Rich with surreal symbolism and David Cronenberg-worthy body mutations created with practical special effects, the film presents a terrifying portrait of the fear of adulthood and fatherhood. This is the work that inspired “The Shining,” “Pi,” and the work of the legendary H.R. Giger.

Harry Spencer (the magnetic Jack Nance) is a printer on vacation, living in a terrifying and devastated, surreal American city. During a disturbing get-together dinner with the parents of his beloved, Mary X (Charlotte Stewart), he learns that she has given birth to his deformed child. After a long long-distance relationship, they must immediately marry and start a family. However, motherhood quickly proves too much for Mary, who abandons Harry. Left alone in his new role, Harry descends into increasingly surreal visions with musical elements.

The dreamlike narrative language, the multitude of unexplained symbols, and the dark spiritualism that defies comprehension make “Eraserhead” Lynch’s most enigmatic and open to interpretation. The director himself called it “a dream of darkness and unease.” Although critics and audiences initially dismissed the film, calling it “vomitingly tasteless,” it eventually gained cult status. Today, “Eraserhead” regularly appears on lists of the best films of the 1970s and is considered one of the most important achievements of cinematic surrealism.

In 2004, the film was selected by the renowned Library of Congress as one of the “culturally, historically, or artistically significant” works, and in a 2010 poll by the prestigious Online Film Critics Society, it was named the second-best debut in cinematic history—just behind Orson Welles’s “Citizen Kane.”