The Short Films of David Lynch

Before David Lynch made his first full length feature film, the cult classic "Eraserhead", he produced several short films during his early years using different filming styles and techniques. Most of them are only a few minutes long and don't make much sense. Even Lynch himself has a hard time describing them and has only the faintest recollection of what he was thinking at the time and what he was trying to portray. Fortunately, these rare gems that show us how the creative genius that is David Lynch came to be, have been gathered together, dusted off and put together on one DVD. Now if we could only get John Waters to do the same thing with his early short films.

Six Men Getting Sick Six Times:

Filmed in 1967 with a cost of $200. Lynch made his first short film after gazing at a painting on display. A door opened and a stray breeze made the painting move a little. This inspired him to make a "moving painting". He built a sculpture screen 6X8 and animated a surrealistic image of what looks like six figures that move slightly, then puke. This sequence repeats six times and has a (very annoying) looping siren sound track. The final product is about 3-4 minutes long. A gentlemen named H. Barton Wasserman saw this piece of artwork, loved the idea and offered David Lynch $1000 to make one for him. Lynch bought a new camera with half the money and used the other half to film a new piece. He filmed over 100 ft of footage only to find out that there was a problem with the camera and all the footage was ruined and completely unusable. Fortunately, the buyer took pity on Lynch and gave him a little more money and said "Just give me a print". The result was his second short film, The Alphabet.



The Alphabet:

David Lynch was married to a girl named Peggy at the time, who was an exceptional painter and he used her talents to make most of this short film. Lynch got the inspiration for this film one night when Peggy's niece woke up from a nightmare where she was frantically repeating the alphabet. Filmed half live and half animated, letters appear (a capital A even gives birth to a bunch of little lower case a's) and change. A girl (played by Peggy Lynch) writhes around in bloody sheets, reciting the alphabet, blood red flows from her mouth and eyes in an otherwise completely monochromatic atmosphere. The soundtrack is mainly an operatic male singing and wind sounds. Approximately 4 minutes long. Very gothic, very nightmarish.



The Grandmother:

After completing "The Alphabet", David Lynch had been "bitten by the bug" and immediately started putting together another project titled "The Grandmother". The script was very dense and very short, a trait that we soon learned came with most of David Lynch's movie scripts. Lynch was already in the process of making Eraserhead (almost a hobby, taking over five years to complete) for over a year and the money had run out. Lynch applied for a grant from the American Film Institute, not at all expecting to get it. The scripts for both movies were submitted and surprisingly, he got the grant which was eventually used for the shorter of the two films (Eraserhead was over 90 minutes and The Grandmother was only 23 minutes). The Grandmother was finished in 1970 and quickly gained notoriety and very much displayed what was to be known as David Lynch's gothic personal style. It begins with some stop-motion animation using photo cutouts. A man, woman and child are "born" from the earth, the man attacks the child, which is the opening to the film's theme in live action. The story is told through imagery and has probably a total of six words said throughout the entire film. Basically, a young boy that has very neglectful and abusive parents yearns for love and affection. After getting his ass whipped for pissing the bed, the young boy pours dirt on his bed and plants a seed of some kind. He "waters" it daily and grows a disgusting looking plant that "gives birth" to an old lady. She turns out to be a grandmother figure towards the child. All is well, apparently the grandmother has no problem with the kid wetting his bed (we see it colored yellow against a mostly monochromatic background). One day the grandmother starts to "malfunction" and goes flipping out all around the room. The kid goes to his parents for help, but is met with abuse. The grandmother disappears. Next we see the kid strolling through a cemetery and he runs into the grandmother there, they both scream, kid goes home... The End. What does it all mean? I don't even think David Lynch knows for sure.



The Amputee:

Filmed in 1973, The Amputee exists in only two takes on two different types of film tape. The American Film Institute was looking into buying a large quantity of a particular kind of film tape and since there were two major brands being made at the time, both were tested using the same scene to see which looked better. Lynch asked if he could film whatever he wanted and was given permission to do so as long as it was exactly the same scene. With the freedom to do what he wanted, he scripted a scene where a male nurse (played by Lynch) is cleaning and dressing the wounds of a woman who has recently had both of her legs amputated. The woman (played by Catherine Coulson which we all grew to love as "The Log Lady" from Twin Peaks) is busy writing a letter or novel of some kind and pays absolutely no attention to the nurse who is about to puke because oozy crap is flowing out of her wounds. The first take had the better quality, but the second take is much funnier. Much more ooz than in the first one and the actress is clearly on the verge of laughing. Catherine Coulson who plays the amputee, was married to Jack Nance at the time. Jack Nance who played Henry in Eraserhead and Pete Martell on Twin Peaks was married to Coulson when Eraserhead and The Amputee were being filmed. They were reunited several years later when both had major roles on the hit series Twin Peaks.



The Cowboy and the Frenchman:

After Blue Velvet was released, David Lynch took a vacation in Paris. While there, he was approached by an associate about a TV series about how Americans see the French. David originally declined because he didn't really feel that it was something that could be done in what was becoming an ever evolving personal film style of his, which was very artful, abstract and gothic (everything this film wasn't supposed to be). Six different directors were chosen to make a short film that could possibly end up being the pilot to a new TV series. David Lynch went home and did some thinking about the offer and thought that maybe he could make a film with this theme. He should have stuck with his gut instinct, because this film really sucks and is my least favorite of the entire collection. Basically the story goes as such... Four ranch hands are sitting around chewin' "Tabaccee" and out of nowhere, a Frenchman comes staggering out of the forest carrying a suitcase with all the french essentials, such as wine, cheese, snails, perfume etc. Eventually, the group is joined by three women, who only dance around and have no apparent purpose for being there. Also a choir of three other women break in every now and then to sing a single verse and then back to the "story". When David Lynch presented his version of the pilot, he was greeted with the insult "Great, two cliches for the price of one". Needless to say, his version wasn't chosen. Can't say that I blame them, it really was bad and had a theme that I don't think Lynch could lower himself enough to even attempt to make this kind of crap. I think he felt a need for a more artful kind of work and a little more freedom when it came to his artistic integrity. But hey, it was worth a try.



Lumiere:

In the late 90's, Lumiere Brothers Incorporated., a large producer of TV and movie cameras, was doing an experiment with an antique camera. The camera was made of wood and had a crank. This camera was passed around to a few different directors. Each individual director was to produce 55 seconds of footage with the camera. Also there were some restrictions enforced: you could have no more than three takes, and once you got the crank turning, it couldn't be stopped until the film was over. In the short 55 seconds that David Lynch had, we see quick flashes of events such as... cops finding a dead body on the lawn, people crying, fire, and a naked woman in a large aquarium tank. If allowed more time, this film could have had some promise.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

Shortly after the cancellation of the hit television series known as Twin Peaks, fans still yearned for more. A year after the cancellation of the show, a prequel was made to help tie up some of the loose ends left by the series. Unfortunately, it created more questions than answers. The film didn't do very well, at least not in comparison to the cult phenomenon that emerged from the success of the TV series. It had more than a few strikes against it. A typical David Lynch (who abandoned the show in it's second season, yet returned to film the prequel movie) maneuver was to film as much footage as possible and then piece it all together later on. Over five hours of footage was filmed, yet was cut down to a mere two hours, leaving a tremendous amount of plot holes. Talk is in the air about a re-release of the film with the deleted footage returned. Maybe then, we can make better sense of the movie. Another strike against this film is the absence of all but a small handful of actors that were in the series. Most of them either declined to be in the movie or had other scheduling conflicts. A main character of the show, Donna Hayward, played by Lara Flynn Boyle, cited scheduling conflicts as well, but wide rumor has it that she just didn't want to do the nude scenes to be included in the movie. Therefore, since Donna Hayward was a critical part of the story, the part was recast with Moira Kelly, which confused a lot of people. Being a monster fan of the show, I found the movie quite a work of art and was able to (mostly) understand what was happening. As everyone who's seen the show knows, the story begins with the murder of Prom Queen Laura Palmer. The series builds momentum as the hunt for Laura's killer leads us face to face with the underbelly of the town and about how everyone in Twin Peaks has a secret. The first 17 out of 29 total episodes deals with the Laura Palmer case. The events leading up to Laura's death are slowly but surely revealed. The movie is more or less the last seven days of Laura Palmer's life, verbatim with what was described in the series. Another fault of the movie was that Sheryl Lee was already 25 when she played Laura Palmer who is only supposed to be 17 years old, and when playing out the tawdry secret life she lived, Sheryl Lee could almost pass for 30-something. Another complaint that many people have about the movie was that it was too "in your face", which was a stark contrast to the show where everything was bubbling just under the surface, the allure of everything being so secretive. I never really found this to be a fault though. I mean I loved the secrets of the town and all but this film was supposed to be about Laura's demise, which included drug abuse, prostitution, sexual promiscuity and bondage. So of course it's gonna be tawdry, because that's who Laura was. The audience craved for more information involving Laura Palmer, but when they got it, all they did was bitch about it. I'm positive that this movie could stand alone without having seen the series because that's how I saw it. One night a friend of mine rented it, I'd never seen the show before but was still able to understand what it was about and loved it. Like the show, it was well written and very clever. Granted a few things made more sense after watching the series, but if you don't have an extra 30 hours to watch the series, the movie does just fine.

Black Lodge

Black Lodge is a video store in Memphis T.N. The most blood drenched slasher flicks to the most obscure foreign films have found a home at The Black Lodge Video in Memphis. "I have a love of film," said Bryan Hogue, co-owner of Black Lodge with his partner Matt Martin. "I consider myself a film archivist in a way. This is a film library." They met when they were both grocery baggers at Seesel's, according to Hogue. "Horror was our main thing when we were growing up," Hogue said. "It's kind of how we got to know each other." Black Lodge opened its doors in October of 2000 with about 6,000 videos, according to Hogue. "We wanted our hobby to pay for itself," Hogue said. "We knew that we could do it well." Black Lodge has grown significantly over the past few years. Now they have a collection of over 10,000 videos and 4,200 DVDs. "We had a big collection, and we started building on it," Martin said. "Then we said, 'let's just open the doors and see what happens.' At first. we didn't know if we would survive or not, then it just blew up." The inspiration for Black Lodge came from the duo working at similar video stores in Colombia, Mo., where they attended college. They realized that there was not a video store like theirs in the area."It made sense to put up some boards on the wall and see if anyone was interested," Martin said. "The heart of it is that I love people to be able to get access to films. I like to think that people find a place for themselves here, some way for people to make their lives more enjoyable." The name for the store came from Twin Peaks, a TV show created by David Lynch."In the show, there were two spiritual places, the black lodge and the white lodge," Hogue said. "The black lodge was where all the evil spirits were." There has been a certain amount of mythology that has shrouded the store in mystery to outsiders, according to Martin. "I think it's the tattoos," Martin said. "People need something to believe in even if it's creepy and weird."Martin and Hogue, along with many other people over the years, have gotten tattoos of the Black Lodge owl on various parts of their bodies. "Almost every single part of the human anatomy has been tattooed with the Black Lodge owl," Martin said. "For years we've had people come in here thinking that we do all kinds of things.People have thought that they were in a secret society, a cult and that they killed people for not returning movies, according to Martin. Martin and Hogue are the only people who work at Black Lodge for money. The rest of the people are more like an extended family of volunteers, according to Hogue. "We've had a lot of friends come in. They pretty much work for rentals and hang out space," Hogue said. "We prefer that to hiring strangers off of the street. If you have your friends working with you, it's more pleasant than strangers." Working with friends and fostering a family atmosphere does have its down side, according to Martin. "It's more like a Manson family atmosphere," Martin said. "There is constantly in-fighting, but for the most part, it feels like home." The love of film and of Black Lodge has infected more than just its owners though. "This is the most awesome collection I've seen in my life," said Bernard "BJ" Rule, who has been volunteering at the store since 2000. "I take a lot of pride in being here." The volunteers help in all aspects of the store and do a lot to keep everything running smoothly, according to Martin. "It's a great place to watch great movies," said Mike Degnan, who has been involved with Black Lodge since 2001. "It's one of the most innovative and unique businesses in the region that works." Black Lodge also provides a venue for people who are tired of dealing with major video rental chains, according to Degnan. "What are you waiting for? Blockbuster is a joke, and Hollywood video isn't much better," Degnan said. "You've got no excuse not to come here unless you're looking for kids' movies." Black Lodge's vast collection is a great place to get a self-education in film history, according to Degnan. Area film professors also use the store to help educate their students. "Just about every film class, no matter what school, comes to us. The teachers have found us, and they know that we've got what they need," Hogue said. "If someone assigns a paper that movie is always out by the end of the day." Aside from being an archive of sorts and serving the community's film students, Black Lodge has to compete with larger chain video stores and the Internet. "It all has to do with the future of the film industry itself. We'll probably always stick around as a type of vintage shop," Martin said. "The high times for all of this is now, but we'll always have a place to hang out and do our thing." The Black Lodge emerged at an exciting time in Memphis film when Craig Brewer and John Michael McCarthy were first making a name for themselves in the film industry, according to Martin. Black Lodge was even given exclusive rights to Brewer's first film, "The Poor and the Hungry." "There are still things that have gone under our radar. We're still constantly learning ourselves," Hogue said. Speaking for myself, this is the biggest treasure trove I've ever come across. As a lover of old cult films, I nearly fainted when I entered this store for the first time. I've lived in some pretty diverse cities and never in a million years, thought I would come across Heaven on Earth, here in Tennessee. This isn't just any old video store, it's a well stocked cinematic library of global proportions.

Twin Peaks

One of the quirkiest shows ever to hit the airways and definately one of the best. The pilot alone earned director/producer David Lynch a Peabody Award. The story begins with high school prom queen Laura Palmer washing up on the lakeshore in her hometown of Twin Peaks. Special agent Dale Cooper is brought in to solve the crime, but the more they inquire into Laura's life, the more they start to realize that Laura had been a completely different person than everyone thought she was. Among her shenanigans were drug use, prostitution, etc. Though the story completely revolves around Laura, we hardly see much of her with the exceptoin of flashback scenes. The search for Laura's killer ultimately reveals a town filled a ton of secrets. The show ran for two seasons with 30 one hour episodes and a prequel movie. You really have to pay attention and watch the episodes in order if you're to make heads or tails what's going on (and even then it's hard to figure out). Something will happen in episode 5 and not explained until episode 27. A little confusing but it's well worth it. Top notch entertainment!

Eraserhead

One of the best known cult films in cinematic history is Eraserhead. This was the first full length feature by the king of "hard to figure out" movies, David Lynch. This movie has way more symbolism than most people can handle and the true plot has been widely discussed for years due to the fact that Mr. Lynch has decided to take its true meaning to his grave. He just calmly states that even he doesn't remember what it's truly about. Henry lives an extraordinarily dismal life and there's pure desolation everywhere. He gets a message one day from a recently departed girlfriend that she and Henry now have a baby. Henry is forced to wed Mary by her parents. Oh yeah, there's a hitch to it alright. The baby is badly deformed and looks more like an overgrown sperm cell. Gee, no apparant symbolism there. Anyway, the girlfriend splits and dumps Henry with the baby who then gets very sick. As Henry nurses this sick sperm cell, he has visions of a weird chick in a radiator and his head being used to make pencil erasers. Personally, my take on it... (silence please) I think Henry has a brain tumor, losing his memory and is dying. The desolation, holes in the roof, the title (duh), and a woman with bloated cheeks sings about how great Heaven is. Go figure. A very dark and moody movie that can be endlessly speculated about. A classic.