Metal: A Headbanger's Journey

Metal: A Headbanger's Journey
Directed by: Sam Dunn


Millions of young music fans, turn your attention away from your MySpace profile for one moment and take note: While you can become virtual "friends" with of all your rock heroes with a single mouse click, how likely is it that one day you'll be interviewing them for a self-conceived film documentary released in theaters and on DVD?

Just ask Sam Dunn, a 30-year-old anthropologist and lifelong worshipper at the altar of metal gods like Iron Maiden and Slayer who did just that by making Metal: A Headbanger's Journey. How did he do it? Originally intended to be a book, Dunn's idea was backed by a video distribution company, a grant from the Canadian government (see? Politicians really do love metal!), and more than five years of hard-nosed work.

Metal: A Headbanger's Journey brings the genre's roots to light with stirring imagery from around the world and serves as one of the finest visual representations of heavy metal's subgenres that this reviewer has seen, but what's even more impressive about this flick is that it's the work of a first-time filmmaker. Driven by his fascination with heavy metal's powerful riffs and window to the "dark side," Mr. Dunn has accomplished something that even veterans in the field would be proud of: By exposing the human level of prolific metal personalities such as Rob Zombie, Dio, Alice Cooper, Slipknot, Slayer, Bruce Dickinson, Lemmy and more, he makes society's condemning gestures toward the genre suddenly seem like hasty acts of foolishness. For reasons beyond the director's control, metal mainstays of the past two decades like Metallica and Pantera could not be featured (though we are reassured by the inclusion of a Dimebag Darrell tribute in the DVD version's bonus content); however, the ultimate result of this film is that it educates while it entertains. This comes through (very) loud and clear in the movie's discussion of the exploits of the Norwegian black metal genre, whose band members make the East Coast–West Coast rap feuds of the '90s seem even more trivial than they already were.

The downside? If your parents see this movie, no more stomping back to the poster-covered walls of your room with gothic eyeliner–stained cheeks screaming, "You just don't understand me!" — because now maybe they do.



Metal: A Headbanger's Journey official site

Out 05/23/06:
Metal: A Headbanger's Journey DVD


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