Eraserhead

Eraserhead is a surrealist-horror film written and directed by David Lynch, and released in 1977. In 1971, Lynch moved to Los Angeles to pursue an MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) degree at the AFI Conservatory. At the Conservatory, Lynch began working on his first feature-length film, Eraserhead, using a $10,000 grant from the AFI. The grant was not sufficient to complete the film and, as a result, Lynch worked on Eraserhead intermittently until its release in 1977. Lynch used money from friends and family, including boyhood friend Jack Fisk, a production designer and the husband of actress Sissy Spacek, and from odd jobs to finish the film. The film follows a short period of the life of Henry Spencer (Jack Nance), a printer on vacation. Henry discovers that his estranged girlfriend, Mary X (Charlotte Stewart), has given birth to a bizarrely deformed baby. He marries her, and, after a tumultuous and brief time living together, Mary leaves Henry who then cares for the ill baby himself.