It was a hard movie for me to sit through just because it's so unnerving, I'm not sure what point (if any) the movie was trying to make other than making the viewer feel completely uncomfortable. The movie is pretty horrifying with the sound effects and stuff they use.
But either way, I still like it. It is a work of art. I mean how many movies have you seen that can make you feel a certain way. It also uses great lighting and fantastic imagery that just sticks with you.
But I totally agree it's the kind of movie that can lead to pretentiousness. But it's so well known that maybe hipsters think it's too mainstream =P
You have a point but I still think that Eraserhead, in terms of a movie, is absolute crap. Now on the other hand if you consider it to be a tool to induce nightmares...
Also I think there's a reason why David Lynch has been awfully quite about this film. There's no point in it, at all. It's "just" a student project. He did what he could with the meager budget and instead of trying to have a plot or any purpose its just a showcase of photography and general filmmaking skills. Like some kind of CV for filmmaking to allow him to get his hands on bigger projects.