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Heavy as Film

Heavy as Film

Written by: Heavy as Film
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Heavy as Film is an ongoing project to build the heavy metal cinema canon. This is the show that’s all about discovering exactly what it means for art across all media to be heavy metal. More than a heavy metal vibe check, Heavy as Film analyzes your favorite heavy movies to determine what films are metal and what subgenres and bands best represent those films.

The Heavy Metal Mode Critical Framework:

Heavy metal art sincerely commits to an extreme mission of confrontation. It presents challenging theses about people and the universe by forcing these theses into conflict. It does not apologize for its message, shield the viewer with irony, or guide the audience by making its artistry palatable. It is uncompromising in its artistic vision and displays a dedication to craft rarely matched elsewhere.

Heavy metal is characterized by existential confrontation. Depending on the subgenre, it will stage conflict between a variety of entities through a variety of devices. Whether it’s the extreme velocity and tongue-in-cheek aggression of thrash metal that challenges systems of power or the oppressive atmosphere and ritualized inevitability of black or drone metal that challenges the audience, metal is a confrontation. Metal is expressed through text, subtext, tone, style, and craft. It is a total commitment to existential confrontation as art. Metal does not inquire. It exposes.

Ultimately, heavy metal is defined by its function and structure. Functionally, metal stages confrontation. Structurally, it achieves this through conflict as the central organizing principle, employing subgenre-specific stylistic devices while displaying dedication to craft.

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Questions? Want to suggest a film? Reach out at heavyasfilm@gmail.com

Copyright Heavy as Film 2026 All rights reserved. Art Music
Episodes
  • 2. The Northman / Progressive Black Metal / Enslaved

    2. The Northman / Progressive Black Metal / Enslaved
    Feb 4 2026

    You can’t escape your fate.

    In this episode, we add Robert Eggers’ 2022 film The Northman to the heavy metal cinema canon. This mythological legend is a tale of vengeance and destiny that fully commits to its internal moral universe.

    Questions? Want to suggest a film? Reach out at heavyasfilm@gmail.com

    Subscribe for essays and bonus content on Substack at heavyasfilm.substack.com or on Patreon at patreon.com/heavyasfilm

    Follow Heavy as Film on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/HeavyAsFilm and on Instagram at instagram.com/heavyasfilm

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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • 1. Videodrome / Deathgrind / Cattle Decapitation

    1. Videodrome / Deathgrind / Cattle Decapitation
    Jan 28 2026

    In this episode, Videodrome becomes the first official entry in the heavy metal cinema canon. This Cronenberg body horror stages a battle for control of the flesh, perception, and reality itself. It is truly a masterpiece of heavy metal cinema.

    Questions? Want to suggest a film? Reach out at heavyasfilm@gmail.com

    Subscribe for essays and bonus content on Substack at heavyasfilm.substack.com or on Patreon at patreon.com/heavyasfilm

    Follow Heavy as Film on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/HeavyAsFilm and on Instagram at instagram.com/heavyasfilm

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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • 0. A Critical Framework for Defining the Metal Mode

    0. A Critical Framework for Defining the Metal Mode
    Jan 19 2026

    Heavy metal is more than just music. It’s a way of structuring art.

    In Episode 0, I introduce the critical framework behind Heavy as Film: a cross-medium functional and structural definition of heavy metal as a mode of art that applies to both cinema and music. I discuss defining metal by what it does and how it’s structured to do this, metal versus heaviness, the real role of aesthetics in metal, and establish the foundational principles that will be used to build the heavy metal cinema canon throughout the series.

    Questions? Want to suggest a film? Reach out at heavyasfilm@gmail.com

    Subscribe for essays and bonus content on Substack at heavyasfilm.substack.com or on Patreon at patreon.com/heavyasfilm

    Show More Show Less
    42 mins
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