Heavy Metal Horror: Black Roses

In the mid to late 80s there was a moral crackdown, that in some ways has reincarnated itself even in today’s world, but it was focused on the panic that metal music corrupted the youth luring with fantastic imagery and basked in forbidden pleasures; so much that numerous television shows of then had Satanism as a topic rising in teens, and of course the preachers capitalized on it too. An organization entitled PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) forced the music industry to adopt a parental advisory warning, which only encourages more exploits of taboos spreading out in music and increase in record sales.

This would eventually encompass the horror genre, both in literature and film, and the latter used the music to expand its base, hence a marriage between both was formed. Hence, a series of truly low-budget horror metal influenced movies created, a strange niche sub-genre, while Hard Rock Zombies [1984] breached this new market first, the film Black Roses as well as Trick or Treat [1986] are considered the forefront of the eighties’ productions, though for the modern audience many likely point to Deathgasm [2015]… read more >