Rockin’ 80s Animation

Rock & Rule

Heavy Metal

Hieeeeeee my darling readers! This has been a whirlwind of a year so far, hasn’t it? We’re only 16 days into 2025 and the unprecedented times just keep persisting! I am heartbroken over the death of director David Lynch, despite all my shit-talking about his films, he was an authentic weirdo of an artist who I admired and respected. I never have a strong desire to watch any of his films, per se, but everything that ever came out of that man’s mouth and mind was extraordinary and memorable. Additionally, my heart is with anyone affected by the fires in California, which does not include legendary bigot James Woods who, after tweeting “No ceasefire #KillThemAll” just a couple of weeks ago, was then weeping on woke media channel CNN about how “one minute you’re swimming in your pool, the next everything is gone”—only for it to be revealed later that his house survived the devastation. In the aftermath of these earth-shattering tragedies, it feels like the whole world (or at least my corner of it) is trying to put their resolutions and plans back together. It’s disorienting, it’s uncertain, and I’m not just talking about the now-postponed Oscar events. (Not important even slightly right now, I know.) Last week, I rang in 500 movies watched on this blog with two adult, somewhat absurd movies, and this week I am unexpectedly keeping this adult absurdity theme going. There are two weird, apocalyptic, cult classic films I’ve been wanting to see for awhile, that happen to both come from rock and roll-obsessed, seemingly-drug-fueled, horny Canadians in the early 1980s. They both made Canadian and animated history with their groundbreaking, mixed-media effects, and extensive soundtracks of some of the era’s favorite rockers. Up first is a film with a track list that includes Cheap Trick, Debbie Harry, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Earth Wind and Fire, this is Clive A. Smith’s musical sci-fi / fantasy adventure from 1983 titled Rock & Rule. As a title card explains, “the war is over” and the surviving animals have evolved into a society of mutants, and this dystopia’s most famous rockstar has retired to his estate in a place called Ohmtown. This rockstar’s name is Mok (originally named Mok Swagger, but Mick Jagger’s lawyers didn’t approve of that), and he has become lost in a secret project—he’s searching for the perfect singing voice, one who’s vibrations will summon a demon from another dimension. Mok (speaking voice by Don Francks, singing voice by Iggy Pop) is running out of options, and finds himself scouting at a random open mic night, hiding in the shadows of the back of the nightclub. Enter Angel (speaking voice by Susan Roman, singing voice by Debbie Harry), the ethereal rocker chick of Mok’s evil dreams, who finally gets to perform one of her songs with her band—much to the chagrin of the other lead singer, Omar (Paul LeMat.) Angel rocks out on her keytar and Mok realizes she is the voice he’s been looking for, so he leaves her and Omar with an invitation to his mysterious mansion. Even with her whole band of fellow rocker critters to accompany her, Angel is kidnapped by Mok and his three bulldog-esque goons on roller skates. They’re taking Angel to Nuke York, to put on a helluva show that plans to open the gates of hell. That is essentially the gist of Rock & Rule, but there are a lot of random hijinks and quirks mixed into this 1 hour and 17 minute long movie. There’s some exceptionally trippy, goopy, wacky effects and drug references, some surprisingly-sexualized elements, and some really clever rock music-related plays on words. Over 200 recently-graduated animators worked on this film, and the production company insisted on several last-minute changes that made the overall pacing and sequencing of this film feel extremely off. The Canadian voice actor who’d originally voiced the character of Omar (Greg Salata) was recast as Paul LeMat which created gaps in his speech patterns, some profanity was removed, and due to international distribution issues, this film was not released on physical media until 2005. Of course, there’s no telling which version I specifically watched, since I was forced to watch this hidden gem on a less-than-reputable website, but it was just as kooky and confusing as I’d anticipated. There are some incredible elements to this trippy, tubular film, I haven’t even mentioned the fact that Catherine O’Hara did a voice, but I couldn’t help wanting more from this experience. My standards and expectations are perhaps too high when it comes to animation and musicals—and I can appreciate how unique this one was—but I would’ve loved the music to be more severe, the plot to be more fleshed out, and the fun to be turned up just slightly. As silly as it may sound, it felt like this movie took itself too seriously at times. It featured scenarios that achieved Looney Toons-levels of cartoonish comedic feats, but then would try to be edgy, existential, philosophical even, which felt a bit out of place. Some of the animation was impressively detailed, and felt reminiscent of the shadowy world of Batman the Animated Series, and other parts of it felt strangely-rushed. The filmmakers were hoping to cast musical trailblazers like Tim Curry, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, and Sting, but their budget wouldn’t allow for it—and somehow this absence is felt, even with its decently rockin’ cast and their setlist. The heart was there, the blood, sweat, and rock and roll tears were there, but Rock & Rule ultimately became a difficult-to-market, family-unfriendly movie that fell out of relevancy and awareness. I’m glad it eventually developed a devoted following, though, because otherwise I would only have heard of tonight’s second movie—the main film one associates with post-apocalyptic psychedelic rock and roll sci-fi / fantasy adventures from the 80s—this is Gerald Potterton’s 1981 film Heavy Metal. Produced by Ivan Reitman, this anthology movie was described on Rotten Tomatoes as a “sexist, juvenile, and dated, eye-popping animated classic.” Heavy Metal is the kind of movie that gets parodied on South Park, and ends up coming across a bit more coherent in its parody somehow. This film is comprised of about eight vignettes, crafted by different teams of animators, voice actors, and writers, but all of them have a few things in common: sci-fi shenanigans, rock and roll music, and titties. If you thought anime, or Betty Boop, or the raunchiest adult animation from Comedy Central had a lot of boobs in it, Heavy Metal somehow out-boobs all of them. These animators found ways to make boobs out of just about everything: architecture, monsters, aliens, butts, you name it. That, alone, is impressive, but what also impressed me about this film, was the fact that so much of it is clearly based and centered-upon curating vibes. While there is technically a premise to each vignette—a noir about a futuristic cab driver, a coming-of-age adventure about a teenage boy who becomes a space god, a goofy comedy about drug-addicted aliens, a legendary female warrior who must avenge an entire planet—every single one of these stories revolves around naked women, and exploring every inch of their bodies. I really thought that the South Park episode titled “Major Boobage” was an exaggeration of this movie, but if anything, it’s toned down. I don’t take offense to this, I’m not even bothered by this, but it does just really crack me up that a giant team of animators, producers, and writers got together, at the peak of their imaginations and technological advancements (at the time), knowing they could draw anything in the universe, and thought, “Let’s make it all about sexy ladiessssssssss… yeah.” There’s no evidence to support this, but Heavy Metal also appears to be the first movie ever made for the sole purpose of getting stoned and chilling to it. Clearly the emphasis was placed on innovating the realm of animation and securing some of the greatest music they could—featuring songs from Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, Sammy Hagar, Don Felder, DEVO, Cheap Trick, Journey, Stevie Nicks, Nazareth, and more—so the stories in this film are not the most developed. But, again, this did not seem like the focus of this film, and that is okay! There is value in lowbrow, lo-fi, low-stakes entertainment, and Heavy Metal, though made with a labor of love, feels like the poster child for this kind of vibe-based stoner cinema. Its artistic vision probably comes across as nothing more than concept art for a poster at Spencer’s Gifts, but this level of complex animation—unrelated to Disney or any other major entitity—was groundbreaking at the time. This film also features voice actors like Eugene Levy, John Candy, Rodger Bumpass (Squidward, anyone?), Harold Ramis, John Vernon, and Don Francks and Susan Roman—who were also in Rock & Rule. Similar to Rock & Rule, I felt like there were some pacing and structuring issues with Heavy Metal, I mean the name “Heavy Metal” alone is pretty misleading, when the most intense rock song featured is by Don Felder from The Eagles. The most famous and memorable vignette is the last one of the film, where a big-titted warrior woman named Taarna is tasked with avenging an entire planet’s unjust deaths—and because I wasn’t so distracted by boobs, I could tell how much effort went into all of the animation and concept designs here. Throughout the film there are references to different art periods, different rock songs, and other films, but for the most part, Heavy Metal emphasizes its obsession with the female form. But there are worse things to make films about, and there are films that are far more brazen in their chauvinism, like Love Actually, so I give Heavy Metal a pass. Plus, no matter what you’re into, it’s hard not to be entranced by the hypnotic and hallucinogenic qualities of a film like Heavy Metal—especially if you’re under the influence of any kind of substance while watching it. It was hard enough to believe that there was one 1980s trippy dystopian rock and roll adult animated movie, let alone two, but Rock & Rule and Heavy Metal, flaws and all, were pretty rockin’ and radical and racy. Well, thank you for tuning in for the less-exciting induction of the 501st and 502nd movies of this Double Feature collection, dear reader. Stay warm, stay safe, keep your head high, and your titties even higher. Talk to you soon!