Metal Messiah (1978)

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Metal Messiah (1978)

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It is the world of the Metal Messiah, a new film by MM Productions, billed as the “ultimate space rock spectacle of the 1970’s.” The original production first appeared on the Canadian stage well over a year ago (1975), but was cancelled because of its controversial and shocking subject matter. Producer and author Stephen Zoller, and director Tibor Takacs have since turned the property into an 80-minute feature film.

Throughout the movie, the character of the title haunts the streets of Anywhere City in a trenchcoat and Borsalino hat, as ethereal as his mission — like the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse, the rider of the white horse whose purpose is shrouded in mystery. He embodies innocence and Christ-like victimized purity, yet his presence signals an onslaught of frenzied destruction and mindless depravity.

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Time, space and mankind itself are manipulated for their ultimate shock values in Metal Messiah. Indeed, it is a film that consumes itself with a self-directed study of power abuse. Rock and roll and fascism coexist in a lifestyle of sex, violence and dark prophesies.

The story focuses on a strange being whom we never really get to know, never find out who he is or where he came from. All that is clear is that he is in Anywhere City, and for some reason the Promoter (the man who controls the society) wants him killed.

As innocent in Sodom and Gommorah, Metal Messiah observes the degradation. In one scene, through mental telepathy, the silvery being tries to inform the populace that their city is dying. He tells them that the planet is dying and that the oceans no longer support life. He begs them to abandon their hedonistic ways — but no one listens.

As the stranger continues his odyssey, he is followed by an executioner named Philip Chandler, who models himself after the great hardboiled detectives of the 1930s, and has doubts about his mission. All he knows is that he has been hired to kill a man who looks like he belongs in a grade B sci-fi flick.

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On his journey, the stranger encounters a variety of people. On different occasions he meets:
— mutated victims of radiation who live in the junkyard covered outskirts of the city.
— the wild, sophisticated people, who spend their lives in ultra-modern disco (which happens to be under the junkyards), and in a shelter. In the disco, there is sex for sale. A disc jockey auctions off girls who advertise wares on video screens.
— the businessman of Anywhere City, whom he accidentally stumbles onto at the Anywhere City Stock Exchange. He puts commodities up for trading, things like air and water. All the other businessmen attend to their adding machines, they are constantly being entertained by a stripper who is half man and half woman.
— the students of Anywhere U., who are more like Zombies. Here the stranger tries to make contact, but is thwarted by General Morgan, the headmaster of the school, who is in reality an android with a tape loop of old Marine Corps roll calls playing from his circuitry.
— the children of Truth and their leader Violet, a fanatical priestess who believes the stranger is the new messiah. She is determined to make him a rock and roll evangelist, and drugs and programs him in her laboratory. In an effort to escape her insanity, he runs away under the influence of her drugs, through the crowds which line the main streets of the city. Facades begin to crumble. In a vertigo vision of images and sound, the real antagonist of the film makes his appearance, Max the Promoter.

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Max is the devil personified. On a deserted side street, he has a philosophical battle with the stranger. According to Max, the people of Anywhere City do not want to be saved. They “like it as it is;” they want to be oppressed through the pleasures of rock music. Max shows the stranger that he is the power, that he is in control of the situation. Finally, as Max summons his cosmic forces, the stranger gives in to overwhelming temptations, pressures and twisted truths. He is the new Messiah — the ultimate rock star.

The final third of the film deals with the Promoter’s ultimate space rock spectacle. Like the Romans in the time of Christ, the people flock to the stadium to witnesss the event.

There are dancing girls, animal carcasses strewn about, fog, swirling lights, sirens and confetti. Then the Metal Messiah appears with his robotoid band. He is idolized on stage. Aided by the hypnotizing drone of his band, he sings of the destruction of the planet and everyone loves it. Max stands in the wings, laughing insanely as we realize he is the puppet-master, and the Messiah is dangling from his strings.

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Metal Messiah is the next step in a cycle of films that would have to include Jailhouse Rock, 1984, Clockwork Orange, Privilege, Wild in the Streets and Tommy — one with heavy visual overtones of David Bowie, Alice Cooper and Kiss.

“I deliberately kept him anonymous,” revealed the 23 year-old Zoller. “I myself don’t know who he is. If anything, the Metal Messiah was inspired by the comic book character called the Silver Surfer.”

“Metal Messiah is science fiction, rock and roll, television, sex, drugs, religion and politics. It’s a surrealistic odyssey through the history of the post-World War II generation, and a warning to the pre-World War III generation. In my mind, the film serves as a crystal ball through which we look back on ourselves and through which we can see our inevitable future.

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“I want to point out that the film is not a high budget production. In some ways it may disappoint, especially those who expect another Phantom of the Paradise or Tommy. We had a low shooting ratio and limited funding, but I think we came through with a unique and innovative style.”

“There are elements of the 1920’s German cinema in Metal Messiah. There are also images of 1940’s detective films, 1950’s science fiction and 1960’s pop movies. Metal Messiah is not a commercially slick venture. It is a powerful and moving sensory experience. It is an intense and demanding experience. It is violent. It has scenes of frenzied sexual activity. It is a complex film born of a complex age.”

“We just elaborated on current themes,” explains director Takacs, “by trying to make people realize what could happen in a rock concert atmosphere if unsavory forces were to manipulate it. Now, it’s all a game to groups like Kiss. I’m sure they don’t realize the effect they have on the kids in the audience.”

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“I recall a heavy metal rock concert,” Zoller admitted, “with a kid about fourteen on my right who had a bottle of scotch in his hand, and the kid on my left was snorting cocaine. They were both shouting ‘Kill! Kill! Kill!’ while extending their right arms in a Nazi salute. I began to think that it wouldn’t take much to mobilizeor influence these kids. They obviously have a lot of pent-up frustruations, and who can blame them, really? We live in a very difficult, highly technological and spiritless age. But I really started to wonder what would happen if a guy like Hitler decided to make the rounds today. He influenced a lot of people through theatrical techniques; he would have made a great rock star.

“At heart, I am a moralist, and Metal Messiah is essentially as moralistic film, but I do not believe in censorship. It’s quite a paradox when you think about it. I wrote Metal Messiah as a warning to the rock generation, and the censors will probably give it an X rating so the kids won’t be able to see it.”

“We made the film with no big names, on very little money, but we had a lot of determination. We wanted the ‘real’ story of rock to be told.”

MediaScene #24 –Special Fantasy Issue – March/April 1977

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