Kirk Hammett Reveals Cliff Burton’s Favorite Film

It is a well-known fact that Metallica‘s Kirk Hammett is into anything that involves horror. In a first-ever ‘Metal And Monsters’ Halloween special, bassist Matt ‘Piggy D.’ Montgomery sat down with Metallica guitarist to discuss everything from monsters to horror movies. Hammett also shared late bassist Cliff Burton’s favorite horror movie.

“When I first joined the band, I was surprised,” Hammett said before explaining the immediate connection he shared with Cliff Burton when he first became a part of the band. “I walked in one day and saw Cliff Burton reading Call of Cthulhu Dungeons and Dragons, sort of like a rule book. I’m like, ‘I know that book I’ve played, that game, you’re into HP Lovecraft.’ He says, ‘Yeah, it’s Cthulhu, man!’ It was like a huge sigh of relief because it’s like, ‘Right on, man,’ I thought to myself, he’s into horror stuff too. I have, you know, I have a fellow brother.”

He continued by revealing Burton’s favorite film and said, “Cliff’s favorite film of all time was Dawn of the Dead. He just loved the helicopter scene with the zombie. I remember watching that over and over and over on the Ride the Lightning Tour bus. He’s like, ‘We have to watch it again,’ and you laugh and all that, and it’s like we watch it again, we all laugh.”

Horror movies and anything that has a spooky turn have Hammett’s name written all over them, so when he realized that Cliff Burton also shared a love for the genre, he felt relief that they had common interests from the get-go. Hammett is so into it that he is very much involved with the horror community, where he is the Fear FestEvil horror convention organizer.

Besides organizing events, he has also published a coffee table book titled ‘Too Much Horror Business’ that featured photos of his extensive collection of monster and horror memorabilia. More recently, the guitarist made headlines with his horror stories on Reddit with an accompanying soundtrack, so you can count on him to make your spooky month a little bit scarier.