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Eraserhead IQ Score 162/200

Eraserhead has an IQ Score of 162/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient rubric, placing it in the Masterclass tier.

horrorsurrealindie
162/ 200
Masterclass

Exceptional cognitive and educational substance, delivered with craft that sustains close attention

Eraserhead poster, IQ Score 162/200, Masterclass tier on TV Intelligentsia

Score Breakdown

Legacy score. Published under our earlier workflow, before the current standard took effect in August 2026. A founder reviewed and approved it against our methodology, under a process that does not meet the standard we hold now. What this means →

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Cognitive Stimulation/50
42
Educational Value/50
38
Craft & Quality/50
42
IQ = round((Cognitive × 0.4 + Educational × 0.35 + Craft × 0.25) × 4)  · How we score →
What these dimensions mean
  • Cognitive Stimulation: observable narrative complexity, conceptual density, ambiguity, inference, and sustained intellectual demands in the work.
  • Educational Value: the density and integration of substantive academic, historical, scientific, cultural, ethical, or practical information in the work.
  • Craft & Quality: production excellence in service of the work, its direction, writing, performance, and aesthetic intent.

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Why you should trust this score

Scored under Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH
Physician and founding editor. Maintains the adult catalog against the published rubric and reviews the rubric application.
Formula
round((C × 0.40 + E × 0.35 + Q × 0.25) × 4)
Database scale
2,607 titles, version-controlled
TVI Canon

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The TVI Take

David Lynch's 1977 directorial debut, a five-year independent production filmed at the AFI's Greystone facility. The structural commitment to industrial-noise sound design (the late Alan Splet's collaboration with Lynch) is among the most-formally-disciplined first features in American cinema.

Henry Spencer's parental-anxiety nightmare register established the Lynch lexicon every subsequent work in the catalog draws on.

People & Production David Lynch · American Film Institute · United States 18 connections

Direction & creation

Director

On screen & sound

Selected cast
Jack Nance Jeanne Bates Jack Fisk Jennifer Lynch Charlotte Stewart Allen JosephSelected in source order; not represented as billing order.

Production & release

Production company
Distributor
Country of origin
Original language

Credits and relationships: Wikidata, CC0. TVI preserves production, broadcasting, and distribution as separate roles.

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Where to go next

Cite this score

Eraserhead scored 162/200 (Masterclass tier) on TV Intelligentsia's published methodology. Source: tvintelligentsia.com/titles/eraserhead/

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