90
Variety by Ken Eisner
Superbly crafted documentary is strong enough to make believers out of non-metalheads, and inside enough to get the devil's-horns salute from the most diehard followers.
Metal: A Headbanger's Journey
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
- Canada
- 2005
- · 91m
Directors
Sam Dunn,
Jessica Wise,
Scot McFadyen
Cast
Sam Dunn,
Chris Adler,
Tom Araya,
Gavin Baddeley,
Blasphemer,
Randy Blythe
Genre
Documentary,
Music,
Drama
Co-director Sam Dunn sets out across the world to uncover the origins of heavy metal and its many subgenres, as well as the traits, controversy, and culture that surround them. A labor of love from someone who loves heavy metal and wants other people to love it too.
Stream Metal: A Headbanger's Journey
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What are critics saying?
89
Austin Chronicle by Marc Savlov
There's so much information and so many finely honed arguments in this ultimately joyous film that it's liable to send audiences scurrying home to their computers to download the bands they've just heard.
88
New York Post
It'll make you want to dig out your Whitesnake T-shirt. It might even convince Tipper Gore that heavy metal thunder is all in good fun.
88
New York Post by Kyle Smith
It'll make you want to dig out your Whitesnake T-shirt. It might even convince Tipper Gore that heavy metal thunder is all in good fun.
80
L.A. Weekly by Scott Foundas
At once playful and thorough, the documentary is also stacked teased-hair high with wicked performance footage.
75
Chicago Tribune by Allison Benedikt
Sam Dunn's unabashed wet kiss to his favorite genre of music, heavy metal, a.k.a. devil's music.
70
Chicago Reader by J.R. Jones
Metal culture is a giant topic, and Dunn has made an ambitious stab at it, exploring the music's social, religious, and sexual implications.
70
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Crust
Dunn says he's been defending his choice in music since he was 12, and the film is a carefully organized and thoughtful argument for the merits of metal.
63
Boston Globe
As charming as Dunn's kid-in-a-candy-store exploration is at times, it's apparent that his ''anthropological" take on the scene isn't much more than the love letter he always dreamed of writing to his headbanging pals.
63
Boston Globe by Erin Meister
As charming as Dunn's kid-in-a-candy-store exploration is at times, it's apparent that his ''anthropological" take on the scene isn't much more than the love letter he always dreamed of writing to his headbanging pals.
60
Empire by Will Lawrence
A documentary that preaches to the converted if ever there was one, but Dunn's enthusiasm for the subject and the range of pretension and humour of his interviewees makes for fun viewing.
50
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
Mr. Dunn and his colleagues dig up some interesting information during their inquiry, like the origins of the devil-horns hand signal, metal's signature salute, but their insider love of the music finally proves as big an obstacle to the film as their ploddingly pedagogic approach.
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