Within the horror genre, there are different sub-genres that make up different categories of this specific group of movies. Horror is so versatile and can be warped in different ways to make audiences enjoy the content without it getting repetitive. A really neat thing is when movies focus on music and combine a subgenre with a certain type of music. Such as punk rock horror. It’s pretty much exactly what it seems—movies that center around bands and people that either create punk rock music or simply enjoy and dabble in it.
It’s a great combination of heavy music and perfectly timed scares, and you should definitely check these movies out if you haven’t seen them already. Here are nine punk rock horror movies, ranked.
9 American Satan (2017)
Something really great about this movie is that the main character, Johnny Faust, is played by Andy Biersack, lead singer of the metal band, Black Veil Brides. Not only that, Leo Donovan is played by Ben Barnes and is the actual lead guitarist of the band Asking Alexandria. American Satan follows the band The Relentless, who want stardom more than anything and decide to make a deal with the devil. Things, as expected, start to go very badly for the band members.
8 Green Room (2015)
Green Room is a slow-burn horror movie that will fill you with a certain type of dread as the plot goes on. A band called Ain’t Rights is desperate for money and a gig, and they end up playing at a neo-Nazi skinhead bar. It's not an ideal venue, of course, but they’re desperate, so they agree. After the show, the band is held hostage in the green room, and bad things happen one after the other. A great ensemble cast is featured, including Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, and Sir Patrick Stewart.
7 Class of 1984 (1982)
Class of 1984 is a horror movie that has a knack for making you uncomfortable with the content and not so terrified of what’s on your screen. Perry King plays a new music teacher in a not-so-great school, not knowing that the school is run by a group of rockers. The ending of Class of 1984 is where the climax really hits and an intense and possibly triggering scene of a gang rape takes place, so use your judgment. Also, a young Michael J. Fox is great as Arthur, so if you’re a fan of his, you would definitely want to check this out.
6 Dolls (1986)
If you think a punk rock movie needs to have rock music featured, an exception can be made for the cult classic Dolls. You’re hooked from the very beginning as a family is stranded during a thunderstorm and seeks shelter in a haunted-looking mansion. They come to find out that the homeowners are doll makers, and surprise, surprise — they’re not actually dolls! They’re people turned into porcelain dolls by the puppet maker and his wife. Dolls is very campy, and once you watch it, you’ll be able to see why it’s a cult classic.
5 The Driller Killer (1979)
When a horror movie is censored, you know it’s either really good or overly gruesome. Perhaps it’s both. The Driller Killer; a sick name firstly, centers around a man who lives next to a band called Rooster. He’s an artist himself but not of a musical nature, and he clearly detests his neighbors.
Over time, he loses his mind to the music that’s constantly playing. Naturally, he becomes the Driller Killer, and he ends up killing multiple homeless people by drilling into their heads. It’s gory, over the top, and it was censored from 1984 to 1999.
4 Slumber Party Massacre 2 (1987)
If you thought the first Slumber Party Massacre was camp, clearly you haven’t seen the sequel. As the only survivor from the first movie, Courtney now has a band, and she’s being hunted down by someone who looks just like the original killer. The killer sports a gaudy red electric guitar that has a long and semi-realistic drill bit on the end of it.
It’s genuinely a funny horror movie that plays into the cheesiness of a campy slasher. To make it better, the movie features a musical number, because, of course, it does.
3 Repo Man (1984)
Repo Man plays heavily into the sci-fi genre instead of horror, but it still deserves a spot on this list. Emilio Estevez is great as Otto, a punk rocker who works as a clerk in a supermarket. Otto gets mixed up with aliens running around in a Chevrolet and discovers that he’s meant to be a "Repo Man" and take care of the celestial beings. What makes this horror-comedy so great is the soundtrack, which features the likes of the Circle Jerks, The Plugz, Black Flag, Iggy Pop, and more.
2 The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
In Dan O’Bannon’s directorial debut, he made an iconic smash hit with The Return of the Living Dead. It’s a fantastic tale of a zombie apocalypse that releases due to two friends goofing off in a lab. O’Bannon is credited with starting the idea of zombies wanting to eat brains, and without that fact, who knows where zombie lore would be today? The soundtrack is absolutely stellar, with features from The Cramps, 45 Grave, The Flesh Eaters, and The Damned.
1 The Lost Boys (1987)
The Lost Boys, a play on the lost boys from the Peter Pan stories, is not so horror-filled if you’re watching it in 2023. However, the film had plenty of influence and scary moments in the 1980s. A group of angsty vampires that features the likes of Kiefer Sutherland, Corey Feldman, and Billy Wirth.
It’s a fun punk adventure that follows two brothers moving to a new town in California and getting mixed up with a girl who’s already been promised to a vampire. From there, it’s a fight to stay alive as they have multiple run-ins with the gang.
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