Like the irresistible combination of thick, sludgy peanut butter and rich, dark chocolate, heavy metal music and horror films are two great tastes that taste great together. Ever since Black Sabbath took its band name from the title of a 1963 Bela Lugosi film, the outsider cultures of heavy metal and horror and their overlapping cult followings have been joined together in unholy matrimony. As this presentation will explore, the symbiotic and synergistic relationship of heavy metal and horror films depends upon their common fascination with dark and disturbing topics and themes — fear, dread, terror, murder, mayhem, death, the undead, the occult, etc. — all delivered with intentionally unsettling graphic excess through the visual imagery and sonic energy of their respective art forms. A routine visit to the mall music/video stores of the 1980s illustrated this phenomenon with regular consistency; indeed, without ever popping a metal album or horror film into the cassette deck or VCR, one could tell from its cover art — gloomy graveyards; masked or hooded figures brandishing bloody weapons; snarling demons and shambling zombies — how well established the metal/monster mash-up had become. That connection extended to the Waldenbooks and B. Dalton, as some literary-minded metal bands mined the classic horror fiction of Poe and Lovecraft, among others, for mood-setting lyrical inspiration, while other bands drew upon the horror novels of Stephen King. The crossover permeability of the forms culminated with the trend of horror filmmakers and marketers turning to metal bands for soundtracks and theme songs, as with Alice Cooper’s “He’s Back (Man Behind the Mask)” for Friday the 13th, Part VI (1986); Dokken penned and performed “Dream Warriors” for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 (1987), and then came such obligatory horror-metal vehicles such as Trick or Treat (1986) and Black Roses (1988).
About the presenterMichael Stamps
Michael Stamps teaches writing and literature at Delaware Valley University in Doylestown, PA. He received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he specialized in Renaissance Literature. His pop culture research interests include gender/sexuality in film, horror films, and heavy metal music.