Heavy Metal (1981)

Directors: Gerald Potterton, John Bruno, John Halas

A glowing green orb that embodies ultimate evil terrorizes a young girl with an anthology of bizarre and fantastic stories.

Filled with sex, nudity and heavy metal, this animated film is definitely not for kids. This is an anthology film, and for an acquired taste.

An evil green Orb from space, the Loc-Nar, tells a young girl stories about people who encountered him, what became of them and why he must kill her once he has finished his stories. Most people who come in contact with the Loc-Nar are being killed.

The story I enjoyed most, was ‘Harry Canyon’. Harry is a cab driver in a dystopian New York where crime is the order of the day. When he rescues a woman from her captors, he takes her to his apartment. She tells him about the Loc-Nar, an ancient relic her father found in the desert, and believed to have spiritual powers, and worth a fortune. She decides to sell the orb and asks Harry to help her. I enjoyed this story and the character of Harry and was a bit disappointed when the story ended. I wanted to see more of Harry (not in a sexual sense, although that would have been nice, if I have to confess…)

I also enjoyed the story about a teenager who experimented with electricity. With the orb in his possession, he is transported to another universe during a thunderstorm, and transformed into a muscular, naked, hung hunk. He saves a beautiful young woman who is about to be sacrificed, and as reward she offers herself to him. There’s plenty of sex and nudity in this story, too, and I think I’m starting to sound like a voyeur…

Next, we see a story about a soft-spoken man named Hanover Fiste, who is called as a witness in the trial of crook Lincoln Sternn. With the Loc-Nar – now the size of a marble – in Hanover’s possession he undergoes a transformation and becomes a huge muscular man wreaking havoc.

The next story is about a World War II bomber pilot, whose crew turns into zombies after the orb attaches itself to the plane. This is a very short segment and a pity, because it felt rushed, and I wanted to see more.

The final story is about a scantily clad woman riding a bird and exacting her revenge on a barbaric army. Yeah, I must be honest, my attention started drifting after the third segment and I became a bit bored with the movie. The music was great, though, and a real treat – if you’re into rock and metal, that is.

‘Heavy Metal’ managed to double its production budget, earning $20 million on a budget of $9.3 million. It won awards for Best Sound Editing, Best Overall Sound, and Best Film.

Would I watch it again? No.