Heavy Metal

Imagine every Metal album cover you've ever seen on vinyl. Now imagine all of those elements combined in to an hour-and-a-half long anthology of several stories about a glowing green orb that is the essence of all evil in all of the universes. There's violence, gore, societal filth and perversion, alien worlds and fantastical creatures, and that's just in the first act. It is by no means a great movie, but boy howdy is it a hell of a watch for someone in 2021.

This film pushed the limits to what western animation could show and it remains a seminal guilty pleasure for any animation fan. Being an anthology, the nature of the film varies wildly with the story, "Den," is a personal favourite as a concise but fun adaptation of Richard Corben's classic original stories about a boy whisked to the fantasy world of Neverwhere where he becomes a naked macho man having an adventure beyond his wildest dreams. However, it is John Candy's narration that grounds the fantasy with an welcome tongue-in-cheek tone as the same naive kid taking this bizarre experience in. The rest of the film is more varied whether it is the humourously cartoony satire of "Captain Sternn," or the terrifying "B-17," which can get to you whether fantastic or realistic horrors affect you more. "Harry Canyon" is more mediocre as a futuristic noir with its questionable depiction of women, although its main plot strikingly presages the classic live-action film, "The Fifth Element." So, when you see this film, you are going to enjoy a playfully naughty experience that too much of Hollywood today does not have the guts to emulate.

I have been a subscriber to Heavy Metal since the 70's an awesome magazine showcasing amazing artists from around the globe. Love the magazine and both of the movies. Classic,great music,super stories and animation. Tarna Rules!