David Lynch once described his stunning debut feature simply as “a dream of dark and troubling things,” but the unclassifiable ERASERHEAD is so much more: an expressionistic headtrip, a Grand Guignol nightmare, a pitch-black comedy of manners, and even a deeply personal allegory about the (post-) nuclear family. Amidst a monochromatic wasteland teeming with smoke and shadows, Jack Nance’s wire-haired wage slave Henry struggles to navigate the horrors of mutant offspring, sinister hallucinations and, most terrifying of all, his new in-laws. Playing midnights for month after month in the late 1970s, David Lynch’s surreal classic ERASERHEAD was a Roxie fixture. Catch it now in 2022 on 35mm!

Directed by David Lynch. 88m. USA. 35mm. Print courtesy of Janus Films.

ERASERHEAD screens as part of DAVID LYNCH vs. DAVID CRONENBERG, a championship bout we are doing as we celebrate one year of our reopening. Eraserhead plays in Round 1, Friday, May 20 at 7pm, preceding Cronenberg’s VIDEODROME at 9pm. See either for $14 or both for $20. Eraserhead also screens on Sunday, May 22 at 8:40pm.

Round 1 repeats on May 28 and May 29. See either for $14 or both for $20. Double feature tickets available at box office.