Black Metal Veins (2012) (Blu-ray Review)

Black Metal Veins (2012) (Blu-ray Review)
Directed By: Lucifer Valentine
Starring: Brad, Raven (Not the Wrestler)
Rated: UR/1:33 and 1:85/1080p/Region O/Number of Discs 1
Available from Unearthed Films

Black Metal Veins unflinchingly documents the dark realities of despair and morbid self annihilation surrounding the lives of five heroin junkies. The addicts’ intertwining stories of pain, loss, sadness, and abandonment lead the viewer down the agonizing and hideous path of horrifying psychological and spiritual destruction as the grim disease of heroin addiction infects and decays the bodies and minds of five young people. Black Metal Veins allows us to stare into the haunted void of personal doom of a junkie, as we see five lives unravel before us, and the devastating transformation brought forth by the Hellish grip of drug addiction.

I’ve made it a point to try to avoid most Lucifer Valentine vomit films but Black Metal Veins was a different type of film from the director. This is a mostly true documentary that follows a group of people who really have a major drug problem. We watch as they get deeper and deeper in the hole with drugs and at one point we see a bit of a drastic change in look for one of the characters as the movie jumps a month and she looks pretty horrible. That’s just the start of this one as we see people shooting up stuff not only in their veins but in their necks as well. Actually, we see them shooting up a number of different things. The movie even interviews the parents of one of the guys in this and all in all everything we see is pretty hard to watch but it makes for a very interesting film none the less. I wouldn’t call it a fun watch by any means as it’s hard to watch people throwing their lives away on the screen but if nothing else this is a great example of what not to do with your life.

Some stuff was added in with this movie to make things more interesting I guess. I’m not sure which parts that is besides some obvious moments. There’s a scene where one girl in the film says she’s pregnant and then lets the guy shoot her up in the belly to abort the film. I’d like to think that part might have been added in or at least I hope it was because that is probably breaking a million laws on-screen. I’m not sure where these folks drew the line but going by how most act and what they do on here I’m guessing there wasn’t much of a line anyway. So, it’s a hard watch but it makes for a very interesting film still. From a look standpoint, the movie goes from 1:33 to wide as it appears the director switched to a better camera during the film’s time jump. Lots of deleted scenes and a commentary on the extras as well.

Extras

– Audio Commentary with Lucifer Valentine
– A Hot Corpse: Once a Junkie Always a Junkie
– Burzum, Death, and Raven’s Hair
– Lot Lizards, Birth Marks, and Parasites
– The Gates of Hell, Miss Tidewater Gogo 1979, and Scabs
– Placenta Pie, The Necronomicon, and The Loudest People on the Face of the Planet
– Jail, Florida, A Hooker and a Hotel Room
– Brad’s Dad
– Legal Agreements
– Haunted as Hell
– Production Notes

Quality of Transfer: 78%