User Reviews

My opinion on this episode is definitely an unpopular one. Metalhead is the black and white episode of Black Mirror's fourth season - and its first foray into this visual style. Definitely the episode that, during the fourth seasons's marketing, I had no idea what Metalhead was going to be about; but honestly the one I was most excited to see. Was I disappointed? Well let's have a look at Metalhead first.

We follow Bella, a woman who along with two male companions, Clarke and Anthony, attempt to break into a secluded warehouse in the post-apocalyptic British countryside. However, there they awaken a robotic life-form: a dog-like killing machine which, after taking out Clarke and Anthony, engages Bella in an ultimately fatal chase through the desolate post-apocalyptic landscape in a race for survival.

Let me get this out the way first. Metalhead may be the Black Mirror episode that terrified me the most. The technology being referenced here - upon research on my own part - is the Boston Dynamics dog-style robots. Many people's issues with Metalhead seem to be how vague it is. But that's what I loved. It demands you to research technology you may not even know is being developed. Charlie Brooker is asking a simple yet wholly frightening question: what if robot dogs took over the world? If it's anything like Metalhead's world, I don't ever want to know.

I have to highlight Maxine Peake. At 41 minutes, she is in almost every frame of this episode, and we feel every emotion along with her. Every bit of fear and tension she feels, through her brilliant performance we feel it to. Furthermore, this has to be Black Mirror's most visually arresting episode. The black and white style is so evocative and paired with the desolate British country, it just looks harrowing. The episode also uses the music of Penderecki, and it is truly spine-tingling.

Metalhead is set to be Black Mirror's most divisive episode. I understand the criticism to an extent, however my appreciation for this episodes boldness - having almost no dialogue - and stunning visuals hasn't been wavered by the many fans who dislike it. Definitely Black Mirror's most experimental episode to date, and I commend Charlie Brooker for taking a risk - to rewarding effect.

It's obvious why this is one of the most hated Black Mirror episodes. The first time I watched it, I didn't like it much either. At a glance it seemed like it was missing the qualities that define Black Mirror, like context, fascinating tech, biting social commentary and most of all an actual reason to exist. Yet on a second watch, I have realised how much I missed and it has become one of my all time favourites. Here's why.

First of all, the direction. David Slade is a master at creating a dark, brooding tone like no other. The full runtime is suffocated with an oppressive atmosphere which is heightened by the starkly beautiful shots. The apocalyptic landscape is made to look deadly and unforgiving (even though it's just the British countryside!). The 'dogs' are an original and scary enemy, with a cold, unsympathetic look and a brutal killing method. From the very start, the setpieces achieve maximum tension that lasts all the way to the end. That car chase is the stuff of nightmares, with a frantic camera that exacerbates the sense of desperation. And of course the 1-on-1 showdowns with the dog are perfectly executed. But there are many more subtle ways that Slade racks up the tension, such as the long-distance shot that shows a dog running across the landscape.

All of this is topped off with a haunting Hitchockian soundtrack and an expressive performance from Maxine Peake who is the sole character for most of the episode's direction. An episode like this lives or dies by its lead and this one excels in that area. Maxine Peake communicates a variety of emotions as well as humanly possible: the tender love she gives through a walkie-talkie to people she doesn't even know can hear her, the sheer grit and determination she has to survive in the face of unlikely odds, the hope that there is always a way out, and the resignation where there finally isn't.

And as for the dogs. What a fearsome enemy. They are the top predator now, and they don't care for the equality that Bella mentions in reference to pig farming. They are cold, hard killing machines and they are almost unstoppable. Until the end there's only one dog, and yet it's such a terrifying threat. Part of the fun is how its ability to seemingly make the best of any situation leads to one frantic moment after another. It can take control of a car, escape from a wreckage, replace a wounded leg with a kitchen knife. It can hack a keypad. It has the advanced programming that allows it to wait Bella out while she's sitting on a tree. And even when it's killed, it has one last trick up its sleeve that consigns Bella to an inevitable death. She puts up a good fight though, and it's nerve-wracking watching her use her quick wits and survival instinct to make it in spite of the odds. What's clear is that these robots have won the game of 'survival of the fittest'. Unlike humans, they seemingly never tire, they run at the speed of a car and they're able to use their technological abilities to hack the keypad to a 'safe' house. Even so, Bella has the brute will to survive, tearing a GPS tracker out of her leg, thinking cleverly enough to use 'Pavlov's dog' against the robot by training it not to respond to sweets being dropped on it, and misleading it by throwing the GPS tracker into a stream.

But ultimately, against technology, Bella has no chance. Humanity has no chance. Because no matter how clever or strong-willed we are, we have emotions. We care about things that are not logical. The reason Bella dies is because of her humanity. She risked her life for teddy bears that weren't needed, she tried to communicate with her friends using her walkie-talkie despite the fact that it would lead the dog to her, she took precious minutes to wash herself of the dirt, minutes she could have used to plan her next moves. Washing herself after touching the dead couple was about preserving her dignity, striving not to become some dirty unthinking animal. Humanity's most admirable trait, but also its greatest weakness, is to rise above pure survival. To care about other people, to preserve our dignity, to not merely be robots looking at everything in an unemotional way. It's what makes us different, but it's also what condemns us if we are ever to be faced with an enemy such as this. It's also kind of poetic that the dog's unsentimental behaviour leads it to destroy the speakers playing music. Ofc, it destroys them as it sees them as a source of life but it's also apt that the machine sees no use in anything designed to elicit pleasure.

What are the robots' purpose? My guess is they are a creation of the army that somehow went rogue. Logic led them to the conclusion that humanity was inefficient, therefore should be eradicated. There is no material value in teddy bears, or in human connection or in dignity. Therefore we should be terminated. This fact could itself be read as a reminder that as humanity accelerates into a technologically advanced era, we shouldn't forget that what makes us human isn't purely functional. What a profound piece of work this episode is, and how sad that it has been so underappreciated.

Back in 1975, the made for American TV movie "Trilogy of Terror" debuted. Two of the stories were very forgettable but the third became a classic. Karen Black plays a lady who buys a scary looking little doll. Little does she know that it's possessed and will stop at nothing to kill her! And so, for about 30 minutes, Ms. Black is tormented and tormented by this hellish doll. So why do I mention this movie? Well, because in so many ways "Metalhead" is an updated and 21st century version of this 70s story.

The entire context for this tale is missing. You simply see three people breaking into what looks like an abandoned warehouse. However, they aren't alone...a robotic dog-like sentry is waiting for them. And, when it discovers the intruders it goes into murder mode and seems as if it will never stop. Two are quickly killed...but the third, the woman, is able to escape. But is there any real escape from this dogged robot?

This episode will keep your attention and is worth watching. However, I should point out that it's a bit more depressing than usual...and the ending, when it all makes sense, it's REALLY depressing. So my advice is watch...unless you're going through a rough patch...then just watch it later or plan on heading to Disney World or having a party when it's over in order to bring your spirits back to normal!

By the way, unlike other episodes I've seen, this one is in black & white. I think this was done to help hide the CGI and make it all look more realistic.

Finally, my daughter told me that this episode and its menacing robot was inspired by a robot featured in the YouTube video entitled "Hey Buddy, Can You Give Me a Hand?". And, the similarity is interesting.

The basic idea here is pretty simple: In some vague future, humans create a robot which will kill all the people. A little more context about who created the robots and for what purpose might have added some interest. But really it's a just a chase story with nothing surprising. I don't think the teddy bears at the end were really any kind of big surprise. Their discussion earlier made it clear that they weren't going after anything essential. I thought it might be morphine. It was a teddy bear. So what? My only question is why there's only one robot dog for most of the movie, and then at the end suddenly they're everywhere.

I don't understand why this episode has such a low ranking compare to other episodes. I think it was such a great and interesting episode to watch!

Black mirror is a lot about interpretation, it always was, but it's pretty clear for me that this specific episode is dealing with the biggest weakness of the human being: having feelings.

There's a dying child, in a hopeless world and neither of the three wanted something else than getting a single teddy bear for him to make it a little more easier to go, which is human. So there's no point in being mad that they risked their lifes "just for a bear," when they couldn't do much more than that.

The episode is showing how Bella always struggles with her own emotions, being afraid, desperate, then angry too, and it's slowing her down. She risks her life to get that bear, she stops the car too see if her friend's still alive, she talks longer on the walkie talkie than she should, just to make sure her loved ones know that she loves them too. She's thinking irrational, while the dog is thinking rational, because he's just a machine, but it makes him stronger and faster than her.

I guess that's why the episode is black and white. It's not just because the world's an hopeless place there, it's also because the only way to survive in this place would be to think completely rational, without any feelings, which isn't really possible for humans. But until then it's a pointless fight, which Bella finally realizes in the end.

So maybe it's a big weakness to have feelings here, but it's also the feature that makes us feel alive. It's the one difference between a machine and a human and I think it's also an interesting message, that even if the world is an hopeless place, we won't stop taking care of each other.

So yes, I think it's a very good episode.

In a post-apocalyptic gray world, a woman, Bella, and her two partners, Clarke and Anthony, drive to a warehouse to seek medical supplies for a common friend. They are scared with the surveillance system but find the necessary supply. Out of the blue, they are attacked by a powerful mechanical dog that kills Anthony and Bella has to flee. Clarke drives a van and Bella drives the car, and both are hunted down by the dog. Will they survive?

"Metalhead" is so far the weakest episode of "Black Mirror". The plot has no explanation and the viewer only acknowledge that the world is destroyed without any green and controlled by "dogs". Are these alien machines? What happened to the population? Is there a safe place in the world? Why the trio risked their life knowing that there are invincible dogs? My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Metalhead"

Updated Review - 10/19/2023

The directing and the score stood out to me the most on this latest rewatch. It has the classic horror film feel with a tense score and dramatic close-ups. The choice to film in black & white adds to the feeling of hopelessness in the apocalyptic wasteland. Maxine Peake is great in the lead role as she becomes the last one standing. The metal dogs are similar to Terminators or Predators, except they can't climb trees. The CGI is well done, the dogs move fluidly and the kill shots are brutal.

Metalhead wastes no time getting straight into the action. For being a 40 minute action/horror film, it does what it sets out to do. The score and the intensity of the action sequences make up for the lack of story or character development.

7/10

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Review from 5/4/2019

In a post-apocalyptic Scotland, Bella, Clarke and Anthony search a warehouse to help a dying boy. They uncover a robotic dog that effectively kills Anthony and Clarke, Bella is hit in the leg by a tracking device. Bella is hunted by the rogue dog and her survival instincts are given a test.

This is the first episode to be shot in black and white, giving off a sense of death and dread. It may also have to do with the dogs vision, seeing without color. The dog is an efficient and advanced hunter that forces Bella to use her creativity to outsmart it.

This episode is directed by David Slade, director of Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night. He will also go on to direct Black Mirror's Bandersnatch. His unique style is shown with closeups of small details, but there isn't enough script to work with. Ultimately, we're left with an open-ended story and underdeveloped characters that doesn't make much sense by the end.

6/10.

Well, the authors didn't. The total lack of context can be a good thing if in the end everything has a clever explanation, but we get none. We don't even get to know what "pigs" are. Why did they have to mention them? The entire episode is based on the hunter-prey relationship between the "dog" and the woman, and there's no character development nor twist worth the time spent watching this. You basically only get to be mildly amazed by the cool animations of the dog, and mildly annoyed by the constant whining of the human character. Also, black and white looks pretentious and I suspect it's just a device used to conceal what would be excessive gore if this had been shot in color. To summarize: it's just Terminator with Citizen Kane's ending, done badly.

This is my first IMDB review, I had to wrote it because I saw so many negative reviews here. Please don't judge it if you don't understand, and please forgive my poor English as I'm not a native speaker.

Why toys? "Metalhead" is all about artificial intelligence. The ironic point is why human beings had to create a "species" which is far more smarter than them. Lot of scienceists had warned us nowadays when AI is smart enough to become self-develop, we may lost control of them and they may not need to rely on us anymore. Perhaps they can rule us or even kill us in the future. Another most ironic part is, why toys? Why we need to create a toy which is so smart, a teddy bear can also comfort a dying children. It is ironically enough if one day we really killed by a "toy" which were made by our own hands.

How can humans win? The pigs and equality speech at the opening already told you what will happen if you are not a better or smarter species, and what will happen if you are not on the top of food chain. That's why the robot-dog is capable to set a trap and waiting to kill you in the warehouse. When you still need to search a code to start a car and try so hard to grab a key to open a door, the robot-dog can do it in a second. Even when it comes to the end of life, the robot-dog can still tell his friends to hunt you down, but the only thing Bella can do is suicide to protect her own kind. Humans are no chance to win for sure, except one thing, our mind. Bella can waste the robot-dog's energy by not letting him to fall in energy saving / sleep mode, but Bella can still run away even she didn't have enough rest time on the tree. If humans could win in only one department, I think it is survival willpower.

Why black and white? I always love to guess why the director had to present it in a black and white style. My best guess is, this old fashion way of presentation can also entertain you, why we need a colour tv? The same as a old fashion kind of toy (teddy bear) can also make childrens happy, why we need a smart robot-dog? And that's why Bella still love to eat that old fashion kind candy. We all miss old things sometimes, doesn't we?

Why no background story? Lot of reviews here complaint "lack of exposition", "no dialogs" and "no context". Not to mention it is not Black Mirror's style, but I will ask a question if I am the writer: "If you humans are so smart to create an even smarter toy, why you still needs exposition / dialogs / context?" Humans can create an even smarter species but cannot understand this episode? and moreover they complaints about it? what an ironic joke...

If you have a better thoughts about this episode, I'm more than welcome to hear it. But if you are that smart, please do tell me you are a human, but not AI...lol

This episode gets a lot of things right - black & white really suits the mood and ambiance well, the minimalist approach works well. There doesn't need to be much in the way of plot or story (and there isn't) for this to work well. The protagonist does make a couple of silly decisions, but I figured, she's only human and this is fight or flight stuff with her life on the line, so those can be forgiven... The reason it drops a couple of stars for me is the reveal at the ending. To think she (and the others) were willing to risk their very lives for something so unnecessary just boggles the mind and I'm afraid I cannot forgive that bad decision. In a world where such dangers exist people would have quickly learned not to take unnecessary risks like that. I thought it was going to be insulin or something, not a teddy bear.

Even though this episode of Black Mirror has one of the lowest iMDB ratings, it has (apart from Bandersnatch) one of the highest number of user reviews, nearly 200.

I know some don't like this, but I found this episode gripping. All credit to the location manager for finding a dystopian side to the UK, where this was filmed. The thought of the metal dogs running non-stop was enough to give on pause about technology run amok big time. Anyway, the ending was poignant with the teddy bears. Reminded me of White Bear, the title of an earlier Black Mirror episode.

Maxine Peake was superb as the one on the run.

Throws you into it with no exposition and minimal dialogue. Protagonist spends entire episode running from killer robot dog, that's it. That is all it is, it's just a bore.

Do you want to watch a woman rummage through an entire house in what seems like real time, like you're watching a live stream of someone with OCD playing PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds? Then look no further.

We are given zero context with regards to both setting and characters (although one might argue that this episode doesn't really contain any characters, only plot functions). Sometimes holding back this type of information is crucial to the story because it will pay off later. My favorite Black Mirror episode "White Bear" is a prime example where this works beautifully. But in Metalhead there is no payoff, no explanation coming.

What has happened to the world that made it into an post-apocalyptic wasteland? Screw you, that's what.

Who were these people? Screw you, that's who.

Why was this warehouse seemingly stuffed to the rafters with teddy bears guarded by murderous robot dogs hellbent on killing anyone intruding, and apparently willing to follow someone to the ends of the world in order to complete its mission? Because screw you, that's why.

But perhaps it not about characters or story, but simply the visceral thrill? Well, then color me unimpressed. I couldn't wait for this elongated foot chase to be over and done with, hoping for a payoff that would never come.

However, in its favor, watching a knife wielding robot dog try to murder someone was hilarious. But I'm not sure that was the feeling they were going for.