User reviews

Generally speaking, when pop culture tries to portray metal culture, or metalheads, or even just extreme music, it ends up being, at best, something vague that gestures in our direction. But this full length professional film did metal right. I was surprised too.

I am a (Finnish) metal head so I had some expectations when I bought the ticket. At least the subject was close to my heart. Finnish comedies in general are broadly cringe-worthy and I have not paid for a movie ticket to see a Finnish flick maybe ever before.

It has many funny moments for a regular Joe, but definitely you are going to be able to pick up much more from this if you are familiar with the metal scene. Subtle references to Finnish artists here and there put constantly a smile on my face.

There are a few interesting characters, and one absolutely hilarious one.

Some scenes were completely not funny and unnecessary for the story to be interesting. Still the good scenes and lovable characters were capable of making me laugh numerous times, so the overall feeling afterwards was very good.

It's the first time in my life that i am writing a rewiew and i feel deep inside of me that i had to do it.

to tell you the truth i didn't even knew the existence of that film..i don't even remember where i found it but it was worthing my time.a very nice movie funny easy to watch and to enjoy.i recommend highly to all metal heads and if you are not familiar with metal it doesnt matter you will love it too.

i have to say that as a Greek i loved the Finnish language,i cant imagine that movie in English.

This sentence perfectly summarizes the Finnish comedy "Heavy Trip". In some backwoods in Finland, four metalheads have been practicing other people's songs for twelve years, without having one of their own, nor have they ever performed before the audience. By chance, they encounter one of the organizers of the biggest Norwegian metal festival and give him their demo tape. On one occasion, it was convenient to frontman to lie that they were invited to participate in the festival, but then the lie spread and situation got completely out of control. The band decides to write an original song and appear at the festival uninvited, come what may. Of course, anything that can go wrong will go wrong and the guys will find themselves in the wildest adventure of their lives.

I can not say that the movie is objectively particularly good, but as a metalhead myself, I really enjoyed the ride. The story is original, and adventure is, although totally over-the-top, essentially very realistic and full of life. The humor is mostly mediocre, but there are some hilarious moments, and there's some touching drama too. The acting is good and dialogues I can not judge because I do not speak Finnish and I do not trust subtitles nearly enough to evaluate based solely on them. And of course, the metal sound is something I'm always happy to hear in the movie, even if it's a subgenre that I do not normally listen to. If you do not have too high expectations, you will surely have good fun.

7/10

A funny and extremely clever satire of the Finnish and Norwegian death metal scene. You of course don't have to know anything about metal to enjoy this little gem of a movie, but if you do it's icing on the cake. If your a fan of the show metalocalypse definitely check this out. Also check it out if you are just a fan on fun indie comedies and don't mind subtitles. I don't mind subtitles, but I do feel they can hurt comedies as so much of the genre relies on the success and wittiness of the dialogue. Translations don't always carry through, and unfortunately I do feel the translations hurt this film slightly for those of us that don't speak Finnish. But the acting, and rememberable situations do speak for themselves. 7.5/10 (which is a high score for me.)

This is "The Blues Brothers" for fans of Black Metal. Metalheads are going to enjoy it more than those who aren't fans of the genre. Its still good for a few laughs even if you aren't familiar with the instantly recognizable opening of Pantera's "Walk."

At the very least, it injects humor and shows a lighter side of a musical scene that's notorious for church burnings in the 90's, or that one of these bands once used a photo of the corpse of a former bandmate (after committing suicide) as an album cover.

This is an absolutely hilarious dark comedy of a Finnish jerkwater heavy metal band, with all the tropes and cliches of the heavy metal culture present, both defied, averted, downplayed and absolutely played straight. A brilliant example of Finnish contemporary movie culture.

This moie is about a talented but an absolutely shy and introverted heavy metal band, who after 12 years of jamming and playing together in a basement of a reindeer slaughterhouse (where one of the members work), finally wants to make the big break and aims high. And everything goes horribly right.

If you are a metalhead, LARPer or generally interested in the geek culture, this movie is a must!

Whaaaaw ! seems be the reasonable reaction after the final credis end. First, it is a huge surprise. If you know Scandinavian hard rock realities, it can be a gift, I suppose. But the film is an energetic , fascinating comedy. A real montagne russe , great in each detail, honest in profound sense, reflecting parenthood reactins, love stories, huge ambitions and unconventional baths , remembering Kusturica universe and being so...human. Short, adorable.

Death heavy metal is actually big in Finland. Supposedly "based on mythology, occultism, Satanism or crappy fantasy literature". So, small town band of four having gone nowhere for a dozen years other than the basement of one of their parents decide to give it a bigger stage in a Norway festival. What follows is a lot of humor & slapstick (I guess) such as naming themselves w/disgusting body functions as strong possibilities (e.g. Impaled Rektum); grinding up a dead reindeer carcass for it's blood which is inspiration for a song. The acting & music were so good I couldn't tell if they were just actors or actual playing musicians. Puzzled by one scene - paying for a bouquet of three flowers cost 20 Euros ($22) - really?

It's not easy for non English language films to acquire cult status, but the Finnish Hevi Reissu ("A Heavy Metal Trip") has as good a chance as any. A cross between "The Full Monty" and "This is Spinal Tap", the themes are about facing your demons, whether asking out the village's prettiest girl or daring to perform in public. Well worn clothes these, but especially the film's first half hour has a enough good gags to bring the house down with laughter.

No serious knowledge of heavy or any other kind of metal is needed to enjoy the inspired lunacy. Even if the jokes slow a bit in the second half, there's still enough wit to carry the film through its increasingly fantastical plot and logical conclusion. Criticism about the ending doesn't resound with this viewer: metal music is about fantasy and myth, well injected here.

Released initially in only a few Finnish cinemas as a late night romp, this film is a joy waiting to be discovered worldwide. Let's hope the subtitlists have talent.

The 2018 Finnish comedy "Heavy Trip" (aka "Hevi Reissu") somehow managed to elude me until now late in 2021. I had the opportunity, finally, to get to sit down and watch it, and of course I did, since I have been listening to metal for more than 35 years myself.

Actually I hadn't even heard about "Heavy Trip" had it not been because of an acquaintance mentioning the movie. So I sought it out and tracked it down, managing to get my hands on it shortly thereafter. And I will say that I was immediately sold on the cover alone.

The storyline told in "Heavy Trip", as written by writers Juuso Laatio, Aleksi Puranen and Jari Olavi Rantala was definitely an enjoyable and entertaining one. "Heavy Trip" was rather unique, and it does a great job mixing different genres of movies into a single entertaining one. So thumbs up to the writers on that accomplishment. And I will say that the whole concept of a brutal metal band and their aspiration for their first gig as portrayed in the movie here was fun to watch.

I am by no means familiar with Finnish cinema, so all the performers in the movie here were unfamiliar faces to me. But I will say that they definitely had a good ensemble of skilled actors and actresses in the movie. And the movie was definitely nicely carried by the performances of Johannes Holopainen, Samuli Jaskio, Antti Heikkinen and Max Ovaska.

The character gallery in "Heavy Trip" was interesting and enjoyable. The characters were well-written and given good, suitable and believable dialogue. And I will say that the characters were definitely multi-faceted aspects and personalities. And the movie gave room for some nice character development along the way.

With "Heavy Trip" being a movie about a brutal death metal band, of course you have music in the movie. And the music that was being used to personify the band was just spot on. And it added so much atmosphere to the movie.

If you enjoy metal music, then you should certainly sit down to watch "Heavy Trip".

My rating of "Heavy Trip" lands on a well-deserved seven out of ten stars.

So I watched the movie without any expectations and gotta be fair the movie was damn good and funny as well. Highly recommeneded for metalheads and people who just want to have a good laugh.

P.S. that was my 1st movie from Finland and I loved it. Keep up the good work metal bros and sisters.

Cheers

A struggling Finish Black Metal Band may seem to be not the best choice for a heartwarming comedy, but surprisingly here it works really well. Impaled Rektum (yes that's the name of the band) have been practicing for a long time - 12 years and not one gig. A chance, and bloody encounter, with a metal promoter changes things, and the band galvanized by the opportunity to appear at a festival begin their epic saga. Hints of Spinal Tap and Blues Brothers are understandable, but for the most part film creates it's own, mostly slapstick based humour - including the worst choice for a stag do fancy dress, and a lot of Scandinavian humour, which translates really well. Not sophisticated in anyway but very funny, and always taking its music seriously, quite accessible for those of a non- black metal disposition.

1 star for authentic, good music. 1 star for the few and far between funny jokes. 1 star for relatively good dialect/accents from the actors.

20 minutes of good stuff, 65 minutes of Finnish movie cliches and forced narrative.

Would've worked better as a short film, maybe 30 minutes tops. Not garbage but extremely underwhelming and mostly boring.

A group of friends in a small town in Finland has a metal band that has been playing nothing but covers for 15 years. One day they decide to write their own song and come up with a song that's pretty great. They run into the promoter of a Norwegian metal festival and give him their demo tape.

For reasons unknown the singer makes up the story that the promoter invited them to play at his festival. From being treated like a bunch of losers they become the town's heroes.

When they're supposed to play in front the the town folk it turns into a disaster and they end up admitting that they won't play in Norway. Still, the friends decide to travel to Norway and play in the parking lot if necessary.

In the end they make it to the festival and their determination gives them a spot on stage.

Heavy Trip is a fairly good-natured, low-key, light comedy about kids living routine lives and who for a moment get to pursue their dream of making it big in metal. There's something here especially for folks who are into extreme metal: coming up with a band name, developing a logo, producing promo shots with no budget, finding transportation, a casket crowdsurfing and more. Then there's your usual romance story involving the lovely Minka Kuustonen. There's some unlikely scenarios which are funny nonetheless like the whole border terrorism skit.

Missing though is the music...in a movie centered around metal music. There's the one song the kids come up with, which is fantastic. There are some low-volume songs in between scenes. But for the most part extreme metal is mostly absent in this movie no doubt as to not offend the audience. But that way the production only manages to alienate the crowd who is most likely to see this movie to being with: metalheads.

This movie then is ok for what it is, but it could have been more.

I watched this movie after watching the sequel Heavier Trip. The sequel was a delight, especially to an old metalhead like me, so I had perhaps a bit too high expectations for this movie.

Generally speaking, this movie (when compared to the sequel) is about life in a small country town, where everyone who differs from the norm is treated badly. Our main character Turo keeps hearing gay slurs and is a target of a constant mocking by pretty much everyone, just because he does not fit in. Apparently, the other guys also get their fair share of this same treatment, even when we don't really see it in the movie - after all, the star here is Turo.

Now, speaking of such a behavior, Turo and his buddies could have been anything else than metalheads, and the story would still been the same; vegan, foreigners, only half-Finnish, from South Finland or just from a neighboring bigger city, hippies, nerds who love to study and value higher education etc. I was waiting for more jokes regarding metalheads and its culture - like in the sequel - but while they were there and they were really delightful, it was not necessary to say that the guys being looked down was due to them being metal guys. Heck, even them having long hair would have been enough of a reason for this drama of "Not fitting in and everyone is bullying us".

The movie also plays jokes on a black guy being a black guy, and Arabs being terrorists, which can be seen racists by some people. The sequel lacked these elements.

Miia was a delight and a really wonderful depiction of a countryside woman who is both a sweetheart and a sassy woman who knows her value. A special mention goes to her!

Another special mention goes to Pasi/Xytrax, who is a saving grace in many scenes and depicts black metal sub culture accurately. And, of course, he works in a library. All black metal guys I know are just like that!

In short, I would recommend that you go to see the sequel. It is so much better than this one.

"Heavy Trip" joins my list of movies about a specific genre of music that everyone can enjoy even if you don't know, or even hate, the genre. Other films include the Japanese "Swing Girls" (swing & old school jazz), the American indie "Patti Cake$" (rap) and of course the ones that started them all, the Christopher Guest music mockumentaries "A Mighty Wind" (folk) and "This Is Spinal Tap" (hard rock). How do these films work so well? It's because foremost they introduce funny, quirky, loveable losers whom we can all associate with, regardless of musical taste, cultural origin or language. When done right, the story of the artistic underdog is universal.

Here we are introduced to 4 of the loveable-est, loser-est underdogs who ever cranked their amps to 11. The main character "Turo" is a long-haired metalhead who can't seem to get on stage without vomiting like a possessed demon girl. He is joined by his bandmates "Pasi" a freakish bass genius who's 1 pocket protector short of Einstein, "Jynkky" a drummer who's so hardcore he keeps the beat even during heart failure, and the guitarist "Lotvonen" who draws inspiration from the sounds of reindeer carcasses being ground into hamburger.

(Quick note about reindeer mutilations and the sort. All animal action is hilariously fake, including one wrestling scene with a crazed wolverine that is quite obviously a stuffed prop. No animals were sacrificed, nor actual reindeer blood spilled, in the making of this film. I hope.)

What follows is a cute, quirky, quasi-surreal unfolding of events surrounding the efforts of their band "IMPALED REKTUM" to make it to a metal festival in Norway, including but not limited to, attacks by rival lounge singers, questionable cops, a few rocket launchers, sword wielding Vikings, and perhaps even death itself. Do they ever make it to the show? Tune in and find out.

This Finnish extreme metal comedy is tonally very strange, sitting somewhere between kids TV and gross-out stoner film, we follow a wannabee metal band from anonymity to fame via death, destruction and a whole barrel full of heavy-handed plot contrivances. It's a fairly likeable sort of affair, and despite the wigs and the occasional sacrilege it's quite refreshing to see full-on extreme metallers portrayed as 'the good guys' in something. It's not winning prizes for authenticity but as shallow European comedies go, it functions relatively well and has some fascinatingly cartoonish set pieces.

I think this movie turned me on to metal music. As a comedy, it was a grand romp with some sincere heavy laughs. Sombre and sad at imes. You'll laugh and cry. It will leave you smiling.

This movie had me laughing hysterically the entire time. It plays on every single "metal head" stereotype and it does so successfully which is what makes it so funny. This movie will easily looked back on as a cult classic years from now.

Turo (Johannes Holopainen) and his buddies Lutvonen (Samuli Jaskio), Jynkky (Antti Heikkinen) and Pasi (Max Ouaska) have been friends since childhood in their remote Northern Finnish village, but they're all misfits; they bond over creating a heavy metal band in which they do great covers of other bands' songs and which never, ever plays before a live audience. You see, Turo has crippling stage fright, though he tries to hide it from his friends. He's also in love with Mila (Minka Kuustonen), but she's taken the eye of relatively successful lounge singer Jouni (Ville Tihonen) and Turo is just too shy to say a word. Until, that is, the opportunity arises for the band to play a heavy metal festival in Norway - if they can only get there in one piece....Here you've got a head-banging road trip comedy in which everything is against our heroes but still they strive to overcome. It's in equal parts deafeningly loud, hilariously funny and actively madcap with respect to the adventures these young men find themselves stumbling into. There's even a Spinal-Tappish scene that practically outdoes Spinal Tap, which is *really* saying something. Great noisy fun!

I was entertained from start to end. If you you have humour and consider watching it, just do it... you won't regret it. Doesn't even matter if you like heavy metal or not, just watch it.

If it was 2000 and I was a 10 years old maybe I would laugh at few parts. An extremely stupid film with anachronistic.... pffff........ "humour".

I gave it 5 stars only for the production, which was good, and some scenery. A complete waste of time.