With Al Green as music editor, the soundtrack features compositions by Krzysztof Penderecki and includes some pieces which were used in 1980 horror film The Shining. Joel Collins worked as the production designer. Maxine Peake stars in the episode as Bella.
The episode was written by series creator Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade. "Metalhead" is the shortest episode of Black Mirror, with a length of 41 minutes. "Metalhead" is listed as the fifth episode, though as each episode is standalone the episodes can be watched in any order. The six episodes in series four were released on Netflix simultaneously on 29 December 2017.
While series one and two of Black Mirror were shown on Channel 4 in the UK, Netflix commissioned the series for 12 episodes (split into two series of six episodes) in September 2015 with a bid of $40 million, and in March 2016, Netflix outbid Channel 4 for the right to distribute the series in the UK. The episode was inspired by robotics products like BigDog from Boston Dynamics. In the warehouse, the box's contents-dozens of teddy bears-have spilled onto the floor. As she puts the knife to her throat, the camera pans out over the landscape, showing dogs approaching and investigating. Bella speaks into her walkie-talkie, unsure if she can be heard, saying goodbye to her loved ones. She lifts a knife, but notices a tracker in her jugular vein. In the bathroom mirror, Bella sees many trackers in her face. The dog releases an air-burst shell, showering Bella with tracker-embedded shrapnel. The dog stabs her in the leg she shoots it again and it falls to the ground. As the dog investigates the noise, Bella shoots it. However, the car will not start, so she turns on the radio and hides. As the dog approaches, Bella leaps out and throws paint over its visual sensor, then throws the paint can to the corner of the room to distract it and hurries to the car. When the sun rises, the dog recharges and gains access to the compound. She finds a compound and breaks in.īella takes car keys and a shotgun from two rotting corpses in the bedroom. When the dog no longer responds, Bella climbs down. Bella drains it of power by repeatedly throwing sweets at it, causing it to power up and down. The dog's forelimb was damaged in the car wreck, so it cannot climb the tree, and instead powers down and waits. Bella is chased by the dog into a forest, climbing a nearby tree.
Over her walkie-talkie, she asks someone to pass a message to her loved ones in case she is killed. It eventually enters her car, but she sends the car off a cliff and escapes.īella uses pliers to extract the tracker embedded in her leg. The dog jumps into the van, kills Clarke and pursues Bella. Bella flees without the box to her car, with Clarke following in the van. The dog sprays Bella and Anthony with shrapnel that contains trackers, then climbs down and shoots Anthony dead. They find the box they are looking for, but behind it is a four-legged robotic guard-a "dog". While Clarke hot-wires a van, Bella and Anthony break into the warehouse. In a desolate landscape, Bella ( Maxine Peake), Anthony (Clint Dyer), and Clarke (Jake Davies) drive to a warehouse searching for something to help ease the pain of Jack, who is dying. The plot and short running time have received mixed reviews, while Peake's acting and Slade's directing have been praised, along with the cinematography and the design of the dogs. The episode's message has been widely debated, with reviewers discussing questions about artificial intelligence and the final shot of a box of teddy bears. It has been compared to The Terminator, as both works feature machines chasing humans. The episode has a simple plot and received mostly positive reviews.
The running time of 41 minutes makes "Metalhead" the shortest Black Mirror episode. Filming took place in England, with Lidar scans used for scenes from the dog's perspective. The dogs were influenced by Boston Dynamics' robots such as BigDog. "Metalhead" is filmed entirely in black and white, and follows the plight of Bella ( Maxine Peake) trying to flee from robotic "dogs" after the unexplained collapse of human society. The episode first aired on Netflix, along with the rest of series four, on 29 December 2017. It was written by series creator Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade. " Metalhead" is the fifth episode of the fourth series of the anthology series Black Mirror.