For as grim as the lyrical subjects can get in metal, the genre has the means to bring about good into the world. But there are folks who don’t recognize that and just want to complain and be judgmental when it comes to metal – like Father Milton (Andrew Kilborn).
As a child, Milton was picked on by some metal head bullies, which in turn planted a hateful seed within him. As an adult, Milton has become a hardcore fanatic, using his homilies to spew vitriol towards people. The head priest of the church sees that Milton has God’s message all wrong, so when Milton is suspended from his religious duties, he goes off on a bender and gets into a car accident. His body is tossed into a nearby creek where radioactive waste resides, mutating him into a monstrous being (played by Trent Johnson). In all his rage and superhuman strength, Milton heads forth to slay those he judges unworthy of God’s love.
Death to Metal – directed by Tim Connery, written by Connery and Kevin Koppes – succeeds most when it comes to its violence and gore. Whether it’s Milton impaling people with a wooden cross of his, shoving his mutated fingers into eye sockets, or stabbing people with broken beer bottles, the movie has a plethora of killer scenes that straddle the line of comedic and gross. The concept behind Milton – being a mutated evil priest – is cool as hell and not something seen all that often. There is a cheekiness to much of Milton’s dialogue, but it’s all with purpose. When he’s preaching bigotry, Kilborn’s performance captures the ridiculous ignorance of the character; as mutant Milton, Johnson’s words provide a chilling creepiness. Milton is a compelling villain that does much to carry Death to Metal and keep it interesting – for when it comes to everything else – the film struggles to thrill.
Where Death to Metal suffers the most is in the acting of most of its cast – particularly that of Zane (Alex Stein) and Mariah (Grace Melon). As two of our leading characters, both have the emotional range of a blank piece of paper. So many lines of dialogue from them – and in general, for the most part – are spoken in such a matter-of-fact straight way. Whether intentional or not, this can be real funny at times given the under-dramatic delivery of something being said. However, while one could find this straight delivery comical, the humor lands mostly flat. In a movie that involves heavy metal, it feels like there should be a lot more energy among the cast.
After being kicked out of his band and being dumped by his girlfriend, Zane asks Mariah to go with him to a big metal show coming up. Mariah, who is not a metal head, reluctantly agrees and Zane helps to prepare her with metal knowledge and clothes. The film does little catering to metal heads in terms of fun nods or musical insight; when Zane introduces Mariah to the bands that will be performing at the show, it is fun to hear him talk about Mutilated By Zombies and what makes them a solid tech death band, or what to expect out of the two-piece stoner act Telekinetic Yetti. That is farthest the film goes when it comes to fun fan service, besides a couple seconds where Slayer is mentioned and the several band tees that are present among the cast.
The lead up to the show – where Milton’s killing spree shifts into high gear – is somewhat of a drag. Besides those moments with Milton killing random people, the audience is left to wade through flat jokes and stilted performances; but then, in the second half of the movie, things start to pick up. It isn’t a whole 180 by any means, but performances start to have more animation to them, dialogue is a bit funnier, the comedic beats hit harder overall, and things get a whole lot bloodier.
It may sound like I’ve been dumping on Death to Metal a lot, and while there is no denying the glaring flaws throughout it – there’s also a fun movie here. The B-horror violence and gore is a blast, and when the comedy lands, it’s sincerely funny. But much of the acting in Death to Metal feels restrained up until its halfway point; ironically, the most extreme heavy metal energy of the film is the evil priest Milton.
Undersold expressions and ham-fisted deliveries of dialogue will sometimes get the occasional chuckle out of the audience, but that doesn’t make up much for the strong lack of comedic air. However, if you can forgive those moments of staleness, you are still going to be treated to a fun, gory time full of kills and heavy music.
Death to Metal is available now on VOD.
