Thor
An-Thor-ology (DVD)

May 2015
Released: 2005, Smog Veil
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: JP

On April 18th , 2015 I will be attending (or attended by the time you read this) the Canadian/International Premier of the Thor documentary I AM THOR. In anticipation of this event screened at the Calgary Underground Film Festival, I got out an old Thor DVD to enjoy again.



AN-THOR-OLOGY 1976-1985 was Thor’s third (and as of time of writing) third home video release. Released in 2005 by Smogveil this collection has Interviews, videos and live footage from the archives. The DVD has one page insert and the production quality is pretty good depending on the source material. The menu is easy to navigate and includes a few bonus features as well. You can also watch it with the director/star commentary (aka Voice of The Gods) which is cool. There is not a huge amount of narration to begin with so it might have been a good idea to integrate narration into the actual body of the film. I recommend watching it with the directors commentary with Frank Meyer and Thor himself.



The main feature is a series of 21 clips running from 1976 to 1985 and follows the early years of THOR. There are live clips, TV appearances, videos, interviews and more. Thor did a bit of acting and there are a couple of funny commercials for an autobody repair shop and Chevrolet starring the muscled madman. Thor appeared on any number of TV shows including Uncle Floyd and the infamous appearance on the Merv Griffin show in 1976 where he does his rendition of the old Sweet tune, ‘Action’. In reality, the song was only one year old at that point in time! The whole thing culminates in likely what is his most famous video, ‘Knock ‘Em Down’ from the seminal ONLY THE STRONG album of 1985. All these clips demonstrate how cutting edge Thor was back in the day as an early innovator of theatrical Metal.



AN-THOR-OLOGY is a great look back at the early days of one of Canada’s longest running, most successful Metal acts and a great companion to his documentary I AM THOR.