Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.5

Heavy Trip Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 27, 2021

While there is the occasional corpse being disinterred from its grave and the slightly more frequent emphasis on the dissection of reindeer carcasses in Heavy Trip, this off the wall Finnish comedy would hardly seem to be the typical kind of offering to be released under the imprimatur of Doppelgänger Films, not to mention Bloody Disgusting, whose production masthead is also featured as things start up. In what almost might be thought of as a Scandinavian cousin of This Is Spinal Tap, albeit maybe with one of those The Early Years addenda in its title, Heavy Trip forsakes the mockumentary format to provide a more traditional narrative detailing the adventures of a bunch of Finnish guys who have been practicing their own version of death metal for over a decade in the basement of one of the members (of course), but who have yet to actually play a real gig. The band's lead "singer" (if primal screaming, grunting and growling can be classified as "singing") is a kind of sweet natured longhaired dude named Turo Moilanen (Johannes Holopainen) who is probably the assumed default focal character due at least in part to the fact that his narration is heard at various points. Turo endures the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune not just in regard to being the regular butt of jokes by more "traditional" (i.e., short haired and ostensibly more "masculine") males in the region, but also by dint of the fact that Turo is consigned to a janitorial job at the local mental institution. Turo's bandmates in an initially unnamed aggregation are guitarist Lotvonen (Samuli Jaskio), whose family runs the local reindeer slaughterhouse, drummer Jynkky (Antti Heikkinen), who has had an unfortunate habit of dying (and being brought back to life), and bassist Pasi (Max Ovaska), who is the putative "brains" of the outfit.

I'm just going to cut to the chase before delving into things further to state that Heavy Trip provided me with a bounteous array of hearty guffaws with its lunatic blend of "underdog can do-it-ive-ness" combined with both a penchant by the main characters to be completely boneheaded (even assumed "intellectual" Pasi) and for those aforementioned slings and arrows of outrageous fortune to affect all of the guys, for better and definitely for worse. This is an unbelievably sweet natured film despite a few passingly gruesome moments, and its attention to detail in terms of the nicely wrought characters is often beautifully handled. Even apparently "minor" characters, like Lotvonen's Dad (Martti Syrjä) are given absolutely hilarious bits. I especially loved the passing banter between both of Lotvonen's parents over the dinner table with the boys in attendance (which won't be spoiled here, other than to say that it's overtly sexual), and even his throwaway line that he doesn't need to run a reindeer slaughterhouse anymore because the animals are all committing suicide from having to listen to the band are hugely enjoyable.

There are a number of deftly interwoven subplots that unfold as the perhaps predictable through line of the band attempting its first real gig is explored. These include a budding romance between Turo and local florist Miia (Minka Kuustonen), which draws the umbrage of a cartoonish lounge lizard type named Jouni Tulkku (Ville Tiihonen), who fashions Miia for himself. Turo's involvement with a violent inmate at the asylum named Oula (Chike Ohanwe) also plays both literally and figuratively into the proceedings. Lotvonen's "spark of inspiration" leading to the band finally writing their first original also provides the film with a completely unique and hilarious high point (screech?).

But it's in the character bits, which include both smart writing and some very funny physical humor (Jynkky has really bad luck), that Heavy Trip really excels, with the overall direction of the plot being almost foreordained (with perhaps one notable exception), meaning Turo's ultimate triumph in both professional and romantic areas is going to go pretty much as any lover of nice guys finishing first might hope for. If occasionally the film is needlessly ridiculous, as in a silly scene documenting Turo's epic vomiting during a performance, it is more often than not very engaging and amiably uproarious. Performances are superbly spot on throughout the film, with an appealing naturalness that lets the humor speak (and/or laugh) for itself, without anything feeling overly forced and/or artificial.

Heavy Trip Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Heavy Trip is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Doppelgänger Releases and Bloody Disgusting with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. I haven't been able to dredge up any authoritative online data on the technical side of things, and the IMDb only lists an extremely helpful (?) "DCP" as a datapoint. One way or the other, this is a very appealing transfer that offers generally great clarity and a really appealing and often quite distinctive looking palette. While some interior scenes can look just slighty hazy, I'm assuming at least partly by design, fine details typically remain secure on everything from fabrics on costumes to those aforementioned reindeer carcasses. A couple of the interior asylum scenes along with a few other interior scenes can have slightly milky looking blacks. The film benefits from some jaw dropping vistas as the guys embark on their road trip, and some of the outside material in particular boasts nice suffusion and excellent fine detail levels.

Heavy Trip Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Heavy Trip features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 audio in the original Finnish. The surround track offers expectedly substantial low end when the newly minted Impaled Rektum marauds through one of their songs, but there's also some really good engagement of the side and rear channels in non-musical scenes as well. The road trip aspect of the film offers some good if intermittent opportunities for immersive ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly throughout this very enjoyable track. Optional English subtitles are available.

Heavy Trip Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Heavy Trip Goes to Texas (HD; 13:39) is a patently odd set of vignettes supposedly taking place in the Lone Star State. These have an almost Borat-esque (and, yes, I just said that) feel.


• Bands React to Impaled Rektum (HD; 00:50) offers what I think are real life metal musicians giving some feedback on the inimitable work of the film's focal band.


• "Flooding Secretions" by Impaled Rektum (HD; 2:19) is in essence an audio supplement that plays to a still of the band.


• "Jump Into My Net" (Karaoke Version) by Jouni Tulkku & The Star Mustaches (HD; 2:21) offers an ostensible karaoke video which has a few playback issues along the way.


• Bonus Scenes & Bloopers (HD; 5:32)


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 1:31)

Note: There is a Play All option on the Extras submenu.

Heavy Trip Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Every so often a completely unexpected pleasure shows up in my review queue, and Heavy Trip certainly qualifies in that regard. This is both sweet and hilarious in about equal measure, and if the destination is pretty much a foregone conclusion, getting there is often a lot of fun. Technical merits are generally solid and the supplementary package very enjoyable. Highly recommended.