Something else I learned from Dio: Dreamers Never Die is that Dio, despite being seen as a harbinger of the Evil One during the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, is one of the least controversial metal singers of all time in hindsight. I mean, especially when you go out to the fringes and consider that Varg Vikernes of Burzum murdered Euronymous of Mayhem. Dio was a nice guy who was the force behind Hear N Aid, metal’s answer to Live Aid. He cared about the music above all and could only be accused of being hard to work with as he was a perfectionist, not an alcoholic, addict, rapist, or some other horrible thing. This is admirable in the music industry, where the snakes far outway the bunnies, so to speak.
“…made for big Dio fans and burgeoning metalheads.”
One of my favorite parts is when Don Coscarelli talks about the music video he directed for Dio, where we find out the monster on all the Dio album covers is named “Murray.” We also find out that Dio hated “Rainbow in the Dark” at first and wanted to scrap the song! The rest of the band talked him out of it, thank God. I also loved The Pick of Destiny, so the fact that Jack Black is interviewed is awesome. He goes into great detail about Dio’s appearance in that feature, which is cool for super fans of that cult classic. It is considered by many to be the best part of the film, according to Black, and it is pretty f*****g cool if I do say so myself.
At the end of the day, Dio: Dreamers Never Die is a wholesome documentary about a surprisingly wholesome musician. Although I have to admit, just because I am who I am, in the back of my mind, I was a little disappointed it wasn’t more salacious. I suppose that Black Sabbath only needed one bat-eating lunatic in the fray, and Dio was a much-needed change of pace. I feel like that’s what he was to the music industry, and that’s what I think Argott and Fenton are attempting to convey. I wasn’t blown away by the movie’s originality, but sometimes, I don’t necessarily have to be. The documentary is made for big Dio fans and burgeoning metalheads. They’ll love it and maybe you will too.
Dio: Dreamers Never Die screened at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival.
"…a wholesome documentary about a surprisingly wholesome musician."
