Heavy Metal is an animated cartoon style film made specifically for adults; for fans, predominantly male, of Heavy Metal magazine and music. The film showcases a collection of sci-fi fantasy stories adapted from the magazine for the screen, complete with graphic violence, nudity and sexuality fans have enjoyed in the magazine. An unusual cinematic offering for anytime, Heavy Metal was not loved by all critics and did not exactly achieve blockbuster status, it has however developed a cult following.
The story opens with a Corvette dropping from a space shuttle to earth. It’s occupant and astronaut Grimaldi presents his daughter with a orb called the Loc-Nar that destroys him. This evil entity then shows the girl how it has dominated societies throughout time.
Unlike typical animation, the Heavy Metal movie used rotoscoping. Max Fleisher developed the rotoscope which projects live action to be traced over frame by frame making a real live scene into something drawn. The result is a film that is worth seeing just for the technical aspects, but will probably be remembered for its music, and sexually titillating scenes.
