Director(s) – Juuso Laatio and Jukka Vidgren (Tough Love, Dr. Professor’s Thesis of Evil)
Starring – Johannes Holopainen (Force of Habit, All the Sins), Samuli Jaskio (Nesting, Mister8), and Antti Heikkinen (Juice, Roba)
Release Date – 2018
Rating – 3.5/5
I’ve been a hardcore collector of Vinegar Syndrome for several years now. Every month when they announce their new releases I jump to their site to snag what I can. The last year or so Vin Syn has been releasing films from their partner labels which I have been snagging as well. I was mostly interested in the AGFA releases but there has been a few other labels or releases that has caught my eye.
One of those releases was Heavy Trip from Music Box Selects. This is a movie I had heard about sometime back when I received a few press releases for it. When I saw that it was on Vin Syn’s site I jumped on it. I thought this would be the perfect film to wash the taste of the AGFA double feature I just had out of my mouth.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a struggling metal band in Finland who want to make it big. When a promoter for a metal festival in Norway arrives on their doorstep they think they have a way in…until they accidentally spill reindeer blood on him. The lead singer of the band tells a little white lie to impress the girl he likes and soon everyone in town believes that they are going to Norway to play in the festival. When he is eventually caught up in the lie he loses his drummer to a car accident and his will to perform. That is until his crush convinces him not to give. With a stolen van, the casket housing their dead drummer, and a mental patient from the psych ward, they make their way to Norway to make their dreams come true. **Spoiler Alert**
Heavy Trip was billed as an adventure comedy centered around a Finnish metal band. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and I can see myself revisiting it again with some friends. However, I don’t recall laughing the first time. What sold me on the film was the story and the character but as for the humor I found it very lacking.
The acting in this one is great. As I stated earlier, I love the characters and the cast really does go all in for their roles. They brilliantly brought out the stereotypes of the metal scene from the country while giving them personalities that stand out. I would love to see this cast appear for a follow up because I need a lot more metal-themed adventures with this cast.
The story for this one isn’t as funny as I was lead to believe but that didn’t stop me from enjoying it. The film really plays into the stereotypes of the area and the metal scenes which is somewhat comical but it also gives the film an extra layer. The characters are wonderfully written into the story with everyone serving a purpose. With that being said, I didn’t find anything really funny about the film and a few of the scenes was really awkward. They fit the film but they relied on the humor to make the scene but it falls short making the scene just really awkward.
Finally, the film has a lot of blood but not in the way you would expect. This is not a film with a body count but there is some blood and some prop effects. Overall, Heavy Trip is a fucking blast. I can’t recommend this one enough. This is one hell of a film and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for these cast of characters. I highly recommend it.
