CERT: 18 | PLATFORM: BLU-RAY 4K | RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 19TH

David Lynch’s debut picture Eraserheard is next up to get a fresh release by the ever-great folks over at the Criterion Collection. A trippy body horror that put Lynch on the map in a major way, the film centres on Jack Nance’s Spencer as he becomes the father of a deformed child amongst the backdrop of a dystopian industrial landscape. That’s likely about as much justice as we can do to the utterly unique (and oft-nuts!) plot of Eraserhead.

As is so often the case, the main selling point of a new release of an old favourite is the new sheen given to the movie and to the additional material contained as part of the release. On that front, the 4K restoration overseen by Lynch himself is great. Beforehand, the black and white approach to Eraserheard instantly made it stand out from its contemporaries upon the film’s initial 1977 release, and that impact is ten-fold here. The 4K restoration gives an added crispness and clearness to this most strange of tales.

Where the bonus material is concerned, the stars of the show are likely the six Lynch shorts from over the years that have been given the HD treatment. There’s also an interesting new collection of interviews with the cast and crew of Eraserhead, with some archival talking heads in there, too. Likewise, Lynch’s 2001 Eraserhead Stories documentary is always brilliant to revisit, even if Lynch die-hards may have been hoping to see further new material included. There is a booklet featuring an interview with David Lynch from Chris Rodley’s Lynch on Lynch book also included, although that wasn’t available to us at the time that this review was compiled.

In recent years, the Criterion Collection has given new cleaned-up, crammed releases to so many classics of yesteryear, and in this new Eraserheard release they’ve yet again knocked it out of the pack.