“A shadow shall fall over the universe, and evil will grow in its path, and death will come from the skies.”
And so begins the classic 1981 animated film Heavy Metal, an anthology of five stories loosely woven together with a framing sequence involving an evil alien artifact called the Loc-Nar. This Thursday June 28th, 2012, STiR-FRi Theater presents HEAVY METAL on the big screen at the Alamo Drafthouse Park North. Showtime is 7:30 pm. You may want to show up a little early since this movie is simply awesome.
“Look at me.” commands the Loc-Nar, “I am the sum of all evils. Look carefully. My power infests all times, all galaxies, all dimensions. But many still seek me out; a green jewel they must possess. But see how I destroy their lives.”
This film has moments of brilliance with memorable dialog, unforgettable music and incredible animation. It is also in equal parts juvenile and schlocky, but that is part of the charm. The complete package is far greater than any individual component. This movie is worth seeing, and definitely on the big screen.
Heavy Metal features the voices of notables including John Candy (Den “There was no way I was gonna walk around this place with my dork hanging out!”), Joe Flaherty (Lawyer “But the most we can hope for is to get you buried in secrecy so your grave don’t get violated!”), Harold Ramis (Zeke “Hey, do we have any of that Plutonian Nyborg left?”) and Eugene Levy (Captain Stern “Take it easy Charlie. I’ve got an angle.”). Far less heavy than the title implies, the soundtrack is loaded with tracks by Devo, Cheap Trick, Black Sabbath, Journey, Stevie Nicks, Donald Fagan of Steely Dan, Sammy Hagar before Van Halen, Blue Öyster Cult (doing a song written by Michael Moorcock), Don Felder from the Eagles, Nazareth and French rockers Trust.
The stories in the movie are distillations of work done for the magazine Heavy Metal. They feature adaptation of the art of Moebius, Bernie Wrightson, Richard Corben and Mike Ploog.
