Movies like This Is GWAR (2021)
The best movies like This Is GWAR (2021) are The History of Metal and Horror (2021), Lemmy (2010) and Studio 666 (2022). If This Is GWAR hooked you with its documentary and music, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedAnvil! The Story of Anvil (2008)7.6/10 from 285 votes
- NewestIron Maiden: Burning Ambition (2026)Released 2026
The History of Metal and Horror (2021)
A documentary that explores the history of heavy metal music, horror films, and how the two genres have merged together over time.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Lemmy (2010)
Over four decades, Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister has registered an immeasurable impact on music history. Nearly 65, he remains the living embodiment of the rock and roll lifestyle, and this feature-length documentary tells his story, one of a hard-living rock icon who continues to enjoy the life of a man half his age.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStudio 666 (2022)
Legendary rock band Foo Fighters move into an Encino mansion steeped in grisly rock and roll history to record their much anticipated 10th album. Once in the house, Dave Grohl finds himself grappling with supernatural forces that threaten both the completion of the album and the lives of the band.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror & music
SnoozefestMovies like thisLords of Chaos (2018)
A teenager's quest to launch Norwegian Black Metal in Oslo in the 1990s results in a very violent outcome.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnvil! The Story of Anvil (2008)
At 14, best friends Robb Reiner and Lips made a pact to rock together forever. Their band, Anvil, hailed as the "demi-gods of Canadian metal" influenced a musical generation that includes Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax. Following a calamitous European tour, Lips and Robb, now in their fifties, set off to record their 13th album in one last attempt to fulfill their boyhood dreams.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLoud Krazy Love (2019)
At the downbeat of the new millennium there was no bigger, darker, or more deeply influential hard rock band in the world than KoRn. But for lead guitarist Brian Head Welch, a dream come true was giving way to a raging nightmare of self-loathing and addiction. At the end of himself, he made an even harder decision than leaving KoRn. Told with intimate access to the family and band, this genre-bending documentary delivers unprecedented access to one of rock's most unbelievable stories of restoration.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Swans: Where Does a Body End? (2019)
From their roots as a brutal, confrontational industrial band, through breakups and chaos, to their odds-defying current status as one of the most accomplished and ambitious bands in the world, one whose concerts are more like ecstatic rituals than nostalgic trips. SWANS has always been a collection of singular performers, but there's been one constant since its formation in 1982--singer, songwriter Michael Gira. 'Where Does a Body End?' is a SWANS documentary with unfettered access to hundreds of hours of Gira/SWANS archives of never-seen-before recordings, videos, and photographs. An unfiltered story of a life in the arts, frequent difficulty spanning decades without a safety net, creating work because Gira says "What else am I going to do?"
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Metal: A Headbanger's Journey (2005)
The film discusses the traits and originators of some of metal's many subgenres, including the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, power metal, Nu metal, glam metal, thrash metal, black metal, and death metal. Dunn uses a family-tree-type flowchart to document some of the most popular metal subgenres. The film also explores various aspects of heavy metal culture.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHated: GG Allin and The Murder Junkies (1993)
An overview of the life of the most shocking, vile, and notorious of punk rock legends.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGet Back Up (2020)
"A riveting, emotionally charged rock doc like none before it. This decade long journal follows the band and phoenix-like implosion and spiritual immersion of their front-man, who was born with a genius like gift to create hit music."
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne (2020)
For over five decades, Ozzy Osbourne has personified rock and roll, from his childhood in poverty and time in prison, to fronting metal band Black Sabbath, a successful solo career and a lovable 21st century television dad.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Dig! (2004)
A documentary on the once promising American rock bands The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. The friendship between respective founders, Anton Newcombe and Courtney Taylor, escalated into bitter rivalry as the Dandy Warhols garnered major international success while the Brian Jonestown Massacre imploded in a haze of drugs.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988)
An exploration of the heavy metal scene in Los Angeles, with particular emphasis on glam metal. It features concert footage and interviews of legendary heavy metal and hard rock bands and artists such as Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Megadeth, Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne and W.A.S.P..
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Filth and the Fury (2000)
Julien Temple's second documentary profiling punk rock pioneers the Sex Pistols is an enlightening, entertaining trip back to a time when the punk movement was just discovering itself. Featuring archival footage, never-before-seen performances, rehearsals, and recording sessions as well as interviews with group members who lived to tell the tale--including the one and only John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten).
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fearless Freaks (2005)
Equal parts punk and psychedelia, the Flaming Lips emerged from Oklahoma City as one of the most bracing bands of the late 1980s. The Fearless Freaks documents their rise from Butthole Surfers-imitating noisemakers to grand poobahs of orchestral pop masterpieces. Filmmaker Bradley Beesely had the good fortune of living in the same neighborhood as lead Lip Wayne Coyne, who quickly enlisted his buddy to document his band's many concerts and assorted exploits. The early footage is a riot, with tragic hair styles on proud display as the boys attempt to cover up their lack of natural talent with sheer volume. During one show, they even have a friend bring a motorcycle on stage, which is then miked for sound and revved throughout the performance, clearing the club with toxic levels of carbon monoxide. Great punk rock stuff. Interspersed among the live bits are interviews with the band's family and friends, revealing the often tragic circumstances of their childhoods and early career.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & documentary
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004)
After bassist Jason Newsted quits the band in 2001, heavy metal superstars Metallica realize that they need an intervention. In this revealing documentary, filmmakers follow the three rock stars as they hire a group therapist and grapple with 20 years of repressed anger and aggression. Between searching for a replacement bass player, creating a new album and confronting their personal demons, the band learns to open up in ways they never thought possible.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRandy Rhoads: Reflections of a Guitar Icon (2022)
Randy Rhoads’ guitar riffs re-shaped rock ‘n roll and raised the stakes for guitarists around the world. Known primarily as the lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and for his groundbreaking guitar work on the albums “Blizzard of Ozz” and “Diary of a Madman”, Randy spent most of his life playing in a small band known at the time, Quiet Riot. After leaving Quiet Riot to play, record and tour with Ozzy, Randy died at the young age of 25 in a tragic plane crash in Florida. His body died that day, but his soul and music live on forever.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Until the Light Takes Us (2008)
Chronicles the history, ideology and aesthetic of Norwegian black metal, a musical subculture infamous as much for a series of murders and church arsons as it is for its unique musical and visual aesthetics. This is the first film to truly shed light on a movement that has heretofore been shrouded by rumor and obscured by inaccurate and shallow depictions. Featuring exclusive interviews with the musicians themselves, Until the Light Takes Us explores every aspect of the controversial movement that has captured the attention of the world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Devil and Daniel Johnston (2006)
This 2005 documentary film chronicles the life of Daniel Johnston, a manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist, from childhood up to the present, with an emphasis on his mental illness and how it manifested itself in demonic self-obsession.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStreet Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash (2020)
The movie centers on drummer Artimus Pyle's experience as a band member in Lynyrd Skynyrd and the tragically fateful day their rented plane crashed in the swamps of Gillsburg, MS on October 20th, 1977 and took the lives of singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, his sister backup singer Cassie Gaines, road manager Dean Kilpatrick, and the two pilots. This movie focuses on the hours leading up to the event, the day of, and the aftermath.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
The Punk Rock Movie (1978)
Documentary on the London punk-rock scene, circa '78
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Chunky Shrapnel (2021)
CHUNKY SHRAPNEL is a feature length live music documentary from King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. Literally bringing the audience onto the stages of their 2019 tour across Europe & the UK, Chunky offers a uniquely immersive experience never before captured on film. A musical road movie dipped in turpentine.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & documentary
Iron Maiden: Flight 666 (2009)
Heavy metal band Iron Maiden's 2008 Somewhere Back in Time World Tour. This concert recording accompanies the documentary film "Iron Maiden: Flight 666". The 16 songs performed were filmed live in 16 different cities giving you the full experience of the live power of Maiden and their fans all around the globe.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIron Maiden: Burning Ambition (2026)
With unprecedented access to the official archives and intimate recollections from the band, both current and past, Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition invites fans to experience one of the most iconic journeys in music history. Spanning five decades, this electrifying documentary charts the band’s rise from the pubs of East London to the world’s biggest stadiums. Featuring exclusive interviews with band members and contributors such as Javier Bardem, Lars Ulrich and Chuck D, as well as all-new animated sequences of the band's legendary mascot, Eddie, the film offers a rare and intimate look at Iron Maiden’s uncompromising vision and unwavering connection with their truly global army of fans.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisYou're Gonna Miss Me: A Film About Roky Erickson (2007)
Documentary about rock pioneer Roky Erickson, detailing his rise as a psychedelic hero, his lengthy institutionalization, his descent into poverty and filth, and his brother's struggle with their religious mother to improve Roky's care.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary & music
Hellbender (2022)
A teen and her mother live simply in a home in the woods, spending their time making rock music. A chance encounter with a fellow teen causes her to uncover a connection between her family and witchcraft, which causes a rift with her mother.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both horror
SnoozefestMovies like thisRob Zombie: The Zombie Horror Picture Show (2014)
Rob Zombie's first concert film, The Zombie Horror Picture Show is a feature-length concert film, recorded live over two sizzling nights in Texas. It captures Zombie's elaborate, multi-media production of mind-blowing SFX, animatronic robots, pyrotechnics, oversized LED screens and state-of-the-art light show combined with his powerhouse band featuring John 5, Piggy D and Ginger Fish. The Zombie Horror Picture Show puts the viewer at the center of the hot and nasty action for a blistering set of 16 Rob Zombie classics, including 'Dragula', 'Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Super Town', 'Living Dead Girl', 'More Human Than Human' and the crushing cover of Grand Funk Railroad's 'We're An American Band' from the seven-time Grammy® nominee's Top 10 2013 album, Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & documentary
Matangi / Maya / M.I.A. (2018)
Drawn from a never before seen cache of personal footage spanning decades, this is an intimate portrait of the Sri Lankan artist and musician who continues to shatter conventions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIn Search of Darkness: Part II (2020)
The ultimate ‘80s Horror retrospective just got BIGGER. In Search of Darkness: Part II is a four-hour-plus sequel to the Rondo Hatton-nominated In Search of Darkness, adding 15 new interviewees and 40+ returning favorites for the biggest and most comprehensive ‘80s Horror documentary cast ever assembled.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & horror
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTravis Scott: Look Mom I Can Fly (2019)
While crafting his Grammy-nominated album "Astroworld," Travis Scott juggles controversy, fatherhood and career highs in this intimate documentary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary & music
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like This Is GWAR?
The closest matches to This Is GWAR are The History of Metal and Horror (2021), Lemmy (2010) and Studio 666 (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after This Is GWAR?
People who watched This Is GWAR most often go on to The History of Metal and Horror (2021), Lemmy (2010) and Studio 666 (2022).
What is the highest-rated movie like This Is GWAR?
Anvil! The Story of Anvil (2008), rated 7.6/10 by 285 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like This Is GWAR?
Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like This Is GWAR?
Yes: The History of Metal and Horror (2021), Lemmy (2010) and Studio 666 (2022).
How are movies similar to This Is GWAR chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside This Is GWAR, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.