Heavy Metal, The Movie

Back in the early '80s, an animated movie came out based on the adult comic magazine Heavy Metal.  The 1981 movie, also called Heavy Metal, ultimately would develop a cult following and become a favorite of the late night movie circuit. Heavy Metal consisted of anthology of several animated stories, all with a style clearly geared to teen males. I love it because it serves as a wonderful time capsule of the era, in particular of the rock-oriented culture of that era, and a remembrance of what was considered cool among early '80s teens, especially males.

Heavy Metal starts with an animated space sequence, with a space shuttle (a form of space transportation then new and exciting) opening its cargo bay and releasing a corvette, which slowly descends back to earth.

A space shuttle releasing a hot sports car into space... an odd sequence that seems so obviously cool in an early '80s context, which I think would appear odd to today's youth.

The initial story involves an astronaut bringing a gift from space to his young daughter: a strange glowing orb which turns out to have great power, and which serves as a central figure in all the movie's stories.

One story features a taxi driver named Harry Canyon living a very rough, distopian future version of New York City . . .a reminder that New York of the late '70s and eraly '80s was facing its own issues of crime and decay.  Canyon's story contains a pulp fiction style with a gritty story line. 

Another story involves a zombie laden account of horror encountered by a World War II bomber crew.  As with all the stories, very teen-male oriented.

My favorite story involves a nerdy teen boy who finds the glowing orb, and takes it home to run scientific experiments on it.

The boy soon finds himself transformed into a bald, muscle-bound hero, and transported to a strange mythical land where the orb is an object of worship called the Loc-Nar.  As his new self, he calls himself "Den", and embarks on a series of adventures involving the Loc-Nar and the inhabitants of the new world to which he has been brought.

The stories in Heavy Metal includes accounts taking place in space and in strange new lands, and involving odd aliens and mythical animals. Altogether an enjoyable combination, but not too deep or complicated in its content. Its practically made for late night, leisurely viewing.

As noted, there is always a reminder of the early '80s era (with lots of leftover late '70s) which produced this flick: as in the sequence featuring drug snorting aliens, and a swinging sex-addled robot. Heavy Metal is not for everyone, but if youre into science fiction told with a pulp style, mixed with early '80s teen rock n' roll sensibility, its worth a watch.