Problems on start up

I have a imac early 2009. Yesterday it shut down on its own for what looked like an update (don't know as I was in the other room and just heard the startup sound). As it attempted to startup, the screen showed the apple and progress bar, then went to all static. Several min later it displayed the lock screen but all of the graphics, app icons, mouse cursor etc were corrupted. I was once able to sign in past the lock screen to a user but although the background image was fine all other graphics were corrupted and I could not click on anything. The computer was completely frozen at that point. I have attempted Safe Mode but cannot get that to work. Any suggestions??? If it is toast, is there any way to get the data off of it? Starting to panic a bit. Thanks!!