Cult Movies

When I First Watched David Lynch’s ‘Eraserhead’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Please don’t ask me what “Eraserhead” is about because I’m still trying to make sense of it after all these years. Even David Lynch, who passed away on January 15, 2025 after battling emphysema, refused to tell anyone what it means as he prefers to let audiences come to their own interpretations. I finally got to see this surrealist body horror cult classic for the very first time at New Beverly Cinema back in 2012, and the theater was packed with fans of Lynch’s films as well as others who were also witnessing his cinematic work for the first time. We all came out of “Eraserhead” baffled as to what it all meant, but we were still endlessly mesmerized by the visuals and sounds Lynch came up with, all of which were done on a very low budget of $100,000.

When the movie’s title appeared on the screen, the audience burst into applause which gave me an idea of just how many at the New Beverly had seen “Eraserhead” before, and I imagine that have sat through it multiple times. We were sucked right in as Henry Spencer’s head floated in front of us while some weird looking guy was pulling at a bunch of levers as if he were pulling strings on a marionette. Then we got a visual of a sperm-like creature floating on the edge of Henry’s mouth which is suddenly shot forward into our world. Whatever this creature is, it was clear it would play a big part as the film unfolded before us.

It was fascinating to take in the audience’s reactions to “Eraserhead” that evening, but the most vocal reaction came when Henry Spencer (plated by Jack Nance) and his girlfriend Mary X (Charlotte Stewart) bring home their hideously deformed newborn baby. No one could tell if it was male or female, and its grotesque appearance both repulsed and enthralled everyone.

This very strange looking baby has a long pencil-thin neck, its head looks more like a giant snout, and it is limbless. To many, this is the kind of baby no parent ever hopes to have, but we feel sympathy towards this child because it breaks our hearts to see any baby suffer the way this one does. That it’s whining seriously got on the nerves of its parents is a testament to the meticulous sound design Lynch put together along with sound editor Alan Splet because it irritated us as well. Then again, we couldn’t help but laugh along with the baby when it let out a cackle as if it were belittling Henry and his feeble attempts at attending to it in a meaningful manner.

With Lynch’s films, there are times where we can’t help but laugh because the dreamlike state he invites and propels us into is at times hard to take seriously. But with every moment we laugh, there is another which has us so deeply enthralled to where we are at a loss for words and you can hear a bag of popcorn or a soda drop from someone’s hands in the theater (if it were a cellphone ringing, they would have been kicked out and banned for life). “Eraserhead” is no exception as it has many moments with a kind of beauty impossible to find in any other motion picture, and this makes Lynch an exceptionally original filmmaker.

This is especially the case with Laurel Near who played the Lady in the Radiator because, even with her horrifically bloated cheeks, she has us at hello with her rendition of the song “In Heaven.” While she may not exactly look pretty by any conventional standards, her singing voice is very sweet and gives us one of the more heart-warming scenes you might not expect this film to have.

While we came out of “Eraserhead” utterly baffled as to how to describe or interpret it, we could not say we weren’t enthralled by what Lynch presented to us. This was his debut as a movie director, and it led him to getting a career in Hollywood as one of its most daring filmmakers. I am eager to revisit this film again in the future because, like “Lost Highway,” I would like to think I can figure out what it all means. Lynch was never quick to give us any easy answers as he felt life was far too complicated and complex to do so, but I appreciate him for always bringing up some very interesting questions. Even as human beings all over the world desperately want everything spelled out to them, Lynch reminded us how we need to think about things for ourselves.

Rest in peace David.

No, I Haven’t Seen It Until Now: ‘The Room’ (2003)

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

After all these years, I finally took the time to watch Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room” from start to finish. I have viewed some of its most infamous scenes on You Tube from time to time, but upon learning it was going to be showing at the Landmark Theater in Westwood, my procrastination in viewing it came to an end.

When I interviewed director Jan Komasa and actor Bartosz Bielenia about their religious drama “Corpus Christi,” I wore the following t-shirt:

The two of them got a huge kick out of this shirt and encouraged me to check this cult classic on the silver screen with an audience. The way they saw it, this is the best way to experience this hopelessly bizarre motion picture as it had already become the next generation’s “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Watching “The Room” just for the drama is not enough. It’s the audience participation which makes it all the more worthwhile as the most devoted fans are quick to seize the moment and celebrate this film’s most glaring mistakes with tremendous glee.

Wiseau, whose name is plastered over the opening credits, stars as Johnny, a man who is expecting to receive a big promotion at work and is madly in love with his girlfriend Lisa (Juliette Danielle). But at the same time, Lisa is having a torrid affair with Johnny’s best friend, Mark (Greg Sestero, who I went to junior high school with, believe it or not), and this leads to inadvertently hilarious sex scenes which almost had me believing Wiseau and company were actually trying to sell “The Room” to Cinemax as opposed to a major Hollywood studio. Let’s face it, these “love-making: scenes are so ridiculously staged and choreographed to where they make the average episodes of “Red Shoe Diaries” and “Beverly Hills Bordello” rise to the level of high art. Watching Wiseau and Sestero make out with Lisa also reminded me of what Robin Williams once said:

“Men can’t fake orgasms! Who wants to look that dumb?”

Into this tragic love triangle comes a variety of characters, many of whom forget to close the door to Johnny and Lisa’s apartment upon entering it. There is Lisa’s mother, Claudette (Carolyn Minnott), who is far more concerned with her daughter marrying Johnny for financial security than she is in her recent breast cancer diagnosis. Then there’s Denny (Philip Haldiman), a young college student who is supported financially and emotionally by Johnny and is quite smitten with Lisa (who isn’t?). And let us not leave out Michelle (Robyn Paris) and Mike (Scott Holmes), the couple whose love for chocolate provides this movie with its “9 ½ Weeks” moment.

What can I tell you? “The Room” is filled with gloriously hammy acting and terrible one-note performances. Certain scenes are clearly shot in front of a green screen, and many images of San Francisco float cross the screen for the sake of making this movie look like it takes place in more than one room. Certain camera moves look to be shot on a tripod in need of some serious tightening, and the movie suffers from a terrible editing job as scenes feel as though they are put into the wrong place. To all aspiring filmmakers out there, you may fear your debut feature will look a cinematic abomination, but whatever happens, there is no doubt it will look far more professional than Wiseau gave us here.

And yet, as terrible as “The Room” is, watching it provided me with the most enjoyable times I have ever had at a movie theater. I haven’t laughed this hard at a motion picture since “Deadpool 2,” and unintentional hilarity hasn’t felt this inspired for me since “Troll 2” or Tyler Perry’s “The Single Mom’s Club.” Any film which has me laughing so hard to where I get lightheaded and almost pass out will always hold a special place in my heart, and this one is honestly no exception.

Granted, there are many movies out there which are truly awful, but the worst are usually multi-millionaire dollar feature films which are made with nothing more than the thought of a potential franchise that can keep the money train rolling in for years. Those ones end up having more money spent on promotion than on the actual movie, and what we get is an overhyped event where the anticipation proves to be more exciting than the final cut. Those are movies made without heart, and it shows in an inescapably depressing way.

When it comes to “The Room,” however, it is a movie made with a lot of heart but not a lot of thought, and it shows its heart right on its sleeve without any shame. The screenplay introduces us to far too many characters it can possibly deal with, and several subplots are never brought to a satisfactory conclusion. All of this reminds me of one of my favorite guilty pleasures, “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier” which has many of the same problems but had a slightly higher budget regardless.

Wiseau remains an enigma years after “The Room” was released as many wonder about his past and present. He certainly has an unusual look which some might scoff at, but to others it shows a life lived long and hard. Regardless, his line readings of dialogue are ever so memorable even if they show how he emotes more than acts. “You’re tearing me apart Lisa” will never sound the same when uttered by another individual, and another’s denial of not hitting another will sound hollow in comparison. While harsh criticism is needed in situations like these, they are not worth the trouble here as they would simply take away from our enjoyment of this cinematic spectacle, regardless of how poorly realized it may be.

A lot of people who aspire to make a movie many times do so to leave their mark on the world. Wiseau’s path in making “The Room” is not all that different from what Rudy Rae Moore aspired to do when he made his first “Dolemite” movie. While the finished result did not merit a single Oscar nomination, it left its mark on those who were quick to watch it. The same goes with Wiseau who wanted “The Room” to be an epic of sorts. Well, his work is epic alright, but not for reasons he intended. Still, his film has given millions of moviegoers great joy even if it was of the unintentional kind. Perhaps making any kind of mark with a motion picture like that is better than letting it sink into the realm of streaming where it could easily get lost in an overcrowded cinematic ocean.

While Wiseau is in intent on making us believe he always meant for “The Room” to be a dark comedy, it is clear he wanted this film to be something else. But whatever the case, it is a memorable motion picture which will never be easily forgotten, and you don’t want anyone to forget what you did, you know? Besides, the term “male bonding” will never sound the same ever again.

One other thing; I was reminded of the following dialogue between Teasle and Trautman from “First Blood” in which they talked about capturing John Rambo:

Teasle: “Are you telling me that 200 of our men against your boy is a no-win situation for us?”

Trautman: “You send that many, don’t forget one thing.”

Teasle: “What?”

Trautman: “A good supply of body bags.”

Well, when it comes to “The Room,” I say don’t forget this: a good supply of plastic spoons!

WRITER’S NOTE: I am not going to bother giving this movie a star rating. Seriously, what’s the point?

All-Time Favorite Trailers: ‘Strange Days’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

I first saw this trailer when it played before “Mad Love” which starred Drew Barrymore and Chris O’Donnell. This was at Crow Canyon Cinemas, a movie multiplex I once worked at, and the volume was not all that great as the teenage audience, desperately waiting to see O’Donnell take his shirt off, were talking endlessly before the lights finally went down. I saw it again at the UC Berkeley theater, which was once known as the New Beverly Cinema of Northern California, and I got a better idea of what was on display as I could actually hear what was being said that time around.

“Strange Days” is a 1995 science fiction thriller which starred Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett and Juliette Lewis, and the film featured a kind of technology which allowed those who used it to experience recorded memories and physical sensations of others. But despite it being co-written and produced by James Cameron and having been directed by Kathryn Bigelow, it flopped hard at the box office. It is only over time that this film has gotten the cult following it truly deserved as this one offers the viewer a cinematic experience you cannot find elsewhere.

This particular trailer for “Strange Days” was its teaser trailer which had Fiennes selling us on this technology. The dialogue is taken from a scene in which he is trying to get a potential customer to buy some recorded memories, but this time Fiennes is looking straight into the camera, attempting to sell the audience on what he has.

Fiennes starred in this film not long after his Oscar-nominated turn in “Schindler’s List,” and I love how he tells us about this technology here without showing us a thing. His words suck us in to the possibilities of what we could experience if common sense didn’t kick in on a regular basis. It’s a brilliant piece of acting as he succeeds in making us want to open Pandora’s Box and experience pleasures which are ever so forbidden.

I also love the sound design of this trailer as it features a hum throughout which is much like the one I heard as I entered the American Conservatory Theater to watch the first part of “Angels in America.” There is something so comforting and alluring about such a hum that I cannot help but be drawn into the subject matter in a heartbeat.

By the way, can anyone tell me what song was used at the end of this trailer? I really dug it and would love to know where it came from. Perhaps it was by the band Deep Forest as they were supposed to be composing this film’s music score (it would later be done by Graeme Revell), but I don’t know.

If you have not watched “Strange Days” yet, I encourage you to do so as it deals with themes which are more pertinent today than when this film first came out.