This article is about the
1981 animated film. For other uses, see
heavy metal.
Heavy Metal is an Canadian animated film released in 1981 and directed by Ivan Reitman[?] with the cooperation of various international animation studios. The film is an anthology[?] of various adult oriented science fiction and fantasy stories adapted from the comic book Heavy Metal magazine and original stories in the same spirit. Like the magazine, the film has an unusual amount of bloody violence, nudity and sexuality for a North American animated film, especially in the time before the popularity of adult oriented Japanese anime.
The movie's framing story is about a little girl who is terrorized by a glowing green orb, The Loc-Nar who claims to be the sum of all evil who kills her father and then shows her a bizarre series of tales to illustrate his malevolent influence
These stories are in order:
- Harry Canyon: In a dystopic futuristic New York City, a cynical taxi driver[?] rescues a young woman from murderous gangsters who are determined to gain possession of the Loc-Nar that her archeologist father found. Unable to afford police protection, he hides her in his apartment and they become lovers. The next morning, Harry wakes to find the woman gone and he is threatened by corrupt cops and the gangsters who demand he cooperate with them. Eventually, the woman decides to sell the item as previously offered from the gang and the exchange is made with Harry's cooperation. The Loc-Nar kills the head gangster and, upon reaching safety, the woman immediately turns on Harry to keep all the fortune herself and he kills her in self-defense.
- Den: A nerdy teenager, Dan, finds the Loc-Nar and puts in his rock collection at home. Later during a science experiment with lightning, the orb hurls the boy to the fantasy world of Neverwhere where he has changed into a naked bald man with an idealized physique called Den. Landing on a giant idol, he witnesses a human sacrifice being performed and rescues a nubile young woman. Reaching safety, she reveals that she is Katherine Wells who was also from Earth and changed into an idealized body. Her reward to him with her sexual favours is interrupted by the minions of Ard, an immortal man who wants the Loc-Nar from the Queen to rule the world. He puts Cath in suspended animation[?] and demands that Den get the Loc-Nar before he revives her. Den agrees and with a raiding party, infiltrates the Queen's palace. He is promptly caught by the Queen's guard, but she lustfully offers leniency if he has sex with her. He agrees and during their tryst, the Loc-Nar is stolen by others in the raiding party. Den escapes and, with the Queen and her forces in pursuit, races back to the idol where Ard is attempting to recreate the sacrifice himself. Den rescues Cath and when the Queen's arrival sparks a bloody battle which ends when Den recreates the same incident that drew him to Neverwhere to banish Ard and the Queen. Refusing the oppurtunity to rule, Den and Cath ride into the sunset content to remain in Neverwhere as heroes with idealized bodies.
- Captain Sternn: On a space station, a square jawed space captain is on trial for numerous serious charges. Pleading Not Guilty, Sternn explains to his astonished lawyer that he intends to get acquitted on account that he bribed a witness, Hanover Fiste, to praise his character. Fiste takes the stand, but his perjury is subverted by the Loc Nar he found forcing him to blurt out the truth about Sternn's evil. Fiste denounces Sternn with such fury that he changes into a muscled giant like the Incredible Hulk and chases Sternn throughout the station. Eventually, Fiste corners Sternn and promptly receives his promised payoff for his part in Sternn's plan to escape. Sternn then murders Fiste by throwing him out into space and the Loc-Nar falls to Earth for the next story.
- B-17: A World War II bomber makes a difficult bombing run with heavy damage and casulties. As the bomber limps home, the Loc-Nar rams itself into the plane and raises the dead crewmembers as rampaging zombies. The pilot barely bails out in time, only to find himself on an island where he is surrounded by a host of other zombies of dead airmen.
- So Beautiful, So Dangerous:A science consultant arrives at The Pentagon for a meeting about mysterious mutations that are plaguing the USA. At the meeting, the consultant tries to dismiss the occurrences, but he begins to behave irratically at the site of the green Loc-Nar like stone in the secretary's locket until he goes beserk and sexually assaults her. In the sky above, a colossal ship with a happy face design breaks in through the roof to suck up the consultant and the secretary into the ship. The robot inside is irritated at the consultant, who is actually an android shattering, but his mood changes when the secretary arrives. With the cooperation of the ship's hippie crewmembers, he convinces the secretary to stay with them and they become lovers. Meanwhile, the pilots indulge in a massive amount of drugs and fly home completely stoned.
- Taarna: The Loc-Nar crashes onto a future Earth and changes a crowd of humans into mutated murderous barbarians who ravage a peaceful city. The elders desperately summon the last of a warrior race called Tarakians. Taarna, a nubile and silence warrior maiden, arrives too late to stop the massacre and resolves to avenge the city. Her search leads to the barbarians where she is captured, tortured and left for dead. With the help of her avian mount, she escapes and confronts the leader. Though wounded, she defeats him and in one last effots rams herself into the Loc-Nar destroying it. By connection, the Loc-Nar terrorizing the girl is similarly destroyed and the girl is revealed to be the next Tarakian herself.
Critical Reaction-----
The critics were generally dismissive complaining that the film was wildly uneven and appealed only to adolescent tastes.
Popular Reaction-----
The film enjoyed only limited appeal in its initial run, but the film became a popular cult attraction for midnight theatrical showings much like
Rocky Horror Picture Show. The film's mystique was hightened when legal problems with the film's music rights kept the film off the commercial
home video[?] market for 15 years which allowed the film to have a kind of rare appeal since viewers could see it only in theatres or in bootleg recordings. In 1996, the legal issues were resolved and the film is now in general availability.
Canonical Example-----
The film may or may not be the canonical example of a popular film or album
which was unavailable on popular media (CD, videotape, DVD) for a long time
despite critical acclaim or success, for obscure reasons.