Gerald Potterton’s 1981 fantasy-animated film Heavy Metal screens this weekend at 5th Avenue Cinema, and everyone should go out to see it.
The film is an anthology of adapted fantasy and science fiction stories taken from Heavy Metal Magazine. Heavy Metal consists of seven stories containing a great deal of graphic violence, nudity and sexuality—all-around it is an entertaining and hilarious film.
The title sequence story sets the tone for the film. The story opens with a space shuttle flying around earth. The doors open and out flies an astronaut driving a 1960 Corvette in space—a beautiful introduction to the movie. The astronaut, named Grimaldi, arrives home and wants to show his daughter a green crystalline sphere. As soon as he pulls out the sphere he is immediately melted. The orb then introduces to the girl that he is the “sum of all evils.” Looking into what is known as the Loc-Nar, the daughter sees how it has influenced societies through time and space.
What then goes on to happen is the movie tells of the different stories that only one can see for themselves. The ending is brilliant, the soundtrack hilarious and the animation scandalous.
The best parts of this movie are the epitome of improper behavior, and are absolutely hilarious. Anyone who finds sex, violence and crude language as precious as I do should see this immediately. Please go out to see this classic, you won’t regret it.
