It is Spooky Season, the most wonderful time of the year! I love horror movies as much as I love music and fitness, so October presents the perfect excuse to write about this other passion. Last week, I compiled 10 horror movies about health and fitness, and this week I've got 10 horror films where music plays a significant role. Not all of these movies are about metal music per se - there are hundreds of horror movies with metal on the soundtrack, but I went for movies where music has a significant bearing on the plot. Of course, even though some of these movies don't have heavy music on the soundtrack, they're all metal AF in their own ways. 

Sinners: As with last week, we might as well start with the big one right off the bat. Sinners is a vampire movie, but if you've seen it you already know why its at the top of this list. If you haven't seen it, I'm not going to spoil it for you. You should watch Sinners because it's a legitimate masterpiece, and a movie that understands the power of music more deeply than just about any other film. 

Lords of Salem: I'm not going to lie: I don't like this movie. In fact, I haven't liked any of Rob Zombie's movies, and I've seen most of them. Despite the fact that I don't think it really works, Lords of Salem has to be on this list. It's about an evil record that summons demons. I don't really have a choice but to include it. 

Hellbender: Hellbender is a indie movie by The Adams Family, a clan who create their own low-budget horror films. In Hellbender, a teen girl named Izzy who lives in the woods with her mother and spends her time writing and performing metal music ultimately discovers that she's a powerful supernatural being called a Hellbender. Bad things happen. The Adams Family (John, Toby, Lulu, and Zelda, not Gomez, Morticia, etc.) also have a musical project called H3LLB6ND6R. 

Smile 2: Smile 2 is a rarity: a sequel that's vastly superior to the original. In fact, if you've seen neither, you can skip the first one and go straight to the second. Smile 2 follows a pop star played by Naomi Scott as she's stalked by a sinister supernatural entity as she prepares to go on tour. Naomi Scott absolutely crushes the lead role as she endures a series of increasingly frightening events, many of which only work because the film centers on a famous musician. Smile 2 is one of my favorite horror movies of the last few years. I've lost count of how many times I've recommended it. 

Trick or Treat: Not to be confused with Trick'r Treat (2007), Trick or Treat (1986) is about a lonely teenage metalhead who is haunted by the ghost of a dead rock star. This movie is probably best known for its cameos from Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne (pictured at the top of this list). It's not a great movie, but it's enough fun that I rented it multiple times when I was a lonely teenage metalhead. I guess something about it spoke to me. Gee, what could that be?

The Perfection: Netflix original movies are mostly trash and I didn't have high hopes for The Perfection. This movie about rival cellists is much darker, grosser, and more gonzo that I expected, and I wound up liking it a lot. It's certainly more of a psychological thriller than a true horror movie, but it's surprisingly gory and violent. 

The Devil's Candy: The Devil's Candy centers on a heavy metal guitarist and painter who starts hearing voices after moving to a new house. The same voices, it turns out, that the previous owner once heard. A previous owner who is also a musician, and a serial killer. Metal and madness ensue. 

The Day of the Beast: The Day of the Beast is the first movie on this list that I haven't seen yet, but I'm not sure if there's a movie that sounds more perfect for this list. A priest teams up with a black metal fan to commit as many sins as possible in order to prevent the birth of Satan. I mean, come on. It doesn't get any more metal than that. 

V/H/S/MIXTAPE: The latest entry in the V/H/S series is another one I haven't seen yet, and I generally don't care for this anthology series despite having seen them all up to this point. That said, V/H/S/MIXTAPE is all based around music and features stories directed by musicians like Flying Lotus and Tobias Forge. And, as you can see in the trailer above, GWAR appears in the movie as themselves. So yeah, it had to make the list on principle. 

Strangeland: Finally, Strangeland is a mostly forgotten late 90s horror curio from Writer/star Dee Snider. It's not a particularly great movie and music doesn't feature that prominently in the actual plot, but it is based on the song "Horror-Teria" off the Twisted Sister album Stay Hungry. A little piece of horror and music trivia to keep in your back pocket!

If there are any other music-themed horror movies I should add to my list, let me know in the comments or reach out through the contact form.