10 Things You Didn't Know About HeavyMetal

heavy metal a step beyond science fiction a universe of awesome good and a universe of terrifying evil released in 1981 heavy metal is an animated anthology movie featuring stories of the past present and future a raunchy movie of sex and violence and hard rock heavy metal is quite a unique movie as it took the animation format which for that time was mainly used for children's movies and gave the format an unapologetic hard r rated makeover and held no bars for making it an animated movie aimed at adults as it goes all out it shocked some and entertained others and became a science fiction classic but what secrets are there to be learned from this strange and unique movie so today we are going to travel to a universe you've never seen before or at least that's what the movies poster says as we look into 10 things that you didn't know about heavy metal let's check it out [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] number 10 based on a comic book magazine [Music] heavy metal is based on the magazine of the same name and just like the film the magazine offered a cocktail of science fiction action violence and erotica it all started in the mid 70s when american publisher leonard mogul visited paris to try and get a french version of the national lampoon magazine off the ground while on his visit he discovered a magazine called metal herland which had been publishing since 1975 and felt that the magazine would translate well for american readers so in 1977 the magazine was reprinted in the states under the title of heavy metal at first the magazine was just a reprint of the french version but after a while more and more american writers and artists were contributing to the heavy metal magazine including dan o'bannon who also wrote the movie alien and total recall the comic was quite daring for its time as it didn't abide to the strict comic book code of authority that most comics had to follow probably due to its more extreme and raunchy subject matter the comic was also a massive influence for co teenage mutant ninja turtles creator kevin eastman and the comic is still going on even to this day number nine canadian production [Music] heavy metal was indeed made in the great white north itself canada the movie was directed by canadian filmmaker and animator gerald potterson who also worked on the animation for the beatles animated movie yellow submarine heavy metal was produced by ivan reitman who is better known for his contributions to comedy movies of that era before heavy metal he produced animal house as well as directing meatballs and stripes and a few years after heavy metal he directed the well-loved classic ghostbusters heavy metal even features the voice talents of many famous canadian stars such as john candy and eugene levy and it also features some voice work from harold ramus and joe flaherty aka that guy that kept calling happy gilmore a jackass so it's interesting that this violent science fiction you are animated movie had a lot of talent working on it who were most well known for oddball comedies of that time number 8 unique animation technique [Music] several scenes of heavy metal use an animation technique called rotoscoping which is a process that involves tracing over the film of real live-action footage in order to make it look more animated roto-scoping isn't a rare technique and has probably been used more times than people realize just a few years before heavy metal it was used to create the glowing colourful effects for the lightsabers in star wars it was also featured in the 1979 lord of the rings animated movie and even some scenes in the disney classics snow white and the seven dwarfs the scenes that involve rotoscoping and heavy metal include the infamous scene of the car free falling to earth in space and the b-17 bomber in which the sequence was achieved by filming a smaller model of a b-17 bomber and then animating over it through rotoscoping the house explosion at the end was meant to be rotoscoped but the film's release got pushed forward from november to august so there was just no time to animate the scene leaving the explosion the only shot in the movie to not have any animation rotoscoping was considered quite cutting edge for its day however it was also seen as controversial by some animators who felt that it wasn't real animation and was a quick and easy escape for those who had a lack of talent number seven heavy metal used several animation sources despite the fact that heavy metal was a canadian production as mentioned it still featured animation that came from different animation companies from around the world this is why the animation style in some segments look quite different from one another but considering the heavy metal magazine also featured different styles with its illustrations it was felt that this went with the heavy metal comic book style a canadian animation studio called nelvana limited were offered to animate the movie but they dropped out choosing to animate the movie rock and roll instead so just check out that movie if you want to see what heavy metal could have looked like however having the animation come from several different sources proved to be both cost and time effective and is now a common practice with animation number six deleted carousel subplot the segments in heavy metal are transitioned via the evil green sphere otherwise known as lochner which some have argued makes the stories feel tied together in a sloppy way however in an early draft of the script the stories were going to be linked together in a very different way originally the younger version of tana would find a magical merry-go-round carousel and she would witness each segment by taking a spin on the mystical play equipment which although would have been weird still probably would have gelled the stories together a little more smoothly despite the fact that the harry canyon captain stern and den segments were all based on stories from the heavy metal magazine the tana segment at the end was an original story written specifically for the movie call me crazy though i actually do kind of like the magical carousel idea as weird as it is number five recycling music the [ __ ] for heavy metal was composed by movie scoring legend elmer bernstein which comes as no surprise as heavy metal was an ivan reitman production and bernstein had previously scored animal house and stripes and would go on to score reitman's big hit ghostbusters in fact the same year bernstein scored heavy metal he also scored the as mentioned stripes and an american werewolf in london as well as honky tonky freeway going ape and the chosen so needless to say 1981 was a big year for bernstein maybe he was a little too busy as the theme that bernstein provided for the tana character was actually a piece of music bernstein had written for the movie saturn 3 which came out one year earlier but that piece of music that he wrote was never used so he used it for heavy metal and as always bernstein's music for heavy metal is mesmerizing and exciting and apart from epic movie scores and oddball comedies he actually creates some pretty good science fiction sounds it's actually a shame that he didn't do more science fiction movies number four soundtrack woes so considering the movie is called heavy metal the production wanted to make sure they got some pretty rocking tunes in the movie which included songs from the likes of black sabbath and devo in fact one thing that stands out about heavy metal to many of its fans is its awesome soundtrack however its soundtrack would also become its undoing as due to copyright issues surrounding many of the songs that featured in heavy metal the movie couldn't get an initial home media vhs release only in 1996 15 years after the movie's cinematic release could heavy metal finally get an official vhs and laser disc release and this is all thanks to the as mentioned kevin eastman the co-creator of the teenage mutant ninja turtles as in 1992 he bought the publishing rights of the heavy metal magazine and managed to reach an agreement with the holders of the songs used in the movie so heavy metal could get a commercial release it was a similar dilemma for the soundtrack of the movie too which couldn't get a cd release till 1995. interestingly the band blue oyster club recorded a song for heavy metal called vengeance but the song was rejected by the production as they felt it gave too much away about the tana character so they created the song veteran of the psych ward which was used in heavy metal instead number three sequel there was in fact a sequel to heavy metal which came out in the year 2000 appropriately called heavy metal 2000 and it featured voice work from the likes of michael ironside and billy idol the story of heavy metal 2000 is actually based on a graphic novel series called the melting pot which was first published in 1993 and was co-written by kevin eastman just like its predecessor heavy metal 2000 is an animated feature mainly produced in canada and it was torn apart by critics and has largely become a forgotten film although no doubt it still has its fan base it's just that no one really talks about this one as much as the original heck i didn't even know there was a sequel till making this episode there was talks of making a third movie after the release of heavy metal 2000 but it got stuck in development hell and never ended up happening i think it's a shame that heavy metal 2000 didn't take off as despite its flaws there was a potential good movie there it just needed a bit more of a poke in the right direction number two the failed remake led to a netflix mini-series in 2008 there was a planned remake of heavy metal which was to be released by paramount pitchers and was to be directed by david fincher but paramount didn't like fincher's edgy take so they dropped the project kevin eastman said that many directors wanted to direct a heavy metal movie from zack snyder to gimelro del toro then it was believed that sony were going to back the movie with both eastman and james cameron acting as co-producers and there was even going to be a jack black cameo but then the project was dropped then in 2011 robert rodriguez said that he bought the rights to heavy metal and was going to produce a new movie but that production was also met with problems where in 2014 rodriguez was considering switching from a movie to a tv series and after more stalling finally in 2019 the project evolved into the netflix series love deaf and robots which is kind of connected to the heavy metal brand but ultimately its own thing the animated anthology series features 18 episodes which range from being 6 to 17 minutes long with each episode being made up of a mainly different cast and crew the series was met with a positive reception with it being described as black mirror for the video game crowd and even won several awards including two emmys well it took a long time and yet we still didn't get a heavy metal continuation or remake but hey we still got something and what we got seems to be pretty good number one release heavy metal was released in august 1981 and made just over 20 million dollars on a 9.7 million dollar budget so its box office wasn't spectacular but it did bring in a tidy little profit not bad considering it was released the same month as an american werewolf in london it was however the highest grossing canadian movie ever made that is until the following year when porkies came along it got pretty decent reviews from critics who praised the movie's animation and music as well as its presentation of a comic book coming to life on the big screen its use of visuals and storytelling told through flashy animation felt unique it did however get some criticisms for sexism and violence reasons with a los angeles times review describing it as quote the most expensive adolescent fantasy revenge fulfillment wet dream ever to sliver onto a screen whether you liked the movie or not i think the production of heavy metal were trying to create a unique cinematic experience something that hadn't been done much before that point to take an adult comic full of violence and erotica and recreate it onto the big screen and its use of animation makes it feel like a living comic book exploding to life on the big screen it was a brave movie for a post star wars era where there were tons of space-age science fiction movies that were all filmed in live action with productions that probably wouldn't have dreamed to film their movies and animation over the years the popularity of heavy metal has increased making it a cult movie with fans who adore heavy metal naturally the movie isn't for everyone but i think that there is an appreciation for this movie for trying to do something for its time that was quite different something that stands out and gives a lasting impression guaranteeing that it will be remembered [Music] yeah i'm not a massive fan of heavy metal i understand that lots of people love it but personally i find the story a little weak but if it's ever on tv i'll always watch it and enjoy it i think that what appeals to me the most about heavy metal is its craft as its animation is definitely what makes it stand out from other science fiction movies of that time so that's my evaluation not for everyone but those who do like it get a lot of enjoyment out of it anyway i'm minty and i still can't believe it took heavy metal 15 years to get a vhs release that is insane see ya [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Minty Comedic Arts

Views: 487,836

Rating: 4.9058118 out of 5

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Id: -CZ69iXyqAg

Length: 15min 0sec (900 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 27 2020

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