Heavy Trip

Heavy Trip (Hevi Reissu) (2018)

Runtime: 92 minutes

Directed by: Juuso Laatio/Jukka Vidgren

Starring: Johannes Holopainen, Samuli Jaskio, Antti Heikkinen, Minka Kuustonen

From: Several Finnish companies

Featuring symphonic post-apocalyptic reindeer-grinding Christ-abusing extreme war pagan Fennoscandian metal.

I've known of this since before it came out in the United States; it's gotten pretty good buzz in some circles yet because I am me, I put off something that's been on Prime for months as I am me. In addition, sometime in the first half of 2020 I'll FINALLY post a Top 10 of movies I've seen for 2017 and 2018. Absurd, yet I will get those completed. This stands a decent chance at being on the 2018 list. As for the death metal that you get to hear in Heavy Trip, the “Cooking Monster vocals” are something which don't appeal to me, although the music itself I can respect as it must be difficult to craft such a brutal sound. To clarify, the metal from the 70's through the 90's is pretty rad, such as Priest, Ozzy, the silly hair metal from the 80's, some of it in the 21st century is cool (such as symphonic metal), I like thrash and Slayer's Reign in Blood is a stone cold classic, to briefly mention but a few of all the opinions I can share about the genre.

This covers a quartet of misfits who live in a small Finnish town and have had a band for 12 years... which has only played in a basement of a slaughterhouse, has no original songs and don't even have a name until in the middle of the film they decide upon IMPALED REKTUM. They finally get a chance to perform in public but there are many complications across the way as they try to win the respect of the squares in their village. Now, this does poke fun at the more ludicrous elements of the death metal genre yet it was done in a loving, respectful way that doesn't thumb its nose at the outcasts we follow. Along the way, we see the (few) friends they have, their judgmental enemies... and me discovering that 80's Chevy vans were sold in Finland. It does take a good amount of time before the actual trip takes place; as an aside, the plot description here and elsewhere... it gives away too much. Try not to look at it beforehand.

The movie was not only funny throughout as we see the absurdities of Impaled Rektum's journey to success, all the band members are easy to root for as awkward, different underdogs who try to succeed as outsiders; one even attempts a romance with a blonde florist... who has a gruff police officer dad. It was a fun journey as the situation becomes more and more absurd. Each member of the band is different, all having their quirks and concerns as they all work “normal” jobs. Even if you aren't a fan of death metal, not much from Impaled Rektum is heard and the score/soundtrack is either rock that is not as heavy, or not rock at all. At times there is lovely Nordic scenery to look at.

For those that love even some of the comically large number of permutations of metal out there-something the movie adroitly pointed out-this should be a must-see.