I was saddened to read that David Lynch passed away last week. The papers since then have been filled with various people offering anecdotes and tributes to the man. He was a fantastic visionary and his movies are all worth watching as is the Twin Peaks series decades after conception. I have all of his movies and although I haven't rewatched many of them in some years I made a promise to myself to rewatch Eraserhead. I recall in the early 80s at school us kids would chat about movies in the playground and it was known to us back then as a horror movie, this was the peak of the "video nasties" hysteria and going to the video store to rent out of a movie was a highlight of our weekends. The collective chatter from the kids was this was a horror movie akin to Evil Dead, or Alien, but when I finally got around to viewingit, I realized it was something else and much more. The is a creeping sense of dread but it seemed to me to be more about parenthood and relationships, there was nothing demonic here, just how every day interactions can have a dark undertone. We've probably all had weird conversations struck with a stranger while waiting at a bus stop or a bar where things don't seem quite right and this movie seemed to capture an element of that. RIP Mr Lynch, your art will live on for generations to come.
