Home Entertainment Pick of the Week: Anvil: The Story of Anvil

It’s the month of Halloween, which means studios are quickly trying to capitalize on that by tossing out re-releases of horror favorites on DVD and Blu-ray. This week that includes the lackluster Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Wolf, as well as the long desired Trick ‘r Treat. True to form (Tim Burton would be happy), there’s also some Christmas stuff coming out this week, particularly on Blu-ray. Unfortunately for them, it’s not horror or holiday warmth that I have a taste for this week. They may be fun to watch later in the month (at least more fun than Year One, which also comes out this week) but it’s the classic rock documentary of a band you’ve never heard of that captures my attention this week.

Anvil: The Story of Anvil looks like it should be a Christopher Guest mockumentary (although he already took part in a parody of that in This is Spinal Tap). Instead, the story of Anvil is all too true. This documentary follows a heavy metal band who never achieved the rock god status of popular groups like Metallica or Iron Maiden. Instead, these guys play to half-sold venues and even have to get day jobs. Somehow, it makes them seem so much more real than those other bands, and, somehow, through all of their trials, just as interesting as those other success stories.

I thought a lot of people had heard about Anvil: The Story of Anvil earlier this year, but when I started talking about it with people almost nobody I encountered knew what I was talking about. This is definitely a rock-doc worth checking out, so don’t let the lack of name recognition cause you to keep it off your must-see list.

Pick of the Week:
Anvil: The Story of Anvil