Bloody Hammers Pick the 5 Best Fictional Bands in Horror Movies
Bloody Hammers are a doom metal duo from North Carolina. Their imagery is draped in horror and the occult and their fifth album, 'The Summoning,' will be released on June 26 on Napalm Records. In celebration of the record, frontman Anders Manga dug through some cult horror films to spotlight the best fictional bands from the silver screen.
Back when I was a teenager in the early '90s, my friends were ringing my phone one day freaking out because Hellraiser 3 was being filmed in our home town of High Point, North Carolina and they needed extras! Of course we were all Hellraiser fanatics so we rushed right down there to see if they could use us.
Once we got to the location, the movie crew took us on to set. It was a huge S&M looking nightclub and who was on stage? F’n Armored Saint that’s who! Not only were my friends and I getting Doug Bradley in full character as Pinhead, we also got to spend the afternoon with one of our favorite bands! Anyway if you ever see Hellraiser 3, I’m in the crowd headbanging in that club scene with Armored Saint.
I remember thinking it was awesome that a movie finally actually got a real band to be in their movie, because most movies I grew up with, if there was a band in it, it was fake. So… enough of my life story! Let’s get down to 5 Best Fictional Bands From Horror Movies.
Purchase 'The Summoning' here.
Headmistress
From: 'Rocktober Blood'Rocktober Blood is a 1984 film about a rock singer who returns from the dead to murder his ex band mates. The soundtrack was done mostly by the real L.A. rock band called Sorcery and is probably the best thing about the movie. Lunaris Records has recently re-pressed the soundtrack and is now available if you missed out on one of the original copies which used to go for hundreds of dollars on eBay.
The Clowns
From: 'Terror on Tour'I’ve been hoping one of those fine companies who are restoring old trash films will release this 1980 train wreck on Blu-ray, like it deserves. It’s very hard to find a good copy of Terror on Tour, but it is on YouTube (VHS rip in BAD need of a noise filter).
Better yet, maybe by some miracle one of those soundtrack labels will release the music and score. The Clowns rock pretty hard and there’s also some trippy synth score elements. The music was actually by a fantastic band called The Names (not the U.K. post-punk band) from Rockford, Ill. For fans of '70s Cheap Trick and KISS.
Black Roses
From: 'Black Roses'When I finally found 1988’s Black Roses way back in the day at my local video rental store, I was a bit bummed out at first watch. The first song Black Roses ‘play’ in the film is "Me Against the World" by Lizzy Borden. Awesome song, but I was expecting an all original soundtrack.
However, the film later redeems itself with some awesome '80s hard rock tracks such as "Soldiers of the Night." The real musicians behind the band are mostly made up from the band King Cobra (Carmine Appice, Marcie Free).
The fantastic early thrash band Hallows Eve also makes the soundtrack... and by the way, Hallows Eve if you’re reading this, please come back!
The Tritonez
From: 'Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare'When not bending steel and kicking ass in his own band Thor, Jon Mikl Thor also did some acting. Here in 1987’s Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare, not much is different as the mighty Mr. Thor kicks demon asses and rips one of the best metalsploitation soundtracks of all time!
Thor don’t give a damn if you’re paying attention or not… he’s still ripping new music with his band. As recent as April 2019, he released a new full length, Hammer of Justice... check it on Spotify the next time you bend steel for extra inspiration!
Sammi Curr
From: 'Trick or Treat'Hard Rock idol Sammi Curr who died in a fire is summoned back to life by a die hard fan. As the movie tagline for 1986’s Trick or Treat says, “If you think Sammi Curr looks like he's been to hell and back... it's because he has!”
Sammi’s music was actually by the U.K. band Fastway and this movie was my introduction to the band. If you don’t know Fastway… go get at it! The band features "Fast" Eddie Clarke (Motorhead), Pete Way (U.F.O) and Tony Fields who went on to found the popular celtic punk band Flogging Molly.