Parents' Guide to

Heavy Metal

Movie R 1981 90 minutes
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Common Sense Media Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson By Jeffrey M. Anderson , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 18+

Gory, sexy animated fantasy is too much for most teens.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 18+?

Any Positive Content?

Parent and Kid Reviews

age 17+

Based on 6 parent reviews

age 17+

40 years ago it was good for a hormonal teen boy, as a parent, not so much

The music is great 80’s rock, the animation was good at the time but is very dated. The movie is just sex drugs and rock and roll. Like the magazine it’s based on it’s a mix of stories with small interconnections and an overall theme of being mentally strong.
age 18+

This cartoon is definitely not a kid friendly cartoon, IF YOU WATCH THIS YOU ARE WATCHING ANIMATED PORN!

Well back then we had disney and looney toons and now we have a comic books drawings sci fi alien stuff with a lot of nudity. First off the language. LANGUAGE 3/5 The language isn't too bad when it is a couple of F words said by a robot. In some sequence there is an additional uses of bitch and some shit and damn said. SEX AND NUDITY 5/5. I have to say that it is severe and it is Definitely not for children under the age of 18 because watching this is the same as watching animated porn. There is plenty of animated nudity, woman lying next to a man and both are nude and we see their breasts and their animated vulvas but somehow we don't see any pubic hair. In the DEN segment there is a lot of nudity because a man goes through a wormhole and briefly see his penis and we see a woman which has bare breasts and a man covering a towel on his waist so no one could see his genitals and also a man having sex with a woman doing a 69 position on him and we breifly see her nipples. A green orb on a woman's breasts and a man climbing on her to attack. A woman removing her robe to see her breasts and she undresses and puts on her armor. A clearly full frontal naked woman having sex with a midget robot. A woman tied from each limb and whipped while she is naked then dumped into a ditch. We see scratches all over her naked body. A complete display of FEMALE nudity nor male. The harry canyon sequence involves a scene of sex between a man and woman and we see her having sexual intercourse. VIOLENCE 4/5 Yes!! there are scenes of animated blood and violence, The beginning shows a man getting vaporized by a green orb in front of her daughter and she looks completely HORRIFIED! An alien is vaporized so as a man in a taxi getting vaporized so as a man being shot a woman being vaporized and melted to death and the orb does its part with melting people. Seriously!? what is up with the movie's obsession with vaporizing people. The Den segment includes graphic violence as people with maces and guns shoot each other and we see a decent amount of onscreen animated blood. Plenty of animated blood and gore. People get shot, stabbed, beaten, beheaded, etc. Most human characters bleed red blood while others bleed green blood. Several scenes of people vaporized and melted into bones and gore. The Captain Stern sequence is the most tamest of all as there is at least not blood and actual cartoonish violence. Then after that we get to the B-17 Sequence where people are melted and turned into zombies on a plane and terrorize a man. This sequence is Very creepy and quite disturbing and it is the most violence of all in this film. bodies decay from skin to some muck and straight to the bone and turn to zombies. We later see a man get attacked in the plane window screaming and blood splating on the ground window. and rotten decaying skeleton enters the cockpit and banging on the door, the man gets attacked by three skeletons while a man escapes with a parachute on land, the plane crashes and the man land safely then he sees the skeletons on land about to kill him, he dies off screen. Then finally the last of the movie which is the Taarna sequence. OH WHERE DO I BEGIN? This is clearly a violent warfare. An orb goes to a volcano and then erupts causing its molten evil lava to vaporize tons of nomads turning them into sadistic barbarians. One of the characters turns into a beast with a metal arm with a pizza cutter gear on his hand and the barbarians ride the bats as the animals that they fly with. They destroy the village by plunging through the walls and killing as many civilians as it possibly could this means using flamethrowers, shooting people with arrows and slashing them resulting in plenty of animated blood. Not just any blood they bleed with, but they also bleed red and green blood. Then they get to the elders which they plan to protect themselves by barring the door but it doesn't work as the doors break and they storm in shooting arrows at the guard and we can see many arrows stabbing through various parts of his body and then everyone in the village dies leaving only one good woman which is a female warrior riding on her big bird. As everything and everyone dies in the village, she finds the aftermath of dozens or hundreds of dead corpses lying on the ground with blood squirting on the ground. She finds the after math of the elders where there is a severed head lying on the ground with blood and she even gets to a bar fight where she decapitates a bunch of men all involving green blood. She gets captured and tortured, the bird saves her and they flee then the bird gets shot in the neck with an arrow and she rips is out. This leaves her and the bird with the barbarian with a robotic arm. They have a battle involving plenty of violent action involving laceration to the rib and arm, cuts to the wings of the bird, and a slit throat with the gear and a big punch to the face involving green blood to splat everywhere. A house explodes and a woman rides to nowhere with a bird. DRUGS AND SMOKING 3/5 There is plenty of smoking but it isn't as vivid. One notable scene I think I remember is where two aliens snort a substance and become high crashing a spaceship. Anyways that is all I got to say. In conclusion, this movie is definitely not appropriate for people under 18 years old as not all cartoons are for kids, this one is clearly a sick pleasure. WHOEVER WATCHES THIS IS SICK!! THIS ISNT YOU ORDINARY LOONEY TOONS SPONGEBOB CARTOON. THIS IS TERRIFYING HORROR MOVIE ABOUT A GREEN ORB WHO MELTS PEOPLE AND SEX AND DRUGS. NOT FOR ANY KIDS ANY AGE BECAUSE WATCHING THIS IS THE EQUIVALENT TO WATCHING PORN!

What's the Story?

In this collection of related stories: An astronaut arrives home with a present for his little girl. Unfortunately, the present turns out to be a scary, glowing green ball. It melts dad and proceeds to tell the little girl several stories of sex, violence, greed, war, and revenge. A cabbie tries to protect a mysterious woman who has also found a glowing green ball. A boy finds the ball and is transported to a fantastic, distant world, occupying a warrior's body. A star witness at a trial turns into a monster and goes on a rampage. Aliens kidnap a sexy Earth woman. And so on. In the last segment, a beautiful warrior princess has one final chance to stand up against the forces of evil.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (6 ):
Kids say (3 ):

In 1981, this may have been state-of-the-art animation, but now it looks rudimentary, clunky, and flat. The writing, likewise, is flat. These stories could have been little Twilight Zone-style zingers, but instead they just trail off. One of the stories, "Captain Sternn," came from comics legend Berni Wrightson, and it's the only one that even comes close to having a shape.

What's even more peculiar is the fact that the movie, like the famous magazine it's based on, is designed to lure in teens with the promise of gratuitous sex and nudity, as well as elements of fantasy, sci-fi, and violence. But the movie's overall content and themes make it more appropriate for adults, who will not be as interested. On the plus side, the movie has a good soundtrack of 1970s and 1980s-era arena rock (not all heavy metal, by the way), and the songs are used interestingly as background, often giving scenes an effective and much-needed boost of adrenaline. Ivan Reitman was a producer.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the movie's rampant violence. Is this kind of violence thrilling or appealing? Is it over-the-top? What effect does it have?

  • Is the strong sex and nudity in the movie appealing? What messages does this movie send about women's roles? Why are male and female bodies so exaggerated in comics and cartoons?

  • Do you think this movie is designed for teens?

Movie Details

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