It is Halloween season, and ultimateclassicrock.com (UCR) came up with a more than adequate list of 67 horror movies that feature notable rock stars. The list starts in 1974 with Son Of Dracula, a film actually produced by Ringo Starr. The lead role was given to the late Harry Nilsson, who also wrote songs for the soundtrack and features a host of rock names, from Starr himself to Keith Moon, John Bonham, Peter Frampton, and Leon Russell.
The latest film listed is Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die from 2019 and features Iggy Pop and Tom Waits (it seems UCR doesn’t count Selena Gomez in that category), with Americana artist Sturgill Simpson contributing the title track. Interestingly, Waits has appeared in two more horrors – Wolfen (1981) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992).
The list includes some expected names like Alice Cooper (quite a few times), Henry Rollins (four appearances), Marilyn Manson and Ozzy Osbourne, where UCR notes that Black Sabbath, Osbourne’s band name was “inspired by Italian gore-master Mario Bava and his 1963 film of the same name.” There are a few that you might not expect like Deborah Harry (twice, actually) and all music styles masters NRBQ. Some, like Grace Jones (Vamp, 1986) seem fitting, others, like Tiny Tim (Blood Harvest, 1987) are probably completely out of place.
Some of these fall bellow B-movie categories, while some, like the Jarmusch film or The Hunger (1983) – featuring David Bowie – are certainly worth a watch. Still, most of these might be just good, ‘bloody’ fun.
The full list is available at https://ultimateclassicrock.com/rock-stars-horror-movies/
