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Holistic Guidance - Heavy Metal (Collector's Edition)
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List Price: $27.95
Our Price: $23.99
Your Save: $ 3.96 ( 14% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Starring: Don Francks, Caroline Semple, Richard Romanus, Al Waxman, Harvey Atkin
Directed By: Gerald Potterton, Jimmy T. Murakami
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Sony
EAN: 9780767836319
Format: AC-3
ISBN: 0767836316
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 1999-11-23
Running Time: 90
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 1981-08-07
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Editorial Reviews:
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As long as there is a need for adolescent male sexual fantasy, there will be an audience for Heavy Metal. Released in 1981 and based on stories from the graphic magazine of the same name (possibly the greatest publication to simultaneously provoke imagination and masturbation), the film has since become the most popular single title in Columbia/TriStar's entire film library. That's an amazing fact considering just how silly and senseless the movie really is--an aimless, juvenile amalgam of disjointed stories and clashing visual styles, employing hundreds of animators from around the world with a near-total absence of creative cohesion. It remains, for better and worse, a midnight-movie favorite for the stoner crowd--a movie best enjoyed by randy adolescents or near-adults in an altered state of consciousness. With a framing story about a glowing green orb claiming to be the embodiment of all evil, the film shuttles through eight episodic tales of sci-fi adventure, each fueled by some of the most wretched rock music to emerge from the 1980s. The most consistent trademark is an abundance of blood-splattering violence and wet-dream sex, the latter involving a succession of huge-breasted babes who shed their clothes at the drop of a G-string. It's all quite fun in its rampantly brainless desire to fuel the young male libido, and for all its incoherence Heavy Metal remains impressive for the ambitious artistry of its individual segments. Courtesy of producer Ivan Reitman (who'd just scored a hit with Stripes), voice talents include several Canadian veterans of Second City comedy, including John Candy, Harold Ramis, Eugene Levy, and Joe Flaherty. --Jeff Shannon
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A Classic Film
Comment: This film is a liberating experience in storytelling. I can't recommend it highly enough to a mature audience.
Once of the things that keeps drawing me back is the sweeping symphonic soundtrack by Elmer Bernstein. It's absolutely brilliant, and you notice it mostly during the Den and Taarna stories. This soundtrack has recently been re-released.
I did notice one negative of the remastering process; in the bootleg copies of the late 80s and early 90s there were several sounds present that did not show up in the DVD release (for example, the skeleton with no jaw that used to make a gurgling sound but no longer does). These are minor but still noticeable.
Small details worthy of scrutiny drive the continued admiration for the film. Some of the animation lacks refinement in certain segments like Den, but is exceptional in Captain Sternn.
Overall, this film is a top notch experience.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Super cheesy and great 80's animated film.
Comment: Well what can I say about Heavy Metal, it was definetely one of the weirdest adult animated films out there. The storyline was cheesy as hell but I still ended up enjoying it, it did have a clever plot but some parts were uneven however it was still a very enjoyable film, one of the main reasons why I was initially interested in this film was because I heard that it was a cult classic and I also heard that they were going to make a new one next year which is going to be directed by David Fincher which should be interesting. Heavy Metal 1981 was simply a great effort that showcases a group of animators from all over the world creating different stories which were taken from the Heavy Metal magazine, I must admit that the script was all over the place but it was visually stunning in an old animated style and at that time was quite innovative cause it used the retroscoping technique, Heavy Metal is more of a sci/fi fantasy film with some added humor and it's also unintentionally hilarious cause of all the nudity and off course all the female characters happen to have huge [...] (hey not bad but it does look abit outdated) and alot of violence and gore so it's definetely not for kids, I would say maybe for teens and older. Some parts do look crude and stiff like in Harry Canyon where the main character Harry who is a cab driver in a futuristic New York city looked abit deformed especially when he was eating a sandwich. The artistry changed with each segment of the movie. You could tell that the same animators only worked on their segment, and then the style would change for the next one. Ivan Reitman who was the producer of this film decided to include his SCTV friends John Candy, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty and Harold Ramis to do some voice over work for the film, some of them including the late John Candy voiced more than one character.
Since there is no linear story line it is difficult to describe the plot synopsis. The movie centers around an evil orb called the Loc-Nar which has the ability to transcend time and space. The Loc-Nar traps a little girl and tells numerous star-spanning tales of those who have tried to use the Loc-Nar for their own personal gain. I don't want to spoil the mystery and surprise and plus you would probably laugh, I mean its not that bad just don't expect something like anime or the kind of animation that comes from Disney or Dreamworks. The standout segments are So Beautiful, So Dangerous, Captain Stern, Taarna, B17 and Den I didn't like Harry Canyon cause like I mentioned earlier that the animation looked very crude and choppy and the story dragged on a bit. Anyway each segment has something unique to offer to animation fans, B17 was written by Dan O'Bannon who also wrote the script for Alien and Return Of The Living Dead among others. B17 is a horror story involving the dead crew of a WW2 bomber who come back to life as zombies (my personal favorite) it has a very creepy atmosphere and some gore. Den was about this nerd who gets transported to another dimension and gets a new body with all new abilities which also includes seducing naked women, he then has to rescue a princess? or something and take the Loc-Nar from a race of viscous mutants, this was my second fave cause it was a bit funny and had the best animation along with Taarna. Taarna was about a strong and beautiful female warrior named Taarna who is the last of her race of strong warriors taking revenge upon a group of evil aliens who have destroyed and massacred a civilization, this segment had the best storyline and was beautifully animated especially when Taarna was riding her flying creature (the picture on the dvd cover) it was visually stunning and looked really cool not to mention it had an excellent orchestral score done by Elmer Bernstien.
The soundtrack to the film was also quite good and the music fit each segment nicely, you have great musicians like Blue Oyster Cult, Black Sabbath, Cheap Trick, Journey etc. and some of the songs kicked a** I might get the soundtrack later, its a good example of 80's rock and metal (no hair metal thank god!). Columbia Tristar presents HEAVY METAL in a widescreen 16x9 enhanced version (1:85:1) and the sound is in dolby digital 5.1 mix and if the superior audio and video portions don't sell you on this DVD than the special edition materials will. A highlight of the extras is a full length rough cut version of the film with audio commentary with Carl Macek (some guy who knows alot about this film) and a 35 minute documentary called IMAGINING HEAVY METAL with the usual behind the scenes show featuring interviews from Ivan Reitman and the crew. There is two deleted scenes as well called Neverwhere Land, and an alternate framing sequence. There is also a ton of artwork, photos, galleries, etc: The Artwork of Heavy Metal, Production Photo Gallery, Pencil Portfolio with Animations, and a Heavy Metal Magazine cover gallery featuring cover shots of every issue from 1977 to the present!. This is quite a remarkable animated film there has been no other film to mix sci-fi adult themes with heavy metal music since HEAVY METAL debuted in 1981. Although I can think of a handful of Japanese animated films that have come close but thats another story, the sequel however was very disappointing I expected it to be just as great or even better than this film but it wasn't, despite using a more advanced animation technique and cgi it just didn't work, it was still watchable though. Heavy Metal was a great cult classic animated film and its one of my favorites, good to watch after midnight cause its weird and cool but its probably better if your stoned out of your mind ;-).
Customer Rating:
Summary: Super 80's!
Comment: Wow! It's been so long since I've seen this. Most of it doesn't stand the test of time. The nudity is so gratuitous that it had me laughing after a while every time it'd come on screen. Even though there is a loose plot throughout the entire movie, it's basically a bunch of shorts:
"Soft Landing/Grimaldi"- The opening sequence definitely sets the tone of the movie with the 80's rock blaring while we watch an astronaut navigate a car in space towards Earth. Then we get the loose thread through all the stories which is the dreaded green glowing Loc-Nar- the sum of all evils!
"Harry Canyon"- This is one of my favorites. The animation's a little crude but I think it fits the `dirty' world that they're portraying. And I love the old noir detective feel it has as Harry narrates the story. It's got good action, and of course, boobs.
"Den"- I just can't take this one seriously, especially with John Candy narrating, whom I love as a comedian so it just cracks me up the way he narrates it. This truly is every nerd's dream to be whisked away to an alien world, transferred into a perfect body, and making it with hot babes. Who could ask for more?
"Captain Sternn" - The animation kind of lost me with this one and the story isn't that great. Plus the fact that one of the characters literally "Hulk's out" just makes it seem unoriginal. Sorry, but can't really salvage anything from this one.
"B-17" - This is my absolute favorite one out of the whole movie. It's the reason I wanted to go back and check it out. It's like an episode of the Twilight Zone. I love War World II stories so to set a horror idea with that as the backdrop was brilliant. I love the animation here and it still creeped me out after all these years.
"So Beautiful, So Dangerous" - In case you forgot that most of the creators contributing here grew up in the 70's, this one is a goofy reminder. A robot and two aliens capture a hot chick. The robot makes it with the chick while the two aliens get high on an insane amount of cocaine. Did I spoil the story for you? What story!
"Taarna" - This is the epic finale that ties the movie together (loosely) in grand fashion. The Loc-Nar creates an evil army on another world that decimates the local population. Enter Taarna, an elegant, beautiful, tough, and mute warrior who is like Wonder Woman on crack. The music and the animation evoke a fittingly grandiose finish to the project that is...
Heavy Metal!
Definitely check this out if you're a fan of adult animation.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Heavy Metal - A Classic
Comment: This one classic animation at it's best by any definition of the term. Fond teenage memories of this movie brought me back to buy it, and the soundtrack, many years later.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Sex, Violence, and Rock N' Roll!!!
Comment: This ridiculous combination of sex, violence, and rock n' roll make up a fun late night movie that's not meant to be taken seriously. What you get is a formula that makes up a set of short stories that were done in the old school style of animation. I don't want to give anything away so I'll end this by again saying that this a fun movie that's worth your crave for entertainment.
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