Director: Gerald Potterton
Written by: Daniel Goldberg, Len Blum, Dan O’Bannon, ao.
Cast (Voices): Rodger Bumpass, Richard Romanus, John Candy, Harold Ramis

Year / Country: 1981, Canada
Running Time: 87 mins.

Heavy Metal opens with a sports car floating through space before landing on Earth. The astronaut driver returns home to his daughter, bringing with him a mysterious green orb he discovered. But the gift turns deadly when the orb reveals its true nature: it comes to life, kills the man, and traps his daughter, declaring itself the embodiment of all evil in the universe. Before attempting to destroy her, it recounts several stories illustrating its corrupting power across time and space.

Based on the groundbreaking magazine Métal Hurlant (launched in France in 1974 and later adapted into the American Heavy Metal in 1977), this Canadian production stitches together multiple short stories, all connected by the malevolent orb known as the Loc-Nar. With a budget close to 10 million dollars, the film captures the spirit of the magazine – a blend of science fiction, fantasy, dark humor, graphic violence, and unapologetic eroticism – elements that have cemented its status as a cult classic. Naturally it also has a Heavy Metal soundtrack with songs by Black Sabbath, Nazareth and Blue Oyster Cult among others.

The voice cast of Heavy Metal features a number of excellent Canadian comedians, including Harold Ramis, John Candy and Eugene Levy. Producer Ivan Reitman also attached a lot of animation and writing talent to the project, so the result has an impressive look and feel, as well as the dialogues and characters that are crisp and entertaining to watch. Another Heavy Metal feature film has been announced quite a few times (after a second movie adaptation in 2000), but this version offers plenty of bizarre aliens, beautiful dames, cynical heroes and power hungry warlords to keep you occupied until it arrives.

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Biography: Gerald Potterton (1931, London) is a British director, producer and animator. In 1955 he emigrated from the UK to Canada where he started his career in film and animator. In 1968 he worked on the Beatles’ movie Yellow Submarine. In 1981 he made his best-known directorial effort, the animated cult classic Heavy Metal.

Filmography: Hors-d’oeuvre (1960, short), Christmas Cracker (1962, short), My Financial Career (1962, short), The Ride (1963, short), The Railrodder (1965, short), The Quiet Racket (1966, short doc), Cool McCool (1966, TV episodes), Tiki Tiki (1971), The Rainbow Boys (1973), The Remarkable Rocket (1975, short), Canada Vignettes: Winter – Dressing Up (1979, short), Canada Vignettes: Winter – Starting the Car (1979, short), Heavy Metal (1981), The Awful Fate of Melpomenus Jones (1983, short), George and the Christmas Star (1985, TV movie), The Smoggies (1989, TV episodes), The Real Story of Happy Birthday to You (1992, short)