Heavy Metal «««
R, 90m. 1981
Featuring the voices of Richard Romanus, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Harold Ramis, Eugene Levy, Richard Franks and John Vernon. Screenply by Daniel Goldberg and Len Blum. Directed by Gerald Potterton.
Somewhere in your local Blockbuster Video store is a separate section reserved for animation videos. Missing there among the twenty to thirty films is a full length animated feature film every teenager, mostly guys, have been asking for as long as I have been working with the company.
Ask any video store clerk today if Heavy Metal (1981) is on tape and you’ll be guaranteed the same answer over and over again.
“No, it is not,” a video clerk might say provided he or she knows anything about movies.
The reason Heavy Metal has not been released on video is because for a number of years now, the movie’s distributor, Columbia Pictures, has had trouble obtaining the musical rights.
Now it looks as though the wait may finally be over. In the tradition of various cult films from The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) to the director’s cut of Blade Runner (1982), Heavy Metal is getting a complete beauty make over, you might say, in theaters. The Dallas Morning News reported in early 1996 that the film will be released on video later this year which up until now, ever since its first release in 1981, has been seen only on cable and at midnight theatrical showings.
This newly restored print, however, allows the viewer to see the film the way it was meant to be seen. The soundtrack, which includes songs from Black Sabbath, Grand Funk Railroad, Devo, Stevie Nicks and Journey is heard loud and clear through the new stereo system, Sony Dynamic Digital Sound.
The live animation sequences have been cleaned up and come alive in full blown color. Use your imagination on what the women look like. I will only go so far as to say that they rarely keep their clothes on and are quite voluptuous. Gone is the fuzzy interference one might get if he or she dubbed a copy of the film on cable.
Like the kinky fantasy comic magazine that inspired it, Heavy Metal seems geared only for the 60’s generation on up. The film promotes drugs, sex, graphic violence, and rock and roll. The movie is narrated by The Loc Nar, a green alien artifact with a deep sinister voice similar to the Star Wars trilogy’s Darth Vader, who tells six science fiction short stories.
The best of the lot is “Harry Canyon” about a futuristic New York City cabdriver (Richard Romanus) who gets himself embroiled with beautiful women and alien gangsters. He drives a cab equipped with all the accessories a double agent like James Bond might need. Harry doesn’t have to worry about weapons. He’s got more than enough guns stashed away in his club compartment from all the criminals he disintegrated in the back seat.
In another story reminiscent of such science fiction horror films as Alien (1979), the Loc Nar follows a B-17 bomber and resurrects most of the dead crew into skeletal monsters.
Audiences may even recognize some of the voices. John Candy lends his voice to a couple of characters. In “Den,” Candy plays a nerdy kid whose experiments with the artifact send him sprawling into a futuristic world. His dreams of becoming a superhero and saving the damsel in distress are fulfilled.
“Wow,” he says. “Sex with two women in one day. This would never happen to me on earth.”
In another segment, Candy plays a robot that resembles Mickey Mouse and has the sexual stamina of a human male. John Vernon, best known as Dean Wormer from Animal House (1978), is the perfect voice as an alien prosecutor overseeing a trial in “Captain Sternin.”
A couple films with anthology stories like Creepshow (1982) and Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) had their share of weak stories. Heavy Metal is no different. Some stories work. Others don’t. To any fan of this cult favorite, however, it probably doesn’t matter.
The movie retains the same unique quality it had 15 years ago that make it the reason why so many people ask for it today on home video. It has the graphics and the rock music.
©3/20/96
R, 90m. 1981
Featuring the voices of Richard Romanus, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Harold Ramis, Eugene Levy, Richard Franks and John Vernon. Screenply by Daniel Goldberg and Len Blum. Directed by Gerald Potterton.
Ask any video store clerk today if Heavy Metal (1981) is on tape and you’ll be guaranteed the same answer over and over again.
“No, it is not,” a video clerk might say provided he or she knows anything about movies.
The reason Heavy Metal has not been released on video is because for a number of years now, the movie’s distributor, Columbia Pictures, has had trouble obtaining the musical rights.
Now it looks as though the wait may finally be over. In the tradition of various cult films from The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) to the director’s cut of Blade Runner (1982), Heavy Metal is getting a complete beauty make over, you might say, in theaters. The Dallas Morning News reported in early 1996 that the film will be released on video later this year which up until now, ever since its first release in 1981, has been seen only on cable and at midnight theatrical showings.
This newly restored print, however, allows the viewer to see the film the way it was meant to be seen. The soundtrack, which includes songs from Black Sabbath, Grand Funk Railroad, Devo, Stevie Nicks and Journey is heard loud and clear through the new stereo system, Sony Dynamic Digital Sound.
The live animation sequences have been cleaned up and come alive in full blown color. Use your imagination on what the women look like. I will only go so far as to say that they rarely keep their clothes on and are quite voluptuous. Gone is the fuzzy interference one might get if he or she dubbed a copy of the film on cable.
Like the kinky fantasy comic magazine that inspired it, Heavy Metal seems geared only for the 60’s generation on up. The film promotes drugs, sex, graphic violence, and rock and roll. The movie is narrated by The Loc Nar, a green alien artifact with a deep sinister voice similar to the Star Wars trilogy’s Darth Vader, who tells six science fiction short stories.
The best of the lot is “Harry Canyon” about a futuristic New York City cabdriver (Richard Romanus) who gets himself embroiled with beautiful women and alien gangsters. He drives a cab equipped with all the accessories a double agent like James Bond might need. Harry doesn’t have to worry about weapons. He’s got more than enough guns stashed away in his club compartment from all the criminals he disintegrated in the back seat.
In another story reminiscent of such science fiction horror films as Alien (1979), the Loc Nar follows a B-17 bomber and resurrects most of the dead crew into skeletal monsters.
Audiences may even recognize some of the voices. John Candy lends his voice to a couple of characters. In “Den,” Candy plays a nerdy kid whose experiments with the artifact send him sprawling into a futuristic world. His dreams of becoming a superhero and saving the damsel in distress are fulfilled.
“Wow,” he says. “Sex with two women in one day. This would never happen to me on earth.”
In another segment, Candy plays a robot that resembles Mickey Mouse and has the sexual stamina of a human male. John Vernon, best known as Dean Wormer from Animal House (1978), is the perfect voice as an alien prosecutor overseeing a trial in “Captain Sternin.”
A couple films with anthology stories like Creepshow (1982) and Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) had their share of weak stories. Heavy Metal is no different. Some stories work. Others don’t. To any fan of this cult favorite, however, it probably doesn’t matter.
The movie retains the same unique quality it had 15 years ago that make it the reason why so many people ask for it today on home video. It has the graphics and the rock music.
©3/20/96
No comments:
Post a Comment