Abstract
Although existing academic work has examined moral panics surrounding heavy metal music in the USA during the mid-to-late 1980s, previous studies have not assessed the impact these had on popular film. Hassan’s chapter focuses upon horror films released in this period that directly engage with and satirise debates about metal music’s alleged corrupting influence. Drawing upon genre analysis and assessing the audience reception of Trick or Treat (Directed by Charles Martin Smith, De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, 1986) in particular, the chapter contends that these films articulated anxieties about the social control of youth during this crucial period. Hassan argues that the films addressed youth audiences in ways that fostered potential opportunities to reflect upon their experiences of metal music culture and to counteract wider media discourses that constructed such culture as deviant.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
976-EVIL. 1988. Directed by Robert Englund. USA: Cinetel Films.
Black Roses 1988. Directed by John Fasano. USA: Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment.
Box Office Mojo 2016. Trick or Treat [online] Available at: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=trickortreat.htm [accessed 20th October, 2016]
Brown, A. R. 2011. Suicide solutions? Or, how the emo class of 2008 were able to contest their media demonization, whereas the headbangers, burnouts or ‘children of ZoSo’ generation were not. Popular Music History, 6 (1–2): 19–37.
Carrie. 1976. Directed by Brian De Palma. USA: Red Bank Films.
Chastagner, C. 1999. The Parents’ Music Resource Center: from information to censorship. Popular Music, 18 (2): 179–192.
Cherry, B. 2009. Horror. London: Routledge.
Children of the Corn 1984. Directed by Fritz Kiersch. USA: Angeles Entertainment Group.
Dead Girls. 1990. Directed by Dennis Devine. USA: Bovine Productions.
Deighan, S. 2016. Trick or Treat: Heavy metal and devil worship in ‘80s cult cinema. In Satanic Panic: pop-cultural paranoia in the 1980s. Janisse, K. and Corupe, P. (eds.) 201–215. Surrey: FAB Press.
Du Gay, P., Hall, S., Janes, L., Madsen, A. K., McKay, H. and Negus, K. 2013. Doing Cultural Studies: the story of the Sony Walkman. Milton Keynes: Open University.
Doherty, T. 1988. Teenagers and teenpics: the juvenilization of American movies in the 1950s. London: Unwin Hyman.
Eckert, P. 1989. Jocks & Burnouts: Social Categories and Identity in the High School. New York: Teachers College Press.
Eckert, P. (eckert@stanford.edu) 20th June 2014 Re. A Question about Jocks and Burnouts. Email to Nedim Hassan (n.a.hassan@ljmu.ac.uk).
Evilspeak. 1981. Directed by Eric Weston. USA: Leisure Investment Company, Coronet Film Corporation.
Ferguson, K. L. 2016. ‘Devil on the Line: technology and the satanic film.’ In Satanic Panic: pop-cultural paranoia in the 1980s. Janisse, K. and Corupe, P. (eds.) 97–125. Surrey: FAB Press.
Feuer, J. 1987 ‘Genre Study and Television.’ In: Channels of Discourse. Allen, R. C. (ed.) 138–160. London: Methuen.
Freud, S. 2003. The Uncanny. London: Penguin Books.
Friesen, B. K. 1990. ‘Powerless in Adolescence: exploiting heavy metal listeners.’ In Marginal Conventions: popular culture, mass media and social deviance. Sanders, C. R. (ed.) 65–77. Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press.
Giroux, H. A. 2002. Breaking into the movies: film and the culture of politics. Oxford: Blackwell.
Griffiths, R. 2010. ‘The gothic folk devils strike back! Theorizing folk devil reaction in the post-Columbine era.’ Journal of Youth Studies, 13 (3): 403–422.
Grixti, J. 1989. Terrors of Uncertainty: The Cultural Contexts of Horror Fiction. London: Routledge.
Internet Movie Database 2016. Reviews & Ratings for Trick or Treat [online] Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092112/reviews?ref_=tt_ov_rt [Accessed 24th October 2016]
Keightley, K. 1996. ‘Turn it down!’ she shrieked: Gender, domestic space, and high fidelity, 1948–59. Popular Music, 15 (2), 149–177.
Ladouceur, L. 2016. ‘The Filthy 15: When Venom and King Diamond met the Washington wives.’ In Satanic Panic: pop-cultural paranoia in the 1980s. Janisse, K. and Corupe, P. (eds.) 159–171. Surrey: FAB Press.
Larkin, C. (ed.) 1995. The Guinness Who’s Who of Heavy Metal. London: Guinness Publishing.
Moores, S. 2000. Media and everyday life in modern society. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Neale, S. 2000. Genre and Hollywood. London: Routledge.
Peterson, R. 1990. Why 1955? Explaining the advent of rock music. Popular Music, 9 (1): 97–116.
Rock ‘n’ Roll Nightmare 1987. Directed by John Fasano. USA: Thunder.
Rocktober Blood. 1984. Directed by Beverly Sebastian. USA: Sebastian International Pictures.
Rosenbaum, J. L. and Prinsky, L. 1991. ‘The Presumption of Influence: Recent Responses to Popular Music Subcultures.’ Crime & Delinquency, 37 (4): 528–535.
Sammi Curr.com 2016a. Guestbook [online], updated 31st October 2016 Available at: http://sammicurr.123guestbook.com/ [Accessed 20th November 2016]
Sammi Curr.com 2016b. Interview with Trick or Treat screenwriter Mr Rhet Topham [online] Available at: http://sammicurr.com/mrtopham.htm [Accessed 20th November 2016]
Shary, T. 2002. Generation multiplex: the image of youth in contemporary American cinema. Texas: University of Texas press.
Shock ‘Em Dead. 1991. Directed by Mark Freed. USA: Noma Productions.
Terror on Tour. 1980. Directed by Don Edmonds. USA: Four Features Partners.
The Gate 1987. Directed by Tibor Takács. Canada: New Century Entertainment.
The Lost Boys. 1987. Directed by Joel Schumacher. USA: Warner Brothers.
Trick or Treat 1986. Directed by Charles Martin Smith. USA: De Laurentiis Entertainment Group.
Trick or Treat: Production Notes 1986. De Laurentiis Entertainment Group.
Tudor, A. 2002. Why Horror? The Peculiar Pleasures of a Popular Genre. In Horror: the film reader Jancovich, M. (ed.) 47–55. New York: Routledge.
Twitchell, J. B. 1985. Dreadful Pleasures: An anatomy of modern horror. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Walser, R. 1993. Running with the Devil: Power, gender and madness in heavy metal music. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press.
Weinstein, D. 2000. Heavy Metal: The Music and its Culture. Boston: Da Capo Press.
Wood, R. 2002. The American Nightmare: Horror in the 70s. In Horror: the film reader. Jancovich, M. (ed.) 25–32. New York: Routledge.
Wright, R. 2000. ‘I’d sell you suicide’: pop music and moral panic in the age of Marilyn Manson. Popular Music, 19 (3): 365–385.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hassan, N. (2018). Shock Rock Horror! The Representation and Reception of Heavy Metal Horror Films in the 1980s. In: Bentley, N., Johnson, B., Zieleniec, A. (eds) Youth Subcultures in Fiction, Film and Other Media. Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures and Popular Music. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73189-6_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73189-6_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73188-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73189-6
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)