Wayne Isham directed Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” music video from The Black Album.
The video was recorded in Los Angeles in June 1991 and premiered on July 30, about two weeks before the album’s release. Its imagery follows the song’s nightmare theme, showing a child experiencing frightening dreams while an older man, played by R. G. Armstrong, watches.
The clip combines those dream sequences with performance footage of Metallica. The visual style deliberately connects the lyrics’ bedtime-prayer imagery with unsettling scenes involving snakes, falling, drowning, and pursuit.
The video became one of the band’s most recognizable promotional films. It won Best Hard Rock Video at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards and was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Editing. Isham later directed five additional Metallica music videos, making “Enter Sandman” the first in his series for the band.