The 10 Best Heavy-Metal Horror Movies | ScreenRant
With the end of October fast approaching, all eyes turn to various subgenres of horror movies to watch in the lead up to Halloween weekend. One underrated subgenre of fright flick includes the heavy metal horror template, which often features death-metal rock-n-rollers facing some kind of harrowing and horrific scenario. Of course, a rocking heavy metal soundtrack is also a standard requirement.
Whether it's zombie incursions, demonic possession, satanic worship, psychotic slashers, vengeful ghosts, beastly werewolves, or anything else, the heavy metal horror subgenre has featured a wide array of tropes, tenets, and conventions over the decades. Here are some of the absolute best.
10 Hard Rock Zombies (1985)
With an honorable mention for the 1987 horror-comedy Rock 'N' Roll Nightmare, this list officially begins with Krishna Shah's outrageous 1985 zom-com Hard Rock Zombies.
Set in the small town of Grand Guignol where rock-n-roll is outlawed, a heavy metal band is summoned to perform in order to impress a record exec. They are murdered upon arrival, and the zombified rockers are mortified to find a town teeming with Nazi zombies, rabid werewolves, deadly dwarves, and the like. When the band performs their new song as reanimated corpses, it inspires a zombie plague.
9 Monster Dog (1984)
Written and directed by Italian splatter maestro Claudio Fragasso, iconic rockstar Alice Cooper stars in the rabid killer-canine film Monster Dog.
Cooper stars as Vince Raven, a famous rocker who returns to his small hometown to shoot a new music video. Upon his return, Raven is warned by the local sheriff and childhood friend that a rash of grisly murders has been taking place nearby. All signs point to a pack of vicious mutant dogs, but Raven secretly knows better.
8 Rocktober Blood (1984)
Made during the slasher-film craze during the mid-80s, Rocktober Blood is a prime example of both the heavy metal and stalk-and-slash movie template. Co-written and directed by Beverly Sebastian, the film concerns a vengeful rocker who rises from the grave to serve gory comeuppance to his fellow band members.
Heavy metal musician Billy "Eye" Harper (Tray Loren) goes postal one day and murders everyone in his music studio. Following his execution, Eye reanimates and begins to kill members of the band Rocktober Blood, one by one.
7 Black Roses (1988)
In John Fasano's 1988 heavy metal horror film, a band called Black Roses performs before the quaint and quiet town of Mill Basin. Little do the townsfolk know that the band is really a demonic sect with their own hidden agenda.
When the Mill Basin citizens begin to turn into head-banging rockers in the wake of the Black Roses concert, it soon becomes clear that they've also been morphed into deadly demoniacs intent on overrunning the town. The soundtrack features music from King Cobra, Tempest, Hallow's Eve, Lizzie Borden, and more.
6 Deathgasm (2015)
Jason Lei Howden's indie New Zealand horror import Deathgasm centers on Brodie (Milo Cawthorne), a dour metalhead sent to live with his aunt after his drug-addled mom is locked away.
When Brodie meets fellow heavy metal fanatic Zakk (James Joshua Blake) at a record store, the two form a band called Deathgasm. Later, when the two burgle the home of famous rocker Rikki Daggers (Stephen Ure), they find a piece of demonically accursed Black Hymn sheet music. Upon playing the music, Deathgasm unleashes a malefic spirit known as Aeloth.
5 Lords Of Chaos (2018)
The newest heavy-metal horror movie to make the list is Lords of Chaos, a dark and disturbing story inspired by true events in Oslo, Norway in the late 1980s.
Directed by Jonas Akerlund, the film revolves around 17-year-old metalhead Euronymous (Rory Culkin), who tries desperately to tap into the dark arts with his Norwegian band Mayhe in 1987. As Euronymous arranges a slew of slick publicity grabs and promotional stunts, his band's hyper-violent stage show bleeds into reality.
4 The Devil's Candy (2015)
In Sean Byrne's superb heavy metal horror film The Devil's Candy, Ethan Embry plays the unrecognizable Jesse Hellman, a painterly metalhead who becomes slowly and evilly entranced by his new workspace.
When Hellman moves his family into a new Texas abode with a horrifying history, he feels renewed by turning the barn into a space to create new paintings. Unfortunately, the deeper into his work he becomes, the more possessed he is by a mysterious and menacing entity.
3 Phantom Of The Paradise (1974)
Although the music featured in Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise has more of a Gothic glam-rock feel than a heavy-metal tempo, the overriding rock-n-roll energy and stylistic choices make it a top contender.
In what essentially plays like a Phantom of the (Rock) Opera rehash, the film follows Winslow Leach (William Finley), a famous composer whose music is stolen by Swan (Paul Williams), an agent of the Devil. After a nasty accident leaves Leach disfigured, he haunts the large Phantom music venue with plans to exact gory revenge on those who did him wrong.
2 The Gate (1987)
In addition to being one of the scariest PG-13 horror movies of all-time, Tibor Takacs' The Gate is also one of the coolest heavy metal chillers. The kiddie-horror flick picks up when Glen (Stephen Dorff) and his friend Terry (Louis Tripp) discover a giant hole full of deadly demons in their backyard.
After discovering the gate to hell, Terry brings over a heavy metal album and recites lyrics from "The Dark Book." Lulled into a false sense of security, the boys soon learn the record has unleashed an army of demonic ghouls.
1 Trick Or Treat (1986)
Starring KISS frontman Gene Simmons and Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne, Trick or Treat is one of the sickest and scariest heavy metal horror movies ever made.
Directed by Charles Martin Smith, the film follows Eddie (Mar Price), a bullied high-schooler who happens to love heavy metal music. When Eddie's musical hero Sammi Curr (Tony Fields) dies in a fire, local DJ Nuke (Simmons) gives Eddie one of Curr's rare recordings. Upon playing the record backward, Eddie unleashes Curr's vengeful spirit, which vows to get back at Eddie's schoolyard bullies.