Wayne Isham directed Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” music video from the 1991 album campaign.
The video was filmed in Los Angeles and premiered on July 30, 1991, shortly before the album’s release. Its imagery combines the band performing with unsettling scenes based on childhood nightmares, matching the song’s references to bedtime rituals and fear.
The video became an important part of Metallica’s breakthrough. It won Best Hard Rock Video at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards and helped make the song recognizable to a large television audience outside traditional metal circles.
Isham directed six Metallica music videos, making him closely associated with the band’s visual presentation during this period. The director is sometimes confused with Anton Corbijn or Samuel Bayer, who later directed videos for other Metallica songs and albums, but “Enter Sandman” specifically was an Isham production.