Complete Monster: The Melting Pot, by Kevin Eastman et al. (original 1990s version): The brutish Lord Tyler is an alien warlord trapped on the miserable world where he has grown intensely bored. Filling his days with slaughter, Tyler murders emissaries from the city of Shanntar before having the city massacred in horrific detail, commenting only how aroused the death makes him. Tyler sleeps with a prostitute named Sade, unknowingly infecting himself with a plague, before ordering Sade gang-raped. Later returning, still infected, Tyler brings his armies to try to destroy even the gods and even begins violating women to see them rot from the plague for the sheer, twisted fun he finds it.
The Animated Movie:
Awesome Music: Sammy Hagar, Cheap Trick, Grand Funk Railroad, Blue Öyster Cult, Devo, Riggs, Black Sabbath, Don Felder... the list goes on. And that's saying nothing of the excellent orchestral score provided by Elmer Bernstein (unusually for the time, there was a separate score LP released alongside the song album; the complete score was later issued on CD). In fact, its soundtrack is pretty much the reason the film is still a cult classic.
Best Known for the Fanservice: Most people will remember the movie for its abundant nudity and light sex scenes, especially in the Den arc.
Complete Monster: The Loc-Nar is an extradimensional nightmare that spreads corruption wherever it goes, being responsible for countless wars and atrocities throughout the multiverse, including much of Earth's history. After incinerating an astronaut, the Loc-Nar torments his young daughter with stories of its influence, several of which include corrupting people into crimes they normally wouldn't commit. In one world, the Loc-Nar offers great power to those who sacrifice young women in its name; in another, it turns plane crews into zombies and has them slaughter the living. Finally, after landing on yet another world, the Loc-Nar turns a group of warriors into barbaric monsters so they will Rape, Pillage, and Burn the rest of the planet.
Crosses the Line Twice: The entire Captain Sternn segment. His charges start out pretty horrific and severe, ranging from serial rape and murder and ending with a moving violation. All while he stands there with a proud posture.
Hanover Fiste: (testifying on Sternn's behalf) In all the time I've known him, he's never done anything immoral ... (under the Loc-Nar's influence, his voice changes) Unless maybe the preschoolers' prostitute ring!
The Den segment was well received even among those critics that disliked the film itself as a fun sexy tongue-in-cheek fantasy with John Candy giving it a welcome light touch.
"B-17" stands out even more to the point of being an Out-of-Genre Experience. No campiness, no comic relief, and no gratuitous fanservice, just some very efficient and frighteningly effective horror. The only complaint this segment tends to get is that it's by far the shortest one.
Hype Backlash: The film is a perennial Cult Classic, but popular opinion has been steadily turning against it in recent years. There is much more adult-oriented animation available today than there was in the 1980s, and now that Heavy Metal has finally received a video release and it's no longer immensely difficult to find, people end up disappointed with the writing and tone, and some are put off by the gratuitous gore & nudity. That said, most people still agree that the soundtrack kicks ass.
Genre-Busting: It's an animated sci-fi/fantasy/horror anthology movie aimed strictly at adults. Whether you think it's good or bad, you have to admit there really isn't much else like it.
Rodger Bumpass provides the voices of Hanover Fiste and Dr. Anrak, nearly two decades before his most famous role, Squidward Tentacles.
Harvey Atkin voiced an alien and henchmen in Harry Canyon 8 years before his most famous animated role King Bowser Koopa.
The Girl in the Harry Canyon segment is voiced by Susan Roman, who'd become known as the English voice of Sailor Jupiter in the original 90s Sailor Moon.
Gloria is voiced by Alice Playten, a decade before her most well-known role as Beebe Bluff on Doug.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The chief complaint about the "B-17" segment— often agreed even by those who disliked the movie to be the best part— is that its premise could have supported an entire feature-length movie on its own rather than just a short (and the briefest segment in the film, to boot).
The Woobie: The poor little girl in the bridge segments who watches her father be melted away into nothing before having to listen to the Loc-Nar share its history of destruction, all the while being told she will meet the same fate.
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