New release Studio 666 sees the Foo Fighters attempting to complete their tenth album when frontman Dave Grohl falls under the sway of a demonic hymn. Bloodshed ensues. It’s the latest entry in an enduring history of horror movies to feature rock stars; few things complement each other as well as horror and rock music. They’re a match made in hell.
The two outcasts have been tied together for decades – especially thanks to the Satanic Panic era – for their showmanship, energy, and revelry in darker themes and imagery. Both offer a sense of escapism, too. So, it makes sense that the genres would bleed together to create a subgenre of heavy metal horror. But it’s not the only place where you can spot famous rock musicians in the genre space. These ten rockers temporarily left the stage to step into the horror spotlight.
Read on as we revisit Strangeland, Prince of Darkness and more…
Iggy Pop – The Crow: City of Angels
Iggy Pop, designated the “Godfather of Pop” thanks to proto-punk band The Stooges, long embraced work in television and film. In horror, the musician appeared in Tales from the Crypt episode “For Cryin’ Out Loud,” lent his voice to Hardware, plays a music producer in the rock horror movie Suck, and showcased his comedic chops in The Dead Don’t Die. But one of his most prominent genre roles was the villainous Curve in The Crow: City of Angels. Curve was the right-hand man to the film’s big bad and responsible for committing the heinous inciting act that revived a new Crow.
Flea – Stranded
A founding member and the bassist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers pursued minor work in movies since the ’80s. In horror, that began with a small voice role in the 1983 anthology Nightmares. Horror fans will likely recognize him most as Bob Summerfield, a clerk employed at Sam Loomis Hardware in Gus Van Sant’s Psycho remake. But Flea also starred as the bumbling Jester the Alien in the obscure ’80s sci-fi movie Stranded, which saw his alien clan kidnap a woman and her grandma while on the run from bounty hunters.
Sting – The Bride
The former Police frontman might’ve stolen scenes as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in David Lynch’s Dune, but his turn as the arrogant Baron Charles Frankenstein is his most robust role in the genre. The Bride is, of course, another adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, though it wasn’t well-received upon release. The rock star plays the villainous role well, but he might be upstaged a bit by Clancy Brown as the empathetic Viktor, the Monster.
Guitar Wolf – Wild Zero
Japanese garage punk rock band Guitar Wolf play themselves here. The horror-comedy is based on a simple setup: aliens are responsible for unleashing the zombie apocalypse, and only Japanese rock band Guitar Wolf can save the day. It plays out like one feature-length music video that puts Guitar Wolf’s distortion-infused, punk-influenced attitude and sound at the forefront while they slaughter zombies along the way. It’s an absolute blast.
Tom Waits – Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Tom Waits dabbles in various music genres, from jazz to rock, lending his style and trademark gravelly voice to all. It translates well to film, too. Waits first appeared in Wolfen as the uncredited drunken bar owner. More recently, he’s played Hermit Bob in The Dead Don’t Die and the Engineer in The Book of Eli. But his most recognizable horror role is Renfield, Dracula’s discarded and raving mad former assistant in Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Dee Snider – Strangeland
The rock musician and Twisted Sister singer didn’t just star in Strangeland as Captain Howdy, the creepy sadist who lures teens through the internet; he wrote and produced it. The concept for Strangeland stems from the Twisted Sister track “Say Hungry.” The movie developed a cult following over the years. So much so that Strangeland sequel talks still pop up now and again.
Alice Cooper – Prince of Darkness
Alice Cooper’s stage presence and music are intrinsically tied to horror, so it makes sense that he’d appear in horror movies more than just about any other rocker. The musician starred as a rocker turned werewolf in 1986’s schlocky Metal Dog, famously played Freddy Krueger’s abusive dad in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, and was a disturbed patient in The Attic Expeditions and a vampiric bartender in Suck. But one of his best roles belongs to John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness, in which he terrorized the protagonists as a creepy “Street Schizo.”
Henry Rollins – He Never Died
The former frontman to the hardcore punk band Black Flag has established an extensive film career in addition to music and activism. In horror, that’s meant appearances in Lost Highway, Feast, Wrong Turn 2: Dead End, and Suck. But it’s his starring role in He Never Died that stands out. Rollins plays Jack, an immortal loner that constantly works to repress his cannibalistic urges. Jack’s lived so long that it makes him aloof and bored of it all, and Rollins plays that up to a great, dry comedic effect.
Debbie Harry – Videodrome
Like Rollins, the Blondie lead vocalist has also done extensive film and television work. She played the housewife witch in Tales from the Darkside: The Movie‘s wraparound and appeared as a nurse in Body Bags‘ “Hair” segment. But her most notable role is also her first credited role, Nicki Brand in David Cronenberg’s Videodrome. Cronenberg sought her out to play the hallucinatory femme fatale.
David Bowie – The Hunger
David Bowie learned to play the cello for his turn as 300-year-old vampire John Blalock in Tony Scott’s The Hunger. John serves as the cautionary tale as the companion to Miriam Blalock (Catherine Deneuve). He discovers in horror that his vampiric nature comes with eternal life, but not eternal youth. His futile race to stave off rapid aging brings unsettling and heartbreaking imagery. The Hunger marks Bowie’s most overt horror role, but he also appeared in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and hosted season two of horror anthology series “The Hunger.”
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