ERASERHEAD (1977)
David Lynch | United States | 1h 29m | English
Before BLUE VELVET, MULHOLLAND DRIVE and TWIN PEAKS, there was ERASERHEAD, David Lynch's extraordinary debut feature. Terrifying, strangely beautiful and often darkly hilarious, it introduced the cinematic imagination that would define his remarkable career.
FOMO presents ERASERHEAD as the closing film of BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARES, the third night of our alternative Halloween Film Week. It follows Ingmar Bergman's HOUR OF THE WOLF at 19:00, creating a double bill of two deeply personal explorations of psychological horror.
Where Bergman follows a tortured artist through a world of gothic visions, Lynch transforms the anxieties of a reluctant father into an industrial nightmare. Both filmmakers use striking black-and-white imagery and dreamlike storytelling to explore fears that conventional horror films rarely confront. For Halloween, FOMO brings together two films in which the most disturbing horrors come not from supernatural monsters, but from the human mind itself.
Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) lives in a bleak industrial city, surrounded by factories, smoke and an atmosphere of inexplicable dread. When his girlfriend Mary informs him that he has become a father, Henry finds himself trapped in a domestic situation for which he is completely unprepared. As the pressures of parenthood and responsibility overwhelm him, his world descends into an increasingly grotesque and surreal nightmare.
Lynch began filming ERASERHEAD in 1971 while studying at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, working with a tiny crew and almost no money. Production stretched across five years, repeatedly interrupted by financial difficulties. Lynch took a newspaper delivery job to fund the project and even lived on the sets for periods. Jack Nance famously maintained Henry Spencer's distinctive hairstyle throughout the prolonged shoot.
The film's industrial setting was inspired by Lynch's years in Philadelphia, where decaying neighbourhoods and abandoned factories left a profound impression on him. Working with sound designer Alan Splet, he created a world of mechanical drones, electrical hums and hissing steam. Combined with the haunting black-and-white cinematography of Frederick Elmes and Herbert Cardwell, the soundscape gives ERASERHEAD its extraordinary atmosphere and makes it particularly powerful on the big screen.
Following its release in 1977, ERASERHEAD found an audience through midnight screenings, particularly at Los Angeles's Nuart Theatre, where it became a cult phenomenon. Stanley Kubrick reportedly screened the film for the cast and crew of THE SHINING as an example of the atmosphere he wanted to create. Its growing reputation helped launch Lynch's career and led to his next feature, THE ELEPHANT MAN.
Nearly fifty years after its release, ERASERHEAD remains as strange and unsettling as ever. Its extraordinary use of sound, surreal imagery and dark humour makes it a film that reveals something new with every viewing, and one that deserves to be experienced in the darkness of a cinema, where Lynch's nightmare can take hold without distraction.
FOOD AND DRINK POLICY: SHEREKILEBI Bar in FOMO Cinema opens 1 hour before the first screening of the day and closes at 01:30, serving a wide selection of beer, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic refreshments, as well as fresh hot popcorn! Outside food is allowed in the bar but not in the cinema. No alcohol or drinks from outside allowed. All guests are invited to arrive early and stay late!
LOCATION: FOMO Secret Cinema, Bazari Orbeliani, Tbilisi. A five minute walk from Liberty Square metro.
HOW TO FIND FOMO: Enter Bazari Orbeliani via Atoneli St above Carrefour and take the stairs on your left to Level 1. Signage on the door. You can also check our Instagram story highlights for a video showing exactly how to find us: https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3OTMzMTA2Mjk0MDI5MjM1
REFUND & CREDIT POLICY: If FOMO cancels a screening, all ticket holders will receive a full refund. If your plans change and you can no longer attend, we’ll issue you a credit for the value of your ticket if you let us know 30 minutes before the scheduled start time. The credit an be used for any FOMO film screening within the following 30 days.
TICKETS are also available to purchase over the bar if not sold out.
FOMO Secret Cinema • Bazari Orbeliani, 0105 Tbilisi, Georgia
