Midnight madness: David Lynch's 'Eraserhead' is minimal surrealist classic of the 1970s

Eraserhead follows a short period of the life of Henry Spencer (played by Jack Nance in a tour-de-force performance), a printer "on vacation." Henry discovers that his estranged girlfriend, Mary X, has given birth to a deformed, uh, amphibious baby. He marries her, and, after a nightmarish but brief time living together, Mary leaves Henry, who then cares for the ill baby himself. A bizarre sequence of events ensues, including visions of a woman in Henry's radiator dancing and stomping on small sperm-like creatures, a tryst with the hottie across the hall, and a dream sequence in which Henry's head is used to make pencil erasers. Made over a period of years beginning in the early 1970s and released theatrically in 1977, the film is 89 minutes and a must see. As stunning as it is visually, though dark, with minimal or muted lighting, the sound effects might be even better. It sets up Lynch's later work perfectly.

Saturday, Nov. 7, 11:55 p.m. at the State Theatre, 233 State St., Ann Arbor. Tickets are $6 at the door. Brought to you by trash-cult-indie-sight-sound programmers at HOTT LAVA.