Kerry King: The Mr. Skin Interview

Slayer has a rap of being Satanists, so what's your favorite devil movie?
Definitely horror movies. You know: devil movies. Well, most horror movies have something to do with that. What have I seen this year that kicked ass? I saw Secret Window that was eh. Saw something scary. Dawn of the Dead, that was good. We knew what we were getting into.

I thought that was a good remake.
It was cool to see new interpretations of fucking evil and shit like that. The original A Nightmare on Elm Street is a big one for me. I saw that when I was a kid. I saw The Evil Dead when I was, like, sixteen. You know, when you're sixteen you don't have a sense of humor to laugh at silly horror, and that movie scared the shit out of me. It's the only movie I almost walked out on. I was like, "Fuck! I can't take it!"

Speaking of movies, when's the first time you saw skin onscreen?
Oh, man. I don't know, but you cherish those when you're a kid. Are there tits in this? Oh, man, we got to go, whether it's Animal House (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4) or anything like that. My dad had HBO pretty early on, so you're flipping channels when nobody's around and see what you can get away with. For some reason Eyes of Laura Mars (Picture: 1 - 2) pops into my head.

That makes something pop with me too.
Yeah, and I remember, what was that movie with Ramrod in it, Vice was it called?

You mean Vice Squad, with Wings Hauser as Ramrod?
That movie is cool, if it's the one I'm thinking of. I've been looking for that one on DVD actually. Ramrod, he's the bad guy. It'll be one of those drunken tour bus nights and I'll be like, "What's the movie with that Ramrod dude in it?" I'll spout off one or two of the lines and that's about as far as it goes.

Are there nude scenes that have stuck in your pants . . . I mean mind?
Man, you're asking someone who drinks way too much. Anyway, I didn't drink last night, so I'm as clearheaded as I get. Man, it's tough. Let me fucking think. Animal House, you recite those lines for eternity: "Fuck her, fuck her brains out, fuck her tits!" The little devil and angel, that's a great scene; he goes in to go for a grab and she's got her bra stuffed with tissue paper. [Laughs] That's probably in my top-three just because I can't remember any others.

Are you a big movie fan?
Definitely. When we go on tour, I'm the one bringing 140 DVDs. I'm the entertainment director, pretty much.

So what's in heavy rotation on the Slayer tour bus?
Every tour you'll get one or two new ones that trickle in, but the old faves by far are Event Horizon, House on Haunted Hill, Full Metal Jacket, 13 Ghosts was pretty recent and cool, we always watch that one. Scarface, The Devil's Advocate, pretty much the things you'd expect. Every once and a while we'll get on a comedy kick and you'll get new ones like Van Wilder. I love that movie. Holy Grail. Our career has been around a good twenty years; our enjoyment and choice of movies come from anywhere in that spectrum.

Who are the hot actresses that make you strum your instrument?
You know what's funny? I usually go the other way and pick ones I really hate. I hate Tara Reid (Picture: 1). Die! I don't know why, but I can't get into her. Everybody thinks she's a sex symbol and I just don't see it. Probably because of her character in American Pie, that's another one that's in the bus all the time--There's Something About Mary, Tomcats. I get into a genre and I'll start rambling them off. It may have been the character in that movie because I just fucking hated her.

You don't like the blonde California beach beauty?
I love blondes. The funny thing is that was always my type and then I end up marrying a brunette, half-Pakistani, half-Italian. You got to think outside of your type and say, "I'm barking up the wrong fucking tree, man, just got to find the one that's cool. Another one I hate is Mena Suvari (Picture: 1); she looks like a fucking fish.

OK, you're in Slayer, I understand the hate. But what about the love, man, who do you love?
You know one off the wall that doesn't make any sense, other then the fact she was in all the fucking B-horror movies, Linnea Quigley.

One of the original scream queens. She was great in Return of the Living Dead, doing that punk-rock striptease in the graveyard. (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3)
Oh, naked playing the graveyard. That's another fave. We sit here and talk long enough you'll probably get fifty of them.

Any famous Hollywood Slayer fans out there?
I don't think so. More like sports people. I couldn't even name any famous people, Hollywood kind of famous. I think people are still scared to say they're Slayer fans. [Laughs] And you know, if they were, maybe I didn't give a shit.

You've done some work for movies, contributing to the soundtrack of Dracula 2000 and Dracula 2000.
Yeah, Bride of Chucky, our song got buried in that one. Anytime we do soundtrack shit I consider it getting your dick sucked until it shows up in the movie and then it's either two seconds buried behind a car crash or that last half of the credits when everybody has left the fucking theater anyway.

You're also in the first Spider-Man movie.
I played the lead for Sum 41 on their song.

Any other movie work upcoming?
Not right now. I have a few friends that make movies like Dee Snider and he always said that if he makes a Strangeland 2 he's going to put me in it somehow. I'd love to be a bad guy.

Are you going to do the Rob Zombie thing? He's obviously a huge horror fan who made a really good movie with House of 1000 Corpses.
I don't have the, uh, what's the word, patience to be involved with something like that. People say, "What are you going to do when you retire, you going to produce records?" I say, fuck that, man, I can't even produce my own records!

Images courtesy of Slayer.net