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Heavy Metal
DVD Review by Yanman |
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“Earth women who experience sexual ecstasy with mechanical assistance always tend to feel guilty!” When Heavy Metal was released in 1981 I was 14 years old, too young to see it in the theater. Due too a legal oversight (having to do with the soundtrack) the movie was not released on video until 1996 and DVD 1999. So until now I had not seen this piece of movie history. Now the first time you watch it you may just wonder “what the heck where they thinking” but remember this was put together in the late 70’s, was a midnight movie cult favorite for years, and many of it’s viewers enjoyed this one while “chemically enhanced”. A series of animated short stories loosely tied together by a half-baked narration sub story. From a time before political correctness, this is a wild adult themed, fast paced, rock-and-roll, animated movie. With an updated soundtrack and a boatload of extras, the DVD version of this classic will definitely please current fans and may help to win a few new ones. The story starts with a space man coming home from a
trip by driving his “Space-vet” home after being launched from a space
shuttle. Upon arriving home his daughter asks the question that most
business travelers children ask when they get home “What did you bring
me?” The answer is not what she expected though; dad has brought her an
evil green orb named LOC-NAR. LOC-NAR tells the girl it’s story, a story
that spans many worlds and many years, it is the story of pure evil. Video is poor mostly due to obvious limitations in the source material. There are some places where there are small amounts of digital artifacts, but for the most part that is not the issue. The real issue seems to be a dirty and/or scratched print. It is interesting that this is the best they could do to a “Digitally Remastered” Anamorphic video. Watchable but below average. The audio stands out here; remastered in 5.1 Dolby Digital from the original master, the sound completely fills the room. At one point a space ship flies from the front center of the screen to the left surround, the amount of bass coming from the surround speaker was amazing. Top notch. Extras are what take an ordinary DVD and make it extraordinary. This disc is truly a Collector’s Series level DVD. Just to name a few of the extra’s (a complete list is in the side bar) there is a making of documentary, a art gallery, Heavy Metal magazine cover stills (from the past 20+ years), and my personal favorite a Feature Length rough cut with optional commentary. If you want to watch all of these extra’s in one seating, you better set aside a whole day. If you are a long time fan of Heavy Metal, this disc is a absolute must have, if you liked the movie this will definitely strengthen your enjoyment, and for new fans like me I just can’t think of a better way to see this film for the first time. Send the kids to grandma’s house, smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, and get ready to rock to the Heavy Metal noise…
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Heavy Metal Staring: John Candy (Voice) Directed By: Gerald Potterton Running time: 90
minutes Bonus Materials
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