Heavy metal music and horror movies are the perfect union. The imagery and themes of horror offer dark complements to the extremity of the music. The first metal band, Black Sabbath, even pinched their name from a classic Boris Karloff movie. Interestingly though, while heavy metal bands often take inspiration (both lyrically and visually) from the horror genre, horror movies themselves don't always return the favor. Metal music, after all, tends to be quite abrasive - not really suiting the eerie atmosphere many genre flicks try to create.
Occasionally though, horror movies center themselves around the heaviest of musical genres, usually with a tongue firmly in cheek. Fist-pumping soundtracks and caricature bands are the order of the day, with lashings of gore and monsters purged straight from classic album covers. Many actual musical artists even appear, adding to the fun. Here's a selection of some of the best (and worst) heavy metal horror movies, turned all the way up to 11.
10 Death Metal Zombies
Death Metal Zombies is a gnarly low-budget affair concerning a possessed tape of a death metal album. One of the songs, titled "Zombiefied," turns all who hear it into the walking dead. Fortunately, there is a way to reverse the curse...
Shot on a very low-budget, Death Metal Zombies is a cheap but gory affair. There are some moments of wit, and it certainly lives up to its title with the amount of death metal music on offer, but it's perhaps just a little too bad to be considered good.
9 Monster Dog
Alice Cooper, the iconic shock rock legend with a penchant for the macabre, wanted to star in a low-budget, sleazy horror movie. Monster Dog was the perfect vehicle for him, one of his first big commitments since getting sober.
Alice plays rockstar Vince Raven in this Spanish horror film, who is staying at a creepy house so that he can film a music video. The problem is, he isn't alone...or is he? Cheap, cheesy, and full of overblown hard rock songs, Monster Dog is a fun if forgettable flick, and one that is quite difficult to track down today. Some of the "Vince Raven" songs appeared on Alice Cooper's The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper box-set album.
8 Heavy Mental
The infamous low-budget production company Troma explored the heavy metal subculture in their predictably OTT affair, Heavy Mental. Focusing on a guitar possessed by the tormented soul of its former owner, this film has it all: gore, ghosts, rock 'n' roll, and some very evil female assassins.
Lewd, violent, and a bit of an editing nightmare, Heavy Mental is a typical Troma movie, with just enough tacky thrills to stay on the right side of entertaining.
7 Suck
Suck is a black comedy centering on an indie rock band, whose band member, Jennifer, gets turned into a vampire. A vampire hunter called Eddie gets wind of this and goes off in hot pursuit as the band heads out on tour.
While the music on show in Suck is more rock than metal, there are some fantastic cameos from the metal world, including Alice Cooper, Alex Lifeson of Rush, and Henry Rollins. Iggy Pop also turns up, and genre legend Malcolm McDowell plays the aforementioned Eddie Van Helsing (close enough to the name of a guitar god).
6 Shock 'Em Dead
Shock 'Em Dead is a surprisingly fun movie from the early '90s, although it feels like a mid-80s cult classic. Co-starring Traci Lords, the movie involves a young guitarist who sells his soul for fame and fortune. The downside is...he has to feed on the souls of others to keep himself alive.
Featuring Nitro guitarist Michael Angelo Batio on "guitarist-double duty," Shock 'Em Dead is a fun slice of horror metal camp. Gory, inventive, and boasting a decent, head-banging soundtrack, it's pure entertainment.
5 Trick Or Treat
Trick or Treat might be the ultimate heavy metal movie. Featuring a soundtrack by Fastway, the band of guitarist Fast Eddie Clarke who played on Motorhead's classic albums, and with cameo appearances from Ozzy Osbourne and Gene Simmons, it has everything a metalhead could want from an 80s horror movie.
Trick or Treat is a cult classic, revered for its musical pedigree and great special effects. Indeed, SFX artist Kevin Yagher later went on to design the Cryptkeeper for the Tales From the Crypt television series. A huge amount of fun!
4 Deathgasm
Another horror movie dealing with the subject of a cursed heavy metal album, Deathgasm might be unoriginal in the plot, but it is hugely inventive in terms of its execution. A comedy horror that toes the line nicely between the two genres, it never goes too far on either side, meaning that the laughs and the scares come in equal measure.
The characters of Deathgasm are immensely likable and the special effects are superb. The gore sequences were definitely influenced by the Evil Dead franchise. Unfortunately, a previously-teased sequel movie was rejected.
3 Studio 666
The Foo Fighters have always embraced a sense of fun with what they do, and despite their more commercial rock leanings, frontman Dave Grohl has never shied away from being a proud metalhead. The band formed a thrash band called Dream Widow, releasing an album to coincide with their hilarious OTT movie, Studio 666. It's as ridiculous as the title suggests.
The Foo Fighters all play "themselves" (AKA the members of Dream Widow) as they record a new album in a haunted mansion. Combining the band's wicked sense of humor with frights and gore aplenty, it's an absolute riot. It also boasts a supporting role from Jenna Ortega. Interestingly, the Foo Fighters recorded their Medicine At Midnight in the same mansion the movie was filmed in, and lots of creepy things occurred...
2 Dark Floors
Lordi are literally heavy metal monsters, and most of their music videos play out as short horror movies. It was only a matter of time before the band turned their collective demonic gaze to the big screen. The result was a surprisingly high-concept affair.
The strange, shifting plot involves an autistic girl trapped in a hospital, with a secret gift that helps her to defeat some attacking creatures. These creatures are of course played by the band, each member getting their own fright sequence. Dark Floors is an unusual and often atmospheric experience and boasted a tie-in song from the band called Beast Loose In Paradise.
1 Phantom Of The Paradise
Phantom of the Paradise is one of the greatest cult musicals, combining elements of Phantom of the Opera and Faust (with a dash of Dorian Gray), merging it into a concoction of various musical styles. Of course, rock plays a large part in the proceedings, with some memorably proggy tunes scattered throughout this bleak masterpiece.
Directed by Brian De Palma, Phantom is a dark tale with lashings of black humor and a truly depressing ending. It warns of the dangers of selling out and pursuing a life of narcissistic excess, backed up by an endlessly catchy soundtrack. A true classic.