Key Takeaways

Top 10 movies for metalheads: features This Is Spinal Tap, The Dirt, Deathstalker, Anvil: The Story of Anvil, FUBAR: For Us, By Us, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, Deathgasm, Demons (1985), and Demon Knight.
Ok, so TECHNICALLY not all these movies are strictly about metal, but they feel metal. Some are documentaries, some campy horror, some righteous mockumentaries. What unites them is they’re perfect for metalheads after a long, sweaty gig or for a lazy weekend binge when riffs are still ringing in your ears. They’re great if you’re looking for humor, gore, ancient times, demons, chaos, and songs that make your kidneys vibrate. Let’s dive.

Spoiler Alert

Our descriptions don’t shy from giving away some key plot points, so if you don’t want to ruin anything maybe just check out the trailers and watch them right now!

1. This Is Spinal Tap (1984): It Ain’t A Shit Sandwich!

We’re sure you’ve all seen it by now, but how can we NOT mention it. If your band’s gear always breaks in the dumbest way possible or you’ve gotten lost on the way to a gig, this is more a horror film than a comedy. The über-mockumentary that lampoons every black-tongue cliché, from the amp that goes up to “11” to epic-failure tour moments. This film is a metalhead rite of passage.

This movie taught us how not to be a rockstar, without even trying. Plus, quotes like “You can’t dust for vomit” and “These go to eleven” are built-in drinking game triggers. If you haven’t heard they’re also releasing Spinal Tap 2 in September 2026. Check out our preview article here!

2. FUBAR (2002): The Canadian Metalheads Next Door

This film was filmed in the same place where Chern and I went to school, in friendly Ol’ Canada. It’s a documentary that peers into a pair of lifelong Canadian headbangers, Terry and Dean, living the dream of bachelor life, weed, and thrashing around in basements. That is until Dean gets “ball cancer” and he has to figure out what to do. It’s half This Is Spinal Tap, half Jackass, but with genuine affection and loco-metal humour.

The humour is very Canadian, but how can you not enjoy a movie about two burn-outs, one of which believes Merlin is real, and the other banged his cousin. This movie helped make sayings like “Just Give’r” “Fuckin 2-liner” and “Tron Funking Blow” national themes.

Best of all these actors aren’t really acting as they’re all friends and very much playing themselves. This film also had a sequel which is equally as good Fubar 2, which we highly recommend.

3. PG: Psycho Goreman (2020): Intergalactic Gore Meets Playground Power

Alright, I’m sure I’m gonna get blasted for this one, but hear me out, I watched this while I was in outer space and it ruled. Maybe with fresh eyes it sucks but I’m gonna throw it in here. This demented Canadian indie flick is a masterpiece that’s equal parts Saturday-morning cartoon parody and grindhouse gore-fest. Siblings Mimi and Luke dig up an alien control gem in their backyard and accidentally resurrect an ancient interstellar warlord with a face only a death-metal album could love.

They name him “Psycho Goreman” and force him to obey their childish whims, while he dreams of planetary genocide. Imagine Power Rangers possessed by Cannibal Corpse’s entire discography. Best of all a little kid gets turned into a giant brain mutant and just…kinda…stays that way.

Goreman is pure cosmic death incarnate, but stuck playing dress-up and watching TV until he can slaughter the galaxy. Add practical effects, buckets of blood, absurd humor, and you’ve got a film that’s as brutal as it is stupidly fun.

4. Deathstalker (1983): Barbaric Sword-and-Sandels B-Movie

This one’s for all you Power Metal freaks, like Chern! It’s time for ancient swords, scantily clad warriors, and extreme cheese. Deathstalker is low-budget fantasy epic turned cult classic, full of heroic quests, demonic villains, slow-mo slashes, and enough B-movie bravado to make a dungeon-delving metal band feel right at home. Also there’s boobs and butts for everyone! Ugh glorious!

Except terrible acting, boom in shots and people legitimately getting hurt on camera. The atmosphere, blood, steel, and pulsing dramatic synths, plus the absurd dialogue (“This blade shall taste your death!”) will definitely reduce your brain power to 1.

It’s great though if you’re doing a lazy day on the couch looking to vegetate or extremely hunger over and want to chuckle while slumped over and your gut is nearly enveloping your face! Haaayyaaah!

5. Anvil: The Story of Anvil (2008): Real-Life Metal, Hard-Knocks Road

This documentary is another Canadian classic! “What’s with all the Canadian movies” you’re probably asking yourself. And to that I say “SHUT UP!” We have like 10 of them so I’m gonna push them all as hard as I can. But no, this is a legit epic work. It follows Anvil, a Canadian heavy-metal band who hawk album sleeves tableside at big-box stores while chasing decades-old dreams. It’s touching, hilarious, and heart-breaking all at once, but above all, it’s honest metal devotion.

Anvil strips aside the glam, this is what real metal persistence looks like. Watching their tour vanish and still sticking to their craft. That’s authenticity, pure, unfiltered. And bonus: their “human cannonball of solos” deserves its weight in gold. What’s more there are some huge names on here: Lemmy and Slash to name a few!
If you’re looking for a more legit version of Spinal Tap this is it.

6. Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006): Classic Metal Comedy

I know, I know, it’s generic but can you honestly tell me you don’t enjoy this film every time it’s one? You remember, I’m sure, but Jack Black and Kyle Gass as duo Tenacious D go on a ridiculous quest for a magical guitar pick carved from Satan’s tooth. It’s got absurd riffs, demon bar-brawl karaoke, and the most epic “rock-off” in film history.

It’s worth noting that Tenacious D are a truly excellent band. The Metal still being one of my favourite songs out there by a comedy duo band. Basically every song gets stuck in your head from this flick. The fact that it also features Ronnie James Dio, Dave Grohl, Meat Loaf, and Ben Stiller as a Latin-speaking guitar store salesman only amplifies the awesomeness of this movie. The premise is pure fantasy-metal camp, and it nails it.

7. Deathgasm (2015): New Zealand’s Metal-Horror Masterpiece

If gore-splattered horror and raw-throated metal hooked up in a filthy backstage bathroom after a midnight gig, the resulting unholy spawn would be Deathgasm. This gloriously deranged New Zealand gem follows two teenage metal misfits who accidentally summon an ancient evil by playing a cursed death riff.

The moment the strings are plucked, hell literally breaks loose: neighbors turn into drooling demon freaks, power tools become instruments of doom, and every room gets a fresh coat of arterial red. We’re talking demonic possession, eviscerations, and more dismemberments than a Cannibal Corpse album cover, set to a blistering blackened thrash soundtrack that isn’t all that bad.

Basically, it’s like visiting The Heavy Metal Citadel: sorta cringe, very messy and disorganised, but it’s got a heart of gold! And best of all you leave with stories you can tell your mother because it’s not THAT extreme.

8. Demons (1985): Italian Horror-Metal Chaos

Italian horror maestro Lamberto Bava cranks the gore dial to “apocalypse” with Demons, a blood-soaked rollercoaster set almost entirely inside a cursed cinema. The setup is devilishly simple: patrons settle in for a mysterious film screening… only for the events on screen to start bleeding, literally, into reality.

One infected scratch later, and the audience is mutating into clawed, pus-dripping, blood-lusting maniacs who look like they just crawled out of a Slayer tour bus accident. The carnage that follows is like The Evil Dead after freebasing PCP, faces melt into puddles, teeth sprout like bone daggers, and practical effects do their glorious, gooey work.

The soundtrack is a swirling, hellish mix of synths, pounding drums, and horror-punk bangers that plays like a when Chern farts on the goddamn bus in the middle of rush hour in the summer. It’s chaotic, campy, and dripping with the kind of sweaty, feral energy that will make feel right at home. In short, this is the closest cinema has ever come to feeling like the mosh pit from hell, minus the overpriced beer…like the ones we bought at the O2 when we watched Judas Priest!

9. Demon Knight (1995): Urban Horror with a Heavy-Metal Twist

Kick the door in and crank the volume, Demon Knight is where 90s horror, grindhouse gore, and tongue-in-cheek swagger collide. This Tales from the Crypt spinoff traps a ragtag crew of humans inside a creaky, dust-caked boarding house while a smooth-talking, chaos-loving demon, played with scenery-devouring brilliance by Billy Zane, tries to get his claws on a set of magical keys that could unleash hell on earth.

What follows is pure pulp-metal joy: demon possession that looks like it was designed by someone who listened to too much Morbid Angel, spurts of blood that defy the laws of physics, and a claustrophobic night-time siege soaked in blue light and bad intentions. Oh, and because the casting director clearly decided subtlety was for cowards, you’ve got Billy Zane in full camp mode, Brigitte Nielsen bringing pure 90s power, and Ving Rhames delivering no-nonsense grit.

With its mix of dark artifacts, heavy atmosphere, and relentless creature effects, Demon Knight feels like a black-metal overdose, loud, grimy, and gloriously over the top. If Evil Dead II spent a summer smoking clove cigarettes and listening to Danzig in a motel parking lot, this would be the movie it made.

10. Mandy (2018): Psychedelic Doom-Metal Fever Dream

Directed by Panos Cosmatos, Mandy is a visual, auditory, and emotional black hole that sucks you into a surreal nightmare bathed in crimson light. Nicolas Cage goes full berserker-mode after a sadistic, cult-worshipping, demon-biker gang murders his girlfriend. What follows is a slow-burn descent into cosmic horror, heavy with doom-metal atmosphere, ultra-violence, and hallucinatory visuals.

Everything about Mandy screams metal album cover come to life. The soundtrack, courtesy of the late Jóhann Jóhannsson, sounds like Sunn O))) jamming in the bowels of hell. The villains are straight out of a sludge-metal lyric sheet, the color palette is pure stoner-doom poster art, and Nic Cage wields a homemade battle axe like a man possessed. This isn’t just cinema, it’s a ritual.

Pro tip: Do not watch sober. Seriously, the film’s pacing, visuals, and audio practically demand your brain be in “otherworldly” mode. Perfect for those nights when you want to stare into the abyss and see it grinning back.

The Ultimate Metalhead Movie Night

And there you have it, ten molten slabs of cinema that belong on any self-respecting metalhead’s screen. From the moronic absurdity of This Is Spinal Tap to the doom-soaked hallucination of Mandy, this lineup is perfect for your movie night. Some are pure rock ‘n’ roll gospel (The Dirt, Anvil), others are sword-wielding, demon-summoning B-movie treasures (Deathstalker, Demons), and a few are sheer fever-dream carnage (Deathgasm, Demon Knight).

They all feel metal, whether they’re about bands, battles, blood, or black-hearted mayhem. So next time the amps cool off after a gig, grab the crew, load up a playlist of these cinematic beasts, and let the night descend into glorious chaos.

Now it’s your turn, Citadelians, what’s your ultimate metalhead movie pick? Did we miss your favourite underground gore-fest? Your cult-classic head-trip? Or maybe there’s a so-bad-it’s-brilliant VHS gem you still spin every weekend?

Drop your top picks in the comments, and tell us how shit our picks are!

Top 10 Metal Movies