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Halloween and horror movies go together as well as heavy metal and horror movies! From its inception at the hands of pioneers like Black Sabbath, themselves named after a 1963 horror flick, the genre has immersed itself in the shadowy backwaters of the human imagination, exploring dark fantasies or finding inspiration in history’s most infamous moments. Bands such as Judas Priest, The Misfits, Slayer and Cannibal Corpse have drawn inspiration from slasher films, sci-fi and zombie cinema, to create some of metal’s most beloved music. Entire sub-genres exist under the greater metal and punk umbrella devoted to horror-themed permutations such as horror punk, death rock, goregrind and funeral doom, and hey, we haven’t even discussed goth.
So this Halloween, if you feel like getting into the spirit of the holiday, and love your music loud and heavy, check out these 10 horror movies that in one way or another embody music’s most raucous genre.
'Deathgasm' (2015)
Harkening back to the golden age of mid-‘80s metal and Satanic-fantasy-gore, Deathgasm follows the travails of young New Zealand headbanger Brodie and his merry band of losers as they conjure up demons and turn their neighbors into murderous blood-shitting zombies by playing, literally, the Devil’s music. Written and directed by New Zealander Jason Lei Howden, it doesn’t take itself seriously but delivers seriously blood-soaked entertainment, not unlike countryman Peter Jackson’s over-the-top splatter debut Bad Taste.
'The Devil's Rejects' (2005)
A loose follow-up to director and heavy metal maniac Rob Zombie’s 2003 directorial debut, House Of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects re-purposing many of the same characters as its predecessor, as they rape, torture and kill their way through the movie from beginning to end. Though the violence is as vicious and grotesque as any gore movie, the overall tone is more akin to ‘70s exploitation movies like I Spit On Your Grave and bloody westerns like The Wild Bunch.
'Green Room' (2015)
A microcosm of punk rock phobias, this feature by Jeremy Saulnier chronicles the final tour stop of fictional hardcore band The Ain’t Rights. Unfortunately, they get booked into a nest of Nazi skinheads and when their bassist witnesses a murder scene, the band is held hostage by the heroin dealing white supremacists, led by former-Star Trek: The Next Generation star turned bald baddie Patrick Stewart. The movie is an exercise in prolonged tension, as the band is picked off one by one before finally exacting bloody revenge.
'The Return of The Living Dead' (1985)
Like a Misfits album cover come to life, this mid-‘80s romp featured mohawked and leather jacketed teens fighting zombies re-animated by a chemical leak. Directed by sci-fi / horror vet Dan O’Bannon, it was the first nod and a wink zombie movie, acknowledging the genre’s history and clichés in its title, and was accompanied by a soundtrack featuring such horror-punk mainstays as The Cramps, The Damned, and 45 Grave.
'Trick or Treat' (1986)
A malicious dead rock star is brought back to life by playing his final recording backwards and then plots about killing the bullies in the high school he and his #1 fan attended before popping out of an amplifier and the senior prom and killing people with bolts of lightening shot out of his guitar, and oh yeah, Ozzy Osbourne plays a televangelist and Gene Simmons is in it too. In other words, there is nothing not to like about this blatant horror-metal cash in.
'Phantom of the Paradise' (1974)
This musical horror movie is a glam rock retelling of The Phantom Of The Opera, with plot twists borrowed from Faust and The Picture Of Dorian Gray. Disfigured songwriter Winslow Leach, terrorizes the rock club of the man who stole his music, Swan, played by real life hit songwriter Paul Williams, who then places him in servitude. It fittingly ends in tragedy and was an early effort of director Brian De Palma, who two years later would direct the teenage horror classic Carrie, based on the novel by Stephen King.
'Maximum Overdrive' (1986)
Speaking of Stephen King, the king of horror lit stepped out from behind the typewriter to direct this movie, based on his short story “Trucks.” Basically, after falling under the path of a mysterious comet, machines run amok, with lawnmowers attacking people (perhaps inspiration for the ‘80s thrash band Lawnmower Deth), and monster trucks acting like, well monsters. Backing up all these real heavy metal hijinx was a soundtrack by essential Australian hard rockers.
'The Gate' (1987)
The Gate is one of many horror movies that reinforces the fact that parents should never leave their kids home alone. Nerdy friends Glen, played by a young Stephen Dorff, and Al crank up the metal jams that help them unlock a gate into a netherworld where demons try to take over the world, but ultimately just end of trashing the kids’ house. Like it wouldn’t have happened anyway.
'Rocky Horror Picture Show' (1975)
More of a camp comedy than a true horror film, this glam rock musical is perhaps the ultimate midnight movie. The plot’s a bit of a mess, but in a nutshell, All-American kids Brad and Janet get stranded and seduced at the castle of mad scientist and intergalactic transvestite Dr. Frank N. Furter. A flop upon its release, the movie had a second life after fans in New York developed an alternate script they would shout at the screen during late night showings, while others would dress as the characters in the film and act out their parts in front of the audience.
'Black Sabbath' (1963)
This Italian-made horror movie contained three separate tales of terror starring legendary horror actor Boris Karloff, most famous for playing the iconic monster in the 1931 version of Frankenstein. While it’s a fine if unspectacular piece of early ‘60s horror cinema, it’s lasting importance is that it provided the namesake of the greatest heavy metal band of all time. Emerging from metal’s ground zero of Birmingham, England in the late ‘60s, Black Sabbath were the first band to codify the disparate elements of metal; ultra-heavy riffage atop an almost classically orchestrated approach to song construction and songs dealing in gloom and horror, both real life and fantastical. And the rest, as they say, is history.
[Where to Stream Black Sabbath]
Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician who won a Halloween contest for his Darth Vader costume when he was 7. The prize was a rubber skeleton. Follow him on Twitter:@BHSmithNYC.
