"Dumbland is a crude, stupid, violent, and absurd series. If it is funny, it is funny because we see the absurdity of it all"

That's the caption that prefaces the main menu of the latest DVD to emerge from David Lynch's website. Lynch's first self-distributed releases - Eraserhead, and a collection of his shorts - were initially available from his site before they were picked up by Subversive Cinema (which, in the latter's case, saved Canadian buyers from wickedly expensive shipping and brokerage fees).

Like the aforementioned DVDs, if bought directly from Lynch's site, Dumbland also comes in a custom box, and unlike the 'street version', the disc also comes with an 8-page booklet, which one assumes covers the episodes in some modest degree.

In both web and street versions, the DVD is a bare bones release, housing all 8 episodes, and nothing else. It's in line with Lynch's desire to keep the focus on the film; watch the show cold, and reflect on the sounds and images without the subjective opinions or ad pap redolent of most DVDs.

Dumbland doesn't really need much explaining: low-tech, black & white scribble animation, originally designed as a streaming video for Lynch's site. The lead character is a big, unshaven goon who beats his wife, smacks his wan, squealing kid, never closes his round mouth, and when not swearing in high-pitched tirades, he lets loose one giant fart after another.

The imagery is instantly familiar: screams from a shell-shocked woman, long reaction pauses, understated character delivery, and repeated cutaways to prolong silence before some bizarre visual or aural punchline.

As in most of Lynch's films, the stereo sounds are grating and surreal: flies buzz close to the mike, cars screech, head smashes are profoundly enhanced, and there's usually some droning, unnerving sound that Lynch fades from, and to, in the background; or he has his characters performing their own organic sonics during those long-held reaction shots.

Episode One, "The Neighbor" (2:52) has the big goon admiring his neighbor's shed, farting, swearing at a black helicopter, and discovering his neighbor is an amputee who likes ducks in the forbidden sense.

Episode Two, "The Treadmill" (3:40), has the goon smacking his wife and kid away, and struggling to stop a loud, runaway treadmill from ruining his sports game on TV. When a sledgehammer becomes embedded in his ass, he manages to free the lodged object through one mother of a gasser (hence the DVD cover art), and breaks the neck of a nosey 'Smell Gud' salesman (who boasts of knowing the complete Gettysburg address).

Episode Three, "The Doctor" (4:33), has the goon sticking his finger on a broken lamp. Electrocuted and suffering from numb nerves and skittering eyeballs, a doctor arrives and performs sensory restoration ("Does that hurt?") after stabbing the goon in the ear.

Episode Four, "A Friend Visits" (3:48), begins with the goon ripping out his screaming wife's clothesline (to prevent accidental cranial separation while taking a midnight dump), and later he enjoys a beer with his hunting buddy; talking, farting, chuckling, and going on about decapitating animals.

Episode Five, "Get the Stick" (4:06), alternates between the child's incessant declamations ("Hey Dad! There's a man with a stick caught in his mouth! Get the stick! Get the stick! Get the stick!"), a man with a plank wedged in his mouth, and the goon's sorry efforts that break the guy's neck and poke out both eyes before the nail-encrusted beam is yanked out from the left socket. The man subsequently crawls into traffic, and gets run over by a semi.

Episode Six, "My teeth are bleeding" (3:55), consists of the goon in the family room, nonchalantly observing a wrestler's head repeatedly smashed on TV, roaring street traffic (cars, gangsters, and then tanks), his idiot son on the trampoline (screaming "Wee!" and then "My Gums are bleeding!"), and his whining, shell-shocked wife (who later sticks out her tongue and spits blood). The familial bliss ends when the goon swears at a buzzing fly.

Episode Seven, "Uncle Bob" (5:08), has the goon being told by some uber-goon to take care of uncle Bob ('or else!') - a broken-necked moron who breathes coarsely, punches himself in the head, stamps his foot, coughs, farts, vomits, and punches the goon on the head. The goon, later sitting in the backyard tree, is told that uncle Bob went to the hospital because he bit his foot off.

Episode Eight, "Ants" (5:18), has the goon annoyed by an increasing flow of big, black ants. He mis-aims the 'Kill' bug spray, and douses his face. While tripping out, he's treated to a Lynch-crooned musical number and told, in alternating chorus, "When we-look at-you, we-see an-asshole" (with subsequent lyrics substituting shit-head and dumb turd). The goon later wakes up in the hospital after a ceiling tumble. In a full body cast, he watches a new trail of ants crawl beneath the cast shell, and screams.

Now close your eyes, and reflect, because that's what David would like you to do.

Or else.

© 2006 Mark R. Hasan