Just saw this, another weird short directed by David Lynch early in his career, on YouTube. In it, you hear kids saying loudly in unison, "A-B-C! A-B-C!" Then there are some animation that turns bizarre like when a tube gives birth to a couple of A's as you hear a baby crying. Then there's this woman (played by Peggy Lynch, David's first wife) who recites the alphabet singing who suddenly bleeds through her nose after she's done. Oh, and it's dark and she's in her bed the whole time. The end. There are some other bizarre things here but I'll just leave you to search this on YouTube. After all that, I'll say this for David Lynch: He's certainly like no one else on film!

Based on an actual event, Lynch's niece had a nightmare where she recited the alphabet in her sleep, this film is basically the same thing, with a young woman reciting the alphabet in her sleep while we see nightmarish imagery.Its an interesting piece with truly frightening images. Unfortunately the animation isn't all that spectacular, consisting of animated drawings. Its a good piece that mostly works and shows the seeds of the later Eraserhead.If you come across one of the short film videos of Lynch's early work this film, and one or two others, makes it worth renting.

'The Alphabet' has to be one of the most successful attempts to bring the atmosphere of a nightmare to film, even more so than 'Eraserhead', which Lynch once described as a filmed nightmare.The original inspiration for the film came from Lynch's then-wife, Peggy (who appears in the film as the little girl), describing to him how she heard her niece having a dream & repeating the alphabet.This mostly animated short is very abstract & disturbing, with a suitably twisted soundtrack, & although it's based around the alphabet, there's plenty of blood & a bit of sexual imagery. It really does invoke the type of loose, irrational feel of an actual dream, as opposed to the usual filmed 'dreams', which try to define themselves as such with soft focus & slow motion.

This avant garde piece miraculously comes off without being cliché or dismissible (as is so common with artsy avant garde film). Peggy Lynch (I'm assuming is his daughter) goes through a sequence of harrowing events that had some connection with the alphabet. I particularly liked the bed-wetting and the dirt. The person I watched this with said the dirt looked very "inviting." I strangely agreed. Only Lynch could make dirt inviting. Very interesting work. 8/10