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For Those About to Slash, We Salute You: 14 Military Horrors to Stream for Memorial Day
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War films are horror films, aren’t they? Both genres explore inevitable death intertwined with moral quandaries and are full of suspense. Come and See is often hailed as one of the scariest films and Son of Saul almost plays like a found footage in Auschwitz.
There is a thin line between the two, but military horror goes further by blending the literal and figurative. This hybrid subgenre repeatedly uses the zombie as the antagonist of choice, a reason identified by Scholar Kevin Wetmore in Post-9/11 Horror in American Cinema : “Zombies cannot be reasoned with, cannot be negotiated with, they seek only to replicate themselves, which also makes them an excellent metaphor for terrorists.”
That said, in recognition of Memorial Day here are 14 military horrors to choose from that aren’t all just about the undead. The POVs range from civilians trapped in military culture, teen cadets, facing barriers as a female pilot and the post-Vietnam grief endured by veterans and their families. Or, of course, if you just want to see giant alien bugs or werewolves blown to bits, that’s here too. Pour one out, sit back and enjoy.
The Monkey’s Paw tale gets a Vietnam war setting in Deathdream AKA Dead of Night . After Andy Brooks ( Richard Backus) is killed in action, a “death notification” is delivered to his parents and sister, portrayed by John Marley, Lynn Carlin and Anya Ormsby. The film shows the early work of Tom Savini (a Vietnam veteran himself), alongside Alan Ormsby, who also penned the script. The way it expresses the domestic challenges veterans and their families face upon homecoming is quite touching. Themes of grief, post traumatic stress disorder, addiction and an inability to meet the expectations of society and loved ones are told through the bloodthirsty ghoul. The final line cements the horrors of war and loss: “Andy’s home. Some boys never come home.” In 2010, it was announced to be remade under the title Zero Dark Thirty with director Paul Solet ( Clean ) revising a script by Stephen Susco ( The Grudge ), but there has been no updates on its status since. Deathdream streams on Tubi and ARROW.
Aired as a part of Mick Garris’ Masters of Horror anthology, Homecoming is a pivot from the typical military zombie film where we root for the humans to survive. It’s an anti-war film and tribute to fallen service members. Without giving anything away, it shows zombies who want more than brains… an idea inspired by a film on this list, J’accuse (1919). Set during the war in Iraq, the story is told through the eyes of presidential speech writer David Murch ( Jon Tenney). During a TV appearance, he tells a grieving mother, “If I had one wish… I would wish for your son to come back.” This statement accidentally summons the dead out of their American flag-covered caskets. It sounds heavy with its political stance, but the comedic and heartfelt elements make this a wholly unique and entertaining ride. Homecoming streams on Screambox, Tubi, CONtv, Fandor and Freevee.
Child’s Play 3 (1991) Director: Jack Bender
When one thinks of military horror, teen cadets are hardly the first to come to mind, but they absolutely count. The third installment of Child’s Play introduces us to Andy Barclay ( Justin Whalin), now sixteen-years-old, attending Kent Military School while his mother is in psychiatric care. He’s seemingly safe from his least favorite doll of all time, Chucky ( Brad Dourif), until he finds out Andy’s location. Chucky manipulates a young cadet named Tyler ( Jeremy Sylvers) who rejects any warnings of danger. As anticipated, hell unleashes at the school. The film has been cited as the least favorite of Don Mancini, and generally by fans, but I argue that it’s undeserved. It’s an environment we rarely see and mirrors many of the mind games of boot camp on a smaller scale. Additionally, it’s the only film of the franchise that centers around teens, making it a nice precursor to the Chucky TV series that would come thirty years later. Child’s Play 3 streams on VOD.
Shadow in the Cloud (2020) Director: Roseanne Liang
Shadow in the Cloud surrounds World War II pilot Maude Garrett ( Chloë Grace Moretz) on a classified mission to deliver a package from New Zealand to Samoa. When she hitches a ride on a bomber plane, she faces discrimination and sexism from the male crew on board, who refuse to see her as an equal despite her accolades. The opening sets up what’s to come with a vintage cartoon of a gremlin, a folkloric creature said to be the source of malfunctioning aircrafts during the war. It also doubles as a figure of speech, when an unexplained problem or fault occurs. There’s an interesting chunk of the story that takes place in the Sperry Ball turret, a section of the plane where gunners operate machine guns, temporarily giving it the claustrophobic feeling of a one-location film. Shadow in the Cloud streams on Hulu.
During the Mexican-American war, Captain John Boyd ( Guy Pearce) is sent to an isolated US. Army outpost after surviving enemy attack by playing dead. When a half-alive frostbitten man named Colqhoun ( Robert Carlyle) straggles into the area, he retells a story of his horrific escape from a Colonel-turned-cannibal in the mountains. The soldiers gear up and initiate a rescue mission with a memorable ensemble in Colonel Hart ( Jeffrey Jones), Private Reich ( Neal McDonough), Private Toffler ( Jeremy Davies) and a Native American scout, George ( Joseph Runningfox). When they arrive, the truth unfolds in a satisfying sequence that delivers gore, thrills and suspense. The film references the folklore of the Wendigo, who hungers for human flesh and possesses the strength of anyone they devour. It carries all the ingredients of a great Western horror flick and isn’t one to miss. Ravenous streams on VOD.
Body Snatchers (1993) Director: Abel Ferrara
As the fourth adaptation of Jack Finney’s novel Invasion of the Body Snatchers (with 2007’s Invasion to follow), the film places us at a Southern Army base. EPA chemist Steve Malone ( Terry Kinney) is summoned to study toxic waste levels and brings along his daughter Marti ( Gabrielle Anwar), son Andy ( Reilly Murphy) and their stepmother, Carol ( Meg Tilly). Other appearances include R. Lee Ermey (a Vietnam veteran before he became an actor) who acts as the base commander General Platt and Forest Whitaker as Dr. Collins. Soon enough, the soldiers’ peculiar behavior spread to other base inhabitants and tap into fears of whether or not people who they say they are. It’s the classic story we know and love, but this locale gives a peek into the daily norms of what it’s like to live within a military institution. Stuart Gordon, who co-wrote the script, was originally poised to direct before being replaced by Abel Ferrera. Body Snatchers streams on VOD.
Jacob’s Ladder (1990) Director: Adrian Lyne
Neither a success nor failure upon release, Jacob’s Ladder became one of the most influential military horror films to date, its legacy shown in the Silent Hill video games, American Horror Story: Asylum , The Sixth Sense and more. With Flashdance and Fatal Attraction recently under his belt at the time, Lyne pursued the film as a passion project. Jacob ( Tim Robbins) is a Vietnam veteran suffering from dissociation, nightmarish visions, divorce, grief and a traumatizing experience in the war. Instead of being an exploitative commentary on a veteran’s psyche, it unfolds as a Francis Bacon painting turned fever dream. Mystery builds as the plot deepens, ultimately leading us towards a poetic ending. A remake helmed by David M. Rosenthal ( How It Ends ) was released in 2019, but received an underwhelming response. The original Jacob’s Ladder streams on Paramount+.
While George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead set up the zombie archetype, it’s been said that J’accuse , a French silent film about the injustices of World War I, may have been the first to show the undead on screen. We meet Jean Diaz ( Romuald Joubé) when his life is interrupted by war and witness his psychological transformation through the years. It is praised as one of the most technically advanced films of its time and one of the rare pacifist narratives. One of the cards read, “War kills as much the mothers as the sons.” Gance was drafted into the Army in 1917 and actually incorporated real battlefield footage into the film. It’s a bleak three hour journey split into two parts, examining the horrors of war with a fascinating sequence in the cemetery and visions of dancing skeletons. In 1938, Gance remade the film right before World War II. J’accuse streams on Kanopy.
The Ninth Configuration (1980) Director: William Peter Blatty
“I don’t think evil grows out of madness. I think madness grows out of evil.” From the author of The Exorcist comes a sophisticated directorial debut, who even planned this as a sequel. An adaptation of his novel Twinkle Twinkle Killer Kane , it features a heavyweight cast of character actors within a Gothic military mental asylum, including Scott Wilson, Jason Miller, Tom Atkins, Robert Loggia, Ed Flanders and more. Another post-Vietnam film, we are met with Colonel Kane ( Stacey Keach), a Marine sent to the asylum to observe the patients and verify if they are faking mental illness. It’s a psychological slow-burn with a twist that may leave many to wonder where the horror lies, but those patient will encounter a satisfying rise in tension that culminates into a haunting finale. The Ninth Configuration streams on Shudder and AMC+.
Dog Soldiers (2002) Director: Neil Marshall
Dog Soldiers follows British soldiers conducting a training exercise in the Scottish Highlands. This finds success in utilizing one of the more underrepresented creatures in the subgenre: the werewolf. The cast includes Sean Pertwee, Kevin McKidd and Liam Cunningham, as they battle against the tall, dark and fearsome lycanthropes. It nicely fits within the ranks of other action heavies like Aliens and Predator . Around the time of release, there were plans to have a sequel titled Dog Soldiers: Fresh Meat with everyone from Andy Armstrong, Rob Green and M.J. Bassett in talks to direct, but the project was ultimately scrapped. However, in 2020, Marshall said that there’s still a chance of revival. In the meantime, the film celebrates its 20th Anniversary this November and had a behind-the-scenes book that was released on May 13. Dog Soldiers streams on VOD.
Described as Apocalypse Now meets Ringu , the film (re-released in 2011 under the title Ghosts of War ) follows a South Korean squad in 1972 sent to Vietnam to find missing soldiers. If they can accomplish the mission in ten days, they’ll be rewarded with leave. With Lieutenant Choi ( Woo-seong Kam) as their leader, the group encounter a mansion that miraculously appears in the night. The area begins to toy with their minds, eventually pitting them against each other and forcing them to question their own sanity. Interesting fact: the structure they shot in was a casino during the French colonization period. R-Point is a dark ghost story, but surprisingly has many moments of humor that carry you through the journey. R-Point streams on Kanopy.
Initially rumored to be the fourth film in the Cloverfield series, producer J.J. Abrams shut those down but promised that Overlord was “batshit crazy.” It takes place on the eve of D-Day as a group of American paratroopers crash land onto Nazi-occupied territory when their plane is attacked. The four who survive ( Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, John Magaro and Iain De Caestecker), continue the mission to seek and destroy their enemy’s radio tower. It soon becomes apparent that truly inhumane experimentation is happening, and out come the Nazi super soldiers. A high octane and bloody alt-history film with gnarly special effects, this will satisfy cravings for a good time. The fantastic opening scene alone will be enough to grab your attention. Overlord streams on Paramount+ and FXNOW.
Starship Troopers (1997) Director: Paul Verhoeven
This bananas satire on the gung-ho institution of the military was critically panned upon release, but has since become a cult classic. Based on the novel by Robert A. Heinlein, Verhoeven only read a few chapters, specifying it made him “bored and depressed.” It takes place in a future society, during an interstellar war against massive alien bugs. After graduating high school, a group of teens enlist in the Federation, portrayed by Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer and Neil Patrick Harris. They are forced to grow up fast and thrown into the fire of the Arachnids, who are described as a “perfect species.” It’s the military coming of age story we never got from John Hughes, touching on all the teen frustrations of romance, family, and friendship. Starship Troopers streams on HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix and Tubi.
Deathwatch (2002) Director: M.J. Bassett
It’s 1917 and a group of British soldiers are fatigued, hungry and wet through the perils of World War I. Upon finding an abandoned German trench, they set up camp and find that there’s an evil much worse than anything they’d come to expect. The cast includes Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Matthew Rhys, Laurence Fox and Kris Marshall, who deliver solid performances as soldiers facing mistrust and the area’s cruelty. For a low budget film and it being Bassett’s directorial debut, it boasts impressive production design, mood building and memorable scenes of horror that include barbed wire, rats and buckets of mud. Much of the nightmare imagery was inspired by author Cliff Graham’s Covenant of War . It almost feels like a period companion to the Silent Hill visual motif, which Bassett would fittingly go on to direct ( Silent Hill: Revelation ). Deathwatch streams on Tubi.
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Sorry Eleven, and no shade to Steve “The Hair” Harrington, but the most important character in Stranger Things is arguably the soundtrack. It’s hard to imagine this series would be nearly as ubiquitous as it stands all these years later without its essential needle drops. The music has framed this franchise, not only by offering instant blasts to the past, but by delivering emotional left hooks that bruise the heart as often as they tickle our toes.
This season is no exception. In fact, music is so vital at this point, it’s saving some of our favorite characters’ lives. And by proxy, it’s giving us some of the strongest marriages of sound and screen to date. With that in mind, we thought we’d turn back time — ahem, to borrow from Cher — and sort through the best needle drops to hit Hawkins, Indiana. These are the tracks that made us laugh, made us cry, and made us fall in love with this world.
Like any D&D campaign, though, we’ve got some ground rules: For starters, we didn’t include any of the score by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein. That’s not to say they aren’t worthy — “Kids”, “Eulogy”, and “You’re a Fighter” alone are top five material — but they’re technically not needle drops. To add to that, we also tried to skew away from the diegetic use of music as this series is flooded with background tunes that we all keep on constant rotation.
No, these are the inescapable drops, the ones that the Duffer Brothers and music supervisor Nora Felder put front and center — and for good reason. As you’ll read below, these songs amplify the greatest moments of each season, capitalizing on their respective familiarity to take us higher and higher, to borrow from Jackie Wilson. So, take inventory of the 11 best needle drops and let us know what we missed in the comments below.
Of course, it goes without saying: Beware of spoilers for all four seasons.
By 1986, “Detroit Rock City” would already be 10 years old, and Kiss would be glamming it up with new guitarist Bruce Kulick as they continued to support 1985’s Asylum. But the persisting rumors of the Jewish rockers worshipping at the altar of Satan would prevail long after Destroyer began collecting dust. (After all, troubled parents didn’t have Snopes at the time to tell them Kiss doesn’t mean Knights in Satan’s Service.) And yet that’s why this drop works so well in a season that leans heavily on the contagious Satanic panic of the ’80s. History books aside, though, it’s also just a killer anthem that makes D&D look as epic as it reads, turns a high school basketball game into a bonafide rock concert, and — perhaps most importantly — gives Hellfire Club leader Eddie Munson some sizzling swagger.
Every high school has that one asshole who careens into the parking lot blasting some muscle jam. (Full transparency: This writer was that asshole too many times in the early aughts.) For Hawkins High circa 1984, that asshole was Ace Merrill twinner Billy Hargrove. So, it’s perhaps fitting that the first time we meet the new bully in town, he’s adding an exclamation point to his arrival with The Scorpions‘ iconic FM hit. Sure, it’s an on-the-nose track — c’mon, it doesn’t get more literal than “Here I am/ rock you like a hurricane” — but that’s what makes it so fitting for Billy. He’s not exactly the most subtle guy out there as “King Steve” Harrington comes to learn both on and off the court. In lesser hands, this would all be laughable, if not ludicrous, but stud Dacre Montgomery looks too damn sexy being so sinful.
This one’s so elegantly cruel: On one end, you have Steve Harrington and Nancy Wheeler consummating upstairs to the silky sounds of Foreigner‘s after-hours power ballad. Meanwhile, outside by the pool, Nancy’s wet blanket Barb is being mercilessly dragged into the Upside Down, where she’ll become a midnight snack for the Demogorgon. Again, it’s a terrifically mean juxtaposition, but the best thing about this cold open is how the early ’80s hit bleeds into the ensuing nightmare. Thomas Dolby’s dreamy synths only adds to the surreality of our first otherworldly plunge into the Upside Down. It’s a stylish beat by the Duffers that also serves as a reminder that not everyone’s phoning home in this nostalgic nook.
We get it: The Police‘s single is creepy. Ever since it first popped up on 1983’s Synchronicity, it’s been analyzed to death, remixed to hell and back, given slow covers by the saddest saps out there with a guitar, hell, it’s even been referenced in a Halloween young adult novel. And yet, no matter how many times critics, listeners, family, or friends call out this dark side, it still doesn’t change the fact that — at face value — “Every Breath You Take” is a balmy, romantic ballad. Alas, that fire and ice, sugar and spice, naughty and nice dichotomy is why it’s such a choice closer for Season 2. So far in the franchise, it’s the only finale that fans can truly say wraps up on a happy note. El gets her dance with Mike, Dustin’s told by Nancy he’s her favorite, and Hopper and Joyce share a nostalgic smoke. Like the song, everything looks fine and dandy on top, but below, the Mind Flayer awaits. You might say, it’s watching them. Get it?
Speaking of genuinely happy moments, they’re admittedly few and far between in this series, especially for Eleven. If there’s anything to glean so far from Season 4, it’s that life hasn’t been so peachy for the Hawkins Lab MVP. So, when you consider our reunion with the gang at the beginning of Season 3, this is probably the happiest we’ve seen them, at least when it comes to Mike and El’s relationship. Like so many of the needle drops on this list, there’s duality in the use of Corey Hart‘s Boy in the Box blockbuster here. On one hand, there’s pure joy seeing Mike romancing El with a boisterous sing-a-long, but zero in on those lyrics: “Just a little more time is all we’re asking for/ ‘Cause just a little more time could open closing doors.” Knowing where they wind up by the end of Summer 1985 — the summer that changes everything, if you recall — those lyrics are not only melancholy but eerily foreboding. Sadly, time is never on their side.
In just about every bar across the world, The Clash‘s Combat Rock single either elicits a boozy sing-a-long or a reluctant head bob. In Joyce Byers’ living room? It’s a jolt of terror. Put yourself in her shoes: Her boy is missing. Nobody has answers. And everyone’s telling her to stay home. So, naturally, she’s about 37 cigarettes removed from a complete anxiety attack when her house starts acting funny. Funny how? Well, the lights twitching is one thing, but the stereo turning on? That’s Poltergeist territory. The genius of this drop is how the signature chords serve as its own ominous jump scare. Because no matter how many memories we have tied to the anthem, there’s no denying its chill factor here. Granted, we soon learn it’s a message from Will, and more of a beacon of hope, but let’s be real: We’d all be running out of the house like Joyce, staring at our home and trying to tell ourselves we’re not in an episode of Sightings.
Some of the best music cues are the ones that genuinely surprise you, and the sheer niche value of this drop is worthy of a top five placement alone. Yes, the kids all go see George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead at the beginning of Season 3, but did anyone ever think John Harrison‘s score would pop up — counts list — five episodes later? Let alone a deep cut? Not only that, but two minutes into said deep cut? It’s so oddly specific that you just have to stand up and applaud the team. But, of course, none of it would matter if the scene didn’t count, and it does. It’s the first time we see Steve and his Scoop’s Ahoy partner-in-crime Robin Buckly strike a bond. No, not that scene, but their Last Crusade moment, which sees them tied up on the floor and reminiscing about, of all things, home room. It’s a tender scene ripped right out of a John Hughes rental, and Harrison’s score adds some understated magic to the moment.
If you had a pie chart that broke down needle drops by tropes, “Going Through the Motions” would certainly take up the largest slice. Such is the case for this stunning pop-in by Manchester’s finest Joy Division. As Ian Curtis sings, “Walk in silence/ Don’t walk away, in silence/ See the danger/ Always danger,” director Shawn Levy wisely lingers around the Byers residence, where everyone’s grieving over the supposed death of Will. Distraught over another loss, Hopper can’t even bring himself to start his truck as he attempts to leave the house. Alone in his bedroom, Jonathan cries into his headphones, presumably listening to this very track. But, Joyce? Well, she’s still not convinced. Perhaps tearing a page from Jonathan’s Evil Dead poster, she heads to the work shed in her backyard, grabs an axe, and returns to the shadows of her living room unwilling to walk away as Bernard Sumner’s guitar flares up. Oof.
Some of the most affecting needle drops are those that stitch to their respective shows. Peter Gabriel‘s stripped-down cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes” is one such song. When it first reared its head in the debut season, it was a stroke of genius: an ’80s icon paying homage to another ’80s icon in a show paying homage to the ’80s. (Look, this writer is well aware that Gabriel and Bowie are hardly confined to that decade. Go with the point.) So, it wasn’t surprising to hear it return at the end of Season 3 — it almost made too much sense. Emotionally, it’s a savvy callback that hits even harder because we recognize it’s a part of that world. But logistically, it adds some finality to what could have very well been the series finale. Because we’re not just grieving the “loss” of Hopper or the Byers big move away, but the end of a summer that changed everything. As we see in these last fleeting moments, it certainly did.
It’s a little maudlin, but the idea that music sets you free works in the world of Stranger Things. So much of this franchise is built on the idea that these pop cultural touchstones have served as essential escapes for myriad generations. So, the notion that Kate Bush could save a life in Hawkins isn’t that much of a stretch. If anything, the act is fitting for the anthem in question: “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” is one of the most enchanting pop compositions to ever grace the genre, and if you’re going to use it, you better earn it. They do by pairing the ballad with Max Mayfield, whose own traumatic past with her brother Billy Hargrove grooves to the beat of the song’s lyrical heart: “And if I only could/ I’d make a deal with God/ And I’d get him to swap our places.” The track appears early on in Season 4, but the way Levy wields it at the end of this fourth chapter truly makes a deal with the gods.
Believe it or not, but the best needle drop of the entire series isn’t even from the ’80s. It’s from Moby‘s 1995 third studio album Everything Is Wrong. Why does that sound familiar? Because it’s the same album that also features “God Moving over the Face of the Waters” and “First Cool Hive”, two tracks that respectively bring down the curtains on Michael Mann’s Heat and Wes Craven’s Scream. Well, it’s three times the charm for the record as another essential track pops up at the end of the first season of Stranger Things: “When It’s Cold I’d Like to Die”. The hypnotic ballad materializes when Hopper and Joyce try to resuscitate Will in the Upside Down. Making the scene even more harrowing is the way the Duffers crosscut the action with Hopper’s own memory involving the tragic death of his daughter, Sara. Moby’s spiritual sounds dance through every pounding fist and every guttural scream, be it Joyce’s emphatic pleas (“I need you to wake up”) or Hopper’s stone-cold urgency (“C’mon, kid!”). It’s impossible to watch without either straining your eyes from fighting back those tears or letting them rain down your face, a feeling that the greatest needle drops should always elicit.
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