2017. The critic hails the lo-fi masterpiece as still unmatched in audacity and atmospheric disquiet 40 years on. They single out its meticulous construction, oppressive sound design and the way it posits that the scariest thing of all is everyday life itself. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/in-praise-of/eraserhead-david-lynch-middle-america-nightmare) ## RogerEbert.com Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 16 September 2014. The critic finds the film mesmerizing and unique in its surreal, dreamlike imagery and sound design, exceeding expectations as Lynch's purest work of art that redefines what cinema can achieve. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/streaming/defying-explanation-the-brilliance-of-david-lynchs-eraserhead) ## Slant Magazine — Chuck Bowen Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 16 September 2014. The critic calls Eraserhead an extraordinarily raw film that completely fulfills Lynch's obsessions with innocence corrupted and the need for fleeting refuge. They single out the rapturously beautiful yet alien images and the profound, unrelentingly bleak industrial sound design. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/eraserhead/) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 22 March 2017. The critic calls Eraserhead a demarcator in cinema history that never loses its disturbing power as a psychic trauma and dream of dark and troubling things. He singles out its indelible portrayal of the horror of fatherhood and the monstrous baby for particular note. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/mar/22/david-lynch-eraserhead) ## The New York Times — Manohla Dargis Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 7 December 2007. The review describes the film as an amazing, still mysterious surrealistic work that disturbs, seduces and shocks with its convulsive beauty and macabre comedy while exploring distorted human desires. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/07/movies/07eras.html) ## Empire — Steve Beard Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The critic finds the film remains as powerful, original and disturbing as ever despite its cultural influence. They single out the offbeat humour emerging alongside the uncanny menace and surreal body horror. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/eraserhead-review/) ## The Hollywood Reporter — Jordan Mintzer Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 16 January 2025. The critic describes Eraserhead as a brilliant black-and-white freakshow and a midnight circuit smash that succeeded because it was unlike anything audiences had seen. They single out its ungraspable quality, lack of conventional story, and shattering sound design as central to its appeal. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/david-lynch-critic-appreciation-1236111470/) ## Evening Standard Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 10 April 2012. The critic calls it a remarkable first film that still looks like a minor masterpiece. They single out its mix of Gothic horror, surrealism and darkly expressionist mise-en-scène, which retains essential menace. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/eraserhead-still-stands-out-7409618.html) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 10/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 1977. The review calls the film a sickening bad-taste exercise with little substance or subtlety despite good technical values like inventive sound mixing, and finds the climax unwatchable. [Read the review](https://variety.com/review/VE1117790719/) ## Eye for Film — Jennie Kermode Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 11 September 2008. The critic calls Eraserhead a raw, visceral sensory experience that is more than a conventional film and will haunt viewers for years. They highlight its intense claustrophobia, industrial sound design, and sympathetic portrayal of the nightmare side of parenthood and isolation. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/eraserhead-film-review-by-jennie-kermode) ## Collider — Alan Kelly Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 2 October 2023. The critic views Lynch's debut as a nightmarish, Kafkaesque exploration of parental fears and fatherhood anxieties drawn from the director's own subconscious. They highlight the film's linear structure, distinctive industrial sound design, claustrophobic cinematography, and dedicated low-budget production as key to its haunting, surreal impact. [Read the review](https://collider.com/eraserhead-david-lynch/) ## HeyUGuys Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 15 October 2012. The piece presents Eraserhead as a full-blown nightmare and mission statement for Lynch’s career, capturing fear of fatherhood and industrial dread through dream logic and arresting imagery. It notes its initial poor reception that later grew into cult status. [Read the review](https://www.heyuguys.com/revisiting-lynch-part-one-early-life-eraserhead-and-elephant-men/) ## The Playlist — Julia Teti Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 26 December 2017. The review describes Eraserhead as a difficult but rewarding work that creates a viscerally familiar yet uncanny 'nowhere place' through its sound design and visuals. It emphasizes Lynch conveying personal paranoia about parenthood on a subconscious level. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/eraserhead-david-lynch-20171226/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/eraserhead.md