Inland Empire (IE) beats out Eraserhead for the scarier surrealist movie, mostly because it has much less of David Lynch‘s diffident, “unintentional” humor. Frustratingly enough, that humor still shows up in IE from time to time, but despite its incomprehensibility, IE is somewhat entertaining in how manic and disturbing it is, where Lynch’s earlier cryptographs are often just dull. IE can be enjoyed as simply a morphing spectacle.

But for three hours? No, thank you. For the most part, Inland Empire is inscrutable to the point of being boring, and the most I got out of it is the haunting sections taken from Rabbits, a previous Lynch project. Did you know there was no script for many of Inland Empire‘s recording sessions? You can tell! I’m all for experimentation, but I don’t like being the guinea pig. I’m horribly allergic to those portly rodents. If you’re wondering where to start with David Lynch’s relatively more surreal films, look no further than Mulholland Drive. Inland Empire is for the truly dedicated and little others.