Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Playbahnosh I surprisingly found this DVD hidden in dark and secluded section of a local DVD store, mostly reserved for B grade flicks, art and indie material. Me being a metal-head myself, was thrilled about watching a documentary that digs into the world's most controversial and "forbidden" style of music/art/life. The experience was a little odd.The first few seconds into the film, when the all familiar intro of Number of the Beast began, with the clips of metal-heads on screen, I shivered, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. I felt something very rare, I felt "I'm at home, baby!" \m/ I won't go ramble on about the things everyone knows. Yes, this film is awesome. It has that rare atmosphere, that only a true metal-head could create, like Sam Dunn. If you are a true rocker, you'll feel in sync with the guy, you'll know what he is talking about and why, but if you aren't into metal, you'll have a hard time understanding some of the meaning.My biggest problem with this doc, is the same as the others: it's too superficial. For me, it's too much about satanism, gore and torching of churches. For me, metal is not about that. Metal is a form of expression, a way of life. I wanted to see more about metal from around the world.For an anthropologist, Dunn is far too concerned about the different styles of back and death metal, rather than reviewing metal as a phenomenon and culture around the world. He focuses on the US and Norway, but that is just a little piece of the big picture. What about the rest of Europe? What about eastern metal or other regions of the world? What about the other genres of metal? I wanted to hear more about the different genres, the history and pioneers of each of them...etc, how those evolved and transformed over the years, and who are the artists that made it happen.In a nutshell, it's too one-sided, too narrow perspective. I know it's only 90 minutes, but it could've been done. Okay, I'm maybe splitting hairs here. I agree, it's a decent documentary, and for such an (pardon the term) amateur team, it's a very good film about metal, but it left me with a nagging feeling of "something's missing", it's somehow not complete, and I guess that's what most people are feeling about this documentary. The interviews are very well done, but with the wrong people. I wanted to hear more big names, more name bands and real pioneers of metal. I know the film is very low-budget, and they probably couldn't pay for an interview with Ozzy, Lars, Joacim Cans or even Serj Tankian, but I really miss those bits from a documentary about metal. Other than that, its a pleasant experience, and I recommend it for every metal-head and non-metal-head out there.

atlanticcanuck This film was just about perfect. My main complaint would be that it was not long enough.It is right up there with The Decline of Western Cilvilization: The Metal years and VH1's 4 part series on Metal. If you like punk, then you would enjoy American HardCore as well.The cool thing about these documentaries is that having grown up when most of these sounds were just kicking in, you get to relive the excitement and fill in a great deal of blanks about what happened behind the scenes.Sam's next film should be out soon: Global Metal. I look forward to that one as well. The more music documentaries the better!!!!

Patty-Boy When you come to hear a great idea about a movie you usually build a lot of pressure if the outcome is not what you wanted it to be. Metal. The headbangers jorney delivers in every aspect you can look for in a documentary, especially if its about metal music and the people behind it.Mainly what makes it so good is the simple fact that it was made by a fan, that nows the music inside out. Hearing about the darker times of the genre you start to really think how much Slayer, Metallica, Dio, Children of Bodom, Möntley Crue and which ever was the band you liked meant for you when you where a kid.For a film to have so much influence on you that i can feel proud of being a Headbanger, Metal kid or whatever its always a great thing. Im not saying that i don't feel proud of who i am. This film just underlines the fact that you are a bit different, but so are the thousand kids behind you screaming as they all reach for the stage devil horns up in the sky. This movie is great for every metal fan, and if you don't even like the music its still entertaining and builds up you understanding about Metal, Headbanging, and why Norwegian Blac metal stinks. Metal saves lives it doesn't take them.

infokrf I was dragged along to a film festival to see this by a mate after he convinced me based solely on a picture of a fat metalhead playing an inflatable pink guitar at an unnamed concert. Thus I was expecting something pretty cheesy and maybe a bit of fun. What a surprise Metal: A Headbangers Journey turned out to be. The guy who made it, Sam Dunn is a anthropologist and metalhead who treats his subject both seriously and with a bit of humour and his love for what he is describing, as well as obviously deep knowledge of the subject, goes a long way to making Metal: AHJ so worthwhile. It has an excellent global rather than US or British focus and covers everything from the roots of metal to all it's various past and present incarnations with almost all of the information coming from either band members themselves, fans or interested third parties from various academic backgrounds. The documentary is divided into sub-sections such as Roots, Controversy, Gender and Satanism and held together by following of our documentarian Sam as he conducts various interviews and visits festivals and countries like a touring band himself. Perhaps the most interesting part was the section on Black Metal, with interviews with both Norwegian church burners and advocates balanced against the Minister of one of said burnt churches without going the easy road into provocations and angry sniping. Every metalhead I know who saw this loved it (although equally everyone has some minor disagreement with the metal family tree Dunn presents) but equally everyone who I made watch it with me who was not into metal came away surprised at how interesting and enjoyable it was. Best moment: Ghaal from Gorgoroth's answer to "What is Black Metal?" (so dead serious but all the more hysterically funny for it). Complaints? Simply too short, even with all the extras on the second disk (many of which are excellent just as stand alone pieces-Lemmy is a highlight here too!) on DVD.