This movie came out in 1981. I recently ran across an unopened copy at a garage sale and paid 25 cents for it. I got ripped off.
I know that I saw this movie when it came out. I didn’t remember much about it (early 80’s for me were a Brett Easton Ellis novel) and somehow got it crossed over with Ralph Bashki’s “Wizards”.
Oooh, it’s embarrasing. ALL the women have ginormous boobs and can’t wait to sleep with the hero, who is transformed from a schmuck to a way buff monster. The artwork is good but the movie is a wankfest for fanboys.
Most of the music still holds up as good rock - Cheap Trick, Sammy Hagar, Black Sabbath.
But this movie doesn’t even come close to the, “Well you had to be there, and be on drugs.” apologia of some other 80’s movies.
In other words, it’s true to the magazine. Yippiekiyay.
Hey, the first time I was ever frisked was going into a midnight showing of Heavy Metal at Del Amo Fashion Square in Torrance, CA. I was fourteen, I think.
To be fair, ‘Den’ was only one segment of the film. Some bits were good, some were so-so, but I think Jonathan Chance is right that the film was in the spirit of the magazine. The bad part was ‘Grimaldi’ linking the bits together. That was pretty lame. Anyway, you read the magazine back in the '80s, right?
I liked the bit where Hannover Fiste turns from a milquetoast and chases Stern through the ship. ‘STEEEERRRRRN!!!’
Just caught part of this flick the other day on Encore or HBO or whatever. The animation didn’t age well. I’ve never been crazy about rotoscope animation anyway. Some of the bits were pretty good though. “Den” was pretty funny with John Candy as the voice. “SO…ARE YOU FROM AROUND HERE?”
The soundtrack was good but it really didn’t seem to integrate well with the movie.
The animation doesn’t, but the soundtrack does hold up pretty well. I waited forever for it to be released on CD (had it on vinyl). Was held up due to multiple-artist rights negotiations. I originally only bought it for Sammy Hagar’s ‘Heavy Metal’ but the rest of the album is actually pretty good.
As far as the film goes, fanboy wankfest pretty much sums it up. Lots of topless, orange-haired babes with emormous hooters…
Now, that part bothered me. Not because of the Vette de-orbiting, but because the Shuttle had bomb bay doors. (I watched the Shuttle’s Approach & Landing tests, and I was later on the Space Shuttle Support Team.) But when you’re that age, you ‘know everything’. I had the same reaction to the opening scene of Top Gun.
Anyway, the animation. I thought it was generally good, characterisation-wise; but I noticed they often (always?) shot 12 frames to cover a second, shooting each frame twice. This made the movements a bit jerky. Rotoscoping was new to me back then, since I grew up on Hanna-Barbara et al. Since it looked different from what I was used to, I liked it. But yeah, it doesn’t really hold up nowadays.
Love the soundtrack. Sammy Hagar’s Heavy Metal or Don Felder’s Heavy Metal (Takin’ A Ride) often popped into my head when I was driving a sportscar and occasionally still does when I’m on the motorcycle. Devo is good any time. The B-side (of the LP) is not as good as the A-side, but I’ll listen to it anyway.
Well, yes, the bomb bay doors, but… takin’ a ride, man.
I had the opportunity to see the original art for the movie, later on. Back when the Comic Book Museum was still in that castle in the northeast. The movie was really a very good representation of the art. It was very 70s, it was a living heavy metal album cover… but you know, compared to other mainstream, minor-studio 70s animation, it’s stood up well. (Ahem. Lord of The Rings/The Hobbit, I’m looking at you.) And compared to alternative media of the era?
LotR was Ralph Bakshi. IIRC The Hobbit was Hanna-Barbara. Again, rotoscoping was new (to me) then. I thought LotR was neat. But it doesn’t hold up well now. Same with Wizards (which looks like a direct rip-off of Vaughn Bode’s Junkwaffel series), but the content suffers because it was so ‘of its time’.
I still have my old Heavy Metal magazines – including Issue #1 – packed away in a box somewhere. I’ve picked up an issue or two over the years, but I don’t like them as much as when HM was in its heyday.
I was extremely disappointed in HM. They often got interesting ideas, but went absolutely nowhere with them. Some art was gorgeous, but gave way to inferior stuff as the piece moved on. The one constant seemed to be overly sexed, heavily-breasted women (not that I have anything against that, but it does shoot your credibility). as one reviewer put it, the Den segment made you feel as if your were trapped in the fantasy of a wildly masturbating teenager.
I’ve never felt the need to pick this up on video.
And that fat roasting-chicken pterobird that Taarna rides on always bugged me. Ugly looking, and not aerodynamic.
By the way, for you fans of Richard Corben and the Den segment, he animated all that ages earlier in an independent film called Neverwhere that came out in 1968 (!!):
I was too young to buy the magazine when I was interested in it, and pretty much forgot about it until I was too mature to like it. I probably would have loved it during that timeframe I missed it, though.
Interestingly enough, Sternn was voiced by Eugene Levy, and Hanover Fiste was Roger Bumpass, who’s probably best known for being the voice of Squidward Tentacles on Spongebob Squarepants.
