More like Paranoid
Cross-media recommendations across film, TV, games, books & music — picked by taste.
Paranoid is Black Sabbath's second studio album, released in September 1970 on Vertigo Records. It contains several of the band's defining songs, including "Iron Man", "War Pigs", and the title track — the group's only top-twenty UK single. The record's combination of crushing sound and dark subject matter made it a cornerstone of heavy metal, and it points toward fiction and writing where occultism, rock mythology, and fractured minds carry genuine weight.
About Paranoid
Paranoid is the second studio album by the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath. It was released on 18 September 1970 in the United Kingdom by Vertigo Records, and on 7 January 1971 in the United States by Warner Bros. Records. The album contains several of the band's signature songs, including "Iron Man", "War Pigs" and the title track, which was the band's only top 20 hit, reaching number four on the UK Singles Chart. The title track reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot Hard Rock Songs for the first time 55 years after its release in July 2025.
From the Wikipedia article Paranoid_(album), available under CC BY-SA.
Films like Paranoid
Film
Black Sabbath
Three horror tales: threatening phone calls, vampiric monsters, and a deceased medium who turns on the living.
Film
Rock & Rule
A villainous rock star kidnaps a singer to summon a demon; her band races to stop him.
Film
Black Sunday
An Israeli agent must stop a Vietnam vet helping a PLO cell attack the Super Bowl.
Film
A Dark Song
A young woman and a damaged occultist risk their lives and souls to perform a dangerous ritual.
Film
Crossroads
A would-be blues virtuoso hunts down a long-lost song by Robert Johnson.
Film
Pink Floyd: The Wall
A troubled rock star descends into madness amid complete physical and social isolation.
Books to read after Paranoid
Book
Black Sabbath: Doom Let Loose
Chronicles Black Sabbath's rise as the quintessential heavy metal band.
Book
Psychotic Reactions and Carburettor Dung
Critical essays on rock performers including Bowie, Lou Reed, the Clash, and Iggy Pop.
Book
Slash
Slash's memoir of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll from one of rock's most celebrated guitarists.
Frequently asked
What should I listen to after Black Sabbath's Paranoid?
If you love Paranoid's crushing riffs and dark atmosphere, the deep-dives in Black Sabbath: Doom Let Loose and Psychotic Reactions and Carburettor Dung will satisfy your hunger for the genre's roots and raw energy.
Are there any movies that capture the dark, heavy vibe of Paranoid?
Pink Floyd: The Wall shares that sense of a rock artist descending into psychological darkness, while A Dark Song channels the album's occult heaviness into a genuinely unsettling horror film.
Is there a book about Black Sabbath or the world Paranoid came from?
Black Sabbath: Doom Let Loose chronicles the band's rise as heavy metal's defining act, and the guitarist memoir Slash offers a vivid first-person portrait of the same sex-drugs-and-rock-'n'-roll era.