Demons (1985, dir by Lamberto Bava)
For today’s horror song of the day, we have Demon, a track from the soundtrack for the 1985 film, Demons. This song was composed and performed by Claudio Simonetti, who is best known as the keyboardist of Goblin.
The music video, incidentally, was directed by Michele Soavi, who also appeared in Demons as the mysterious masked man handing out free movie tickets.
It’s just a normal night as Danzig’s house in the video for Braineaters. Everyone comes for dinner and the chef comes out with a pot full of brains. If nothing else, this video is about as literal an adaptation of a song’s title as you are ever likely to see.
Enjoy!
Back in the 80s and most of the 90s, every movie came with an MTV-friendly music video. For The Lost Boys, it was this video for Lou Gramm’s Lost In The Shadows. Lou sings in what appears to be a wooden cage while scenes from the movie play. Music videos that acted as advertisements for movies were a big thing and I always looked forward to seeing them on MTV.
Lou Gramm was the lead singer of Foreigner when he recorded this song. He left Foreigner in 1990, rejoined in 1992, and then left again in 2003. He rejoined the band for a few performance in 2025 during Foreigner’s farewell tour. Lou has survived both drug addiction and a brain tumor and is still performing as a solo artist.
Enjoy!
If you’ve ever watched The Horror of Party Beach, you’ll definitely remember this song, which was performed by a Patterson, New Jersey band called The Del-Aires!
Everybody’s doing the zombie stomp!
This song was featured in the horror classic Black Roses, which is a movie about teenagers driven to murder by heavy metal music. The Satanic band itself was played by King Kobra.
As for this video, it doesn’t feature any Black Roses footage but it does feature Larry Fine and Humphrey Bogart.
Enjoy!
After a stint as lead guitarist for KISS, Vinnie Vincent went on to form Vinnie Vincent Invasion. Though the band was only together for four years before the members split up to pursue their own projects (two members of the band would go on to form Slaughter), Vinnie Vincent Invasion had a number of minor hits during its existence.
Love Kills was featured in Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and Freddy repaid them for the song by appearing in the music video. This video was directed by Nigel Dick, who I think has directed at least one video for every band that has ever existed.
Enjoy!
“Dead Skin Mask” is one of Slayer’s creepiest and most effective songs, and it’s easy to see why it has become a Halloween-season staple. It comes from the band’s 1990 studio album Seasons in the Abyss, and instead of going full blast from the first second, it slowly builds this cold, uneasy atmosphere before the riffs start hitting hard. It’s classic Slayer, but with a more haunting, horror-movie kind of menace.
The song is written from the viewpoint of Ed Gein, the infamous Wisconsin killer, grave robber, and necrophile whose crimes inspired characters in films like Psycho and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Slayer doesn’t just name-drop him; the lyrics put you inside his twisted head, with Gein speaking to a victim as if he’s welcoming her into his home. That first-person approach is what makes the song so unsettling—it’s not just about a monster, it’s about being trapped in the same room as one.
On the studio version, the guitar solo after the second verse is a great example of why the Kerry King/Jeff Hanneman partnership worked so well. King kicks off the solo section with his fast, aggressive, almost chaotic lead playing, and Hanneman answers with his own darker, more melodic lines. They trade leads back and forth, and the whole thing feels like the musical equivalent of a horror scene spiraling out of control.
What really sells the song is the mood. The opening clean guitar part is eerie, Tom Araya’s vocals sound genuinely disturbed, and the final moments—where a childlike voice pleads with “Mr. Gein”—are absolutely chilling. It’s one of those metal songs that understands horror is often more effective when it’s slow and creepy rather than loud and constant.
That’s why “Dead Skin Mask” is perfect for October. Whether you’re putting together a Halloween playlist, watching slasher movies, or just want something appropriately grim for a dark autumn night, this track fits right in. It’s heavy, unsettling, historically inspired, and packed with that classic Slayer sense of dread—basically spooky-season metal at its finest.
Dead Skin Mask
[Intro]
How I’ve waited for you to come
I’ve been here all alone
Now that you’ve arrived
Please stay awhile
And I promise I won’t keep you long
I’ll keep you forever…forever…forever…
[Verse 1]
Graze the skin with my fingertips
The brush of dead cold flesh appease the means
Provoking images delicate features so smooth
A pleasant fragrance in the light of the moon
[Chorus]
Dance with the dead in my dreams
Listen to their hallowed screams
The dead have taken my soul
Temptation’s lost all control
[Verse 2]
Simple smiles elude psychotic eyes
Lose all mind control, rationale declines
Empty eyes enslave the creations
Of placid faces and lifeless pageants!
In the depths of a mind insane
Fantasy and reality are the same!
[Solo @2:19]
[Verse 3]
Graze the skin with my fingertips
The brush of dead warm flesh pacifies the means
Incised members ornaments on my being
Adulating the skin before me
[Verse 2]
Simple smiles elude psychotic eyes
Lose all mind control, rationale declines
Empty eyes enslave the creations
Of placid faces and lifeless pageants!
[Chorus]
Dance with the dead in my dreams
Listen to their hallowed screams
The dead have taken my soul
Temptation’s lost all control
Dance with the dead in my dreams
Listen to their hallowed screams
The dead have taken my soul
Temptation’s lost all control
[Outro (young woman’s voice)]
Hello?
Hello Mr. Gein?
Mr. Gein?
Let me outta here Mr. Gein
Mr. Gein?
I don’t wanna play anymore Mr. Gein
Mr. Gein this isn’t fun anymore I don’t wanna play anymore Mr. Gein
Mr. Gein?
I want out of here Mr. Gein!
Let me out now
Great Guitar Solos Series
Since we are now almost halfway through October, it only seems appropriate to share what may be the most famous (and perhaps the most covered) song about witchcraft, Donavon’s Season of the Witch!
This song was originally recorded in 1966 and it’s gone on to become a Halloween mainstay. One fan of the song was future director Martin Scorsese, who originally planned to borrow the song’s title for one of his own films. However, George Romero beat Scorsese out the gate with a film called Season of the Witch and Scorsese ended up renaming his film, Mean Streets.
This song appears on the Pet Sematary 2 soundtrack, which might be the best soundtrack to have never been given an official release. In the film, this is the song that plays over the end credits. The video follows the film’s story of the dead rising back to life.
Enjoy!
Today’s song of the day comes from the soundtrack of one of the greatest Canadian films ever made, 1980’s Prom Night! I dare you not to dance!
