“Nightmare is a love letter to all the filmmakers in the ‘70s and ‘80s that helped inform the creativity in my childhood,” says Brendon Small, mastermind behind metal band Dethklok, the animated series Metalocalypse, and his most recent project, Galaktikon. “Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Tobe Hooper, Roger Corman, Dino De Laurentiis…”

Conceived and directed by Small, Nightmare is the culmination of 2017’s brutal, acclaimed album, Galaktikon II: Become The Storm, and its accompanying 6-part comic book series. The live-action, intergalactic metal short film (7:36) took over a solid year to create, using a new, non-computer-generated imagery rule Small coined, “Corman ‘82”: Anything that Roger could do in 1982, Brendon can do with this film.

Shot with anamorphic lenses to get a big, cinematic feel, all of the props and scenery in Nightmare were built from tactical sources with the early ‘80s in mind. Aquariums filled with different densities of ink and colorful liquid form the Flash Gordon style outer-space skies. Brendon and his brother, special effects wizard Jeff Small (Where the Wild Things Are, Pacific Rim, Matthew Barney’s “Drawing Restraint 9”), built outer-space sea creatures, robots and space suits. Miraculously, the two brothers located and repurposed James Cameron’s standing spaceship set from the early ‘90s.

“And I’m happy to report,” adds Brendon, who would love to see Galaktikon: Nightmare as a bigger, narrative project, “the results are incredibly cool.”

Watch the video at Funny Or Die.

Brendon Small is a musician, director, writer, actor and comedian whose latest album Galaktikon II: Become the Storm album features legendary drummer Gene Hoglan (Testament, Death, Dark Angel) and bassist extraordinaire Bryan Beller (The Aristocrats, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai). Issues 1 - 4 of the accompanying 6-part Galaktikon comic book series are available now from Galaktikon.com.