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Heavy Metal is a 1981 Canadian animated film from executive producer Leonard Mogel, who was also the publisher of Heavy Metal magazine. With Ivan Reitman producing and Gerald Potterton directing, the work was expedited by having several animation houses working simultaneously on different segments, including CinéGroupe and Atkinson Film-Arts.
The film is an anthology of various science fiction and fantasy stories adapted from Heavy Metal magazine and original stories in the same spirit. Like the magazine, the film has an unusual amount of bloody violence, nudity and sexuality for an animated film.
A sequel entitled Heavy Metal 2000 was released in 2000.
The movie's title sequence story (Soft Landing) begins with an astronaut named Grimaldi descending through Earth's atmosphere in a futuristic automobile based on a 1960 Corvette.
This leads directly into the film's framing story (Grimaldi) when he arrives at his home, where he is greeted by his daughter. He shows her something he brought back: a green sphere. Shortly after he reveals it, the orb rises out of its case and painfully melts the astronaut. It introduces itself to the terrified girl as "The sum of all evils." Looking into it, the girl sees how it has influenced society through time and space. The Loc-Nar forces her to watch the following stories (in order):
Harry Canyon: Written by Juan Gimenez. In a dystopian New York City, cynical taxicab driver Harry Canyon narrates his day in film noir style, grumbling about his fares and the occasional robbery attempt (which he thwarts with a disintegrator installed behind his seat). He stumbles into an incident where a fat gangster and his cyborg henchmen murder an archaeologist. Harry grudgingly allows the murdered man's daughter into his cab, and she tells him about her father's discovery: the Loc-Nar, an artifact over which people are killing each other. Harry cannot afford to pay for a police investigation, so he takes the girl back to his apartment. That night, the girl strips, climbs into his bed, and they have sex. Harry awakens alone the next morning when the cops bust into the apartment looking for the girl, whose existence he denies. One of his fares that day is the fat gangster, who threatens Harry if he doesn't cooperate. Later, the girl contacts Harry and offers to sell the Loc-Nar and split the proceeds with him. He agrees to take her to the exchange. When the gangster gets the Loc-Nar, he takes it out of its isolation case, and he disintegrates. Meanwhile, the girl pulls a gun on Harry, who is forced to use his self-defense ray to evaporate her, after which he keeps the money.
Den: Based on the original story by Richard Corben. Dan, a nerdy teenager (voiced by John Candy) finds a "green meteorite" and puts it in his rock collection at home. Weeks later, during a lightning experiment, the orb hurls the boy into the world of Neverwhere, where he changes into a naked bald muscle man called Den. Landing on a giant idol, he witnesses a strange ritual and rescues a nubile young woman who was about to be sacrificed to "Uhluht'c" ("C'thulhu" spelled backwards). Reaching safety, she tells him that she is from the British colony of Gibraltar, on Earth, and that her name is Katherine Wells. While she demonstrates her gratitude with sexual favours, they are interrupted by the minions of Ard, an immortal man who wants to obtain the Loc-Nar and use it to rule the world. He puts Katherine in suspended animation and orders Den to get the Loc-Nar from the Queen (the woman who performed the ritual). Den agrees after Ard tells him "If you refuse, you die, she dies, everybody dies!", and infiltrates the Queen's palace with some of Ard's warriors. He is promptly caught by the Queen's guard, but she offers leniency if he has sex with her. He complies, while the raiding party steals the Loc-Nar. Den escapes and, with the Queen and her forces in pursuit, races back to the idol, where Ard is attempting to recreate the sacrifice himself. Den rescues Katherine, and the Queen's arrival sparks a bloody battle between her and Ard (backed by their respective armies). Den ends the battle by recreating the incident that drew him to Neverwhere, banishing Ard and the Queen. Refusing the opportunity to rule, Den and Katherine ride into the sunset, content to remain in Neverwhere as heroes with idealized bodies.
Captain Sternn: Based on the original story by Bernie Wrightson. On a space station, a square jawed space captain named Lincoln F. Sternn (voice by Eugene Levy) is on trial on numerous serious charges (and one moving violation) presented by the prosecutor (voiced by John Vernon). Pleading "not guilty" against the advice of his rat-faced lawyer (voiced by Joe Flaherty), Sternn explains to his astonished lawyer that he expects to be acquitted because he bribed a witness, Hanover Fiste, to praise his character. Fiste takes the stand, but his perjury is subverted when the Loc-Nar, now the size of a marble, forces him to blurt out the truth about Sternn's evil deeds until he angrily denounces Sternn to the point of suggesting gruesome execution methods (Hanging's too good for him! Burning's too good for him! He should be torn into little-bitsy pieces and buried alive!). Fiste rants with such fury that he changes into a muscled giant like the Incredible Hulk, and chases Sternn throughout the station, breaking through bulkheads after him. Eventually, Fiste corners Sternn, receives his promised payoff for his part in Sternn's plan to escape, and promptly shrinks back to his gangly original form (this may indicate that, rather than the Loc-Nar's prompting, the whole event, complete with Hanover's ability to grow and go insane, was planned ahead of time, to allow Sternn the chaos necessary to escape or fake his own death). Sternn then adds a bonus: he pulls a lever opening a trapdoor under Fiste, and the Loc-Nar reenters an atmosphere with Fiste's bodyless flaming hand still clinging to it.
B-17: A World War II bomber makes a difficult bombing run with heavy damage and casualties. As the bomber limps home, the Loc-Nar rams itself into the plane, and raises the dead crewmembers as rampaging, flesh-hungry zombies. The pilot barely escapes in time, only to land on an island populated by zombified airmen.
So Beautiful, So Dangerous: Based on the original story by Angus McKie. A scientist (Dr. Anrack) arrives at the Pentagon for a meeting about mysterious mutations that are plaguing the United States. At the meeting, Dr. Anrack tries to dismiss the occurrences, but when he sees the green stone (Loc-Nar) in the buxom stenographer's (Gloria's) locket, he starts behaving erratically, goes berserk, and attempts to sexually assault her. In the sky above, a colossal ship with a smiley face design breaks through the roof with a transport tube and sucks up the berserk Dr. Anrack and Gloria. The robot inside the ship is irritated at Anrack, who is actually a malfunctioning android, but his mood changes when Gloria arrives. With the help of the ship's hippie crew, he convinces Gloria to stay on board and become his lover (she even agrees to marry him, provided they have a Jewish wedding). Meanwhile, the hippie crew members ingest a massive amount of plutonian nyborg and fly home completely stoned, crash landing in a huge space station.
Taarna: Inspired by Moebius' Arzach stories. The Loc-Nar crashes onto a planet, and changes a tribe of humans into mutated murderous barbarians who ravage a peaceful city. The elders desperately try to summon the last of a warrior race, the Taarakians. Taarna, a strong, beautiful warrior maiden, arrives too late to stop the massacre and resolves to avenge the city. Her search leads to the barbarians' stronghold, where she is captured, tortured and left for dead. With the help of her avian mount, she escapes and confronts the barbarian leader. Though wounded, she defeats him and in one last effort, flies into the Loc-Nar, destroying it.
As the final story ends, the Loc-Nar terrorizing the girl is similarly destroyed, blowing the mansion to pieces. Taarna's mount, reborn into a younger form, appears outside and the girl happily flies away on it. It is then revealed that Taarna's soul has been transferred across the universe and through time to her. This is further signified by the change in hair color the girl now exhibits and the appearance of the Taarakian crest on her skin. Thus the girl is revealed to be the next Taarakian herself.
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