Start with Thriller for the big zombie dance, Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) for a monster-costume party, or Somebody’s Watching Me for a wonderfully overdone haunted house.
These 20 music videos are full of monsters, elaborate makeup and strange little stories. Put them on while you carve pumpkins, get into costume or have people over. The familiar party favourites come first; further down, you’ll find vampire hunters, sinister laboratories and a few things best saved until late.
Where to start
| You want | Start with |
|---|---|
| The full zombie spectacular | Thriller |
| A 1990s monster party | Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) |
| A chorus everyone can join in with | Ghostbusters |
| An over-the-top haunted house | Somebody’s Watching Me |
| A bedroom nightmare | Lullaby |
| A werewolf on the dance floor | Heads Will Roll |
| Pop with a sinister streak | Disturbia |
| Cartoon monsters | Clint Eastwood |
| A full vampire story | A Little Less Sixteen Candles |
| A quieter, uncanny moment | What’s a Girl to Do? |
How we picked these
The video has to earn its place as well as the song. We chose haunted houses, monsters, horror stories and images that stick in your head, with room for pop, rock, rap and stranger things. There’s one video per artist, and the mood ranges from costume-party fun to outright horror.
All links go to artist or record-label uploads. Longer story openings and especially intense choices are noted below. YouTube availability and ads vary by location; Ghostbusters and Heads Will Roll have significant regional restrictions.
The top 10
1. Michael Jackson: Thriller
13:42 · Horror musical short · Michael Jackson
Start with the big one. A date at the movies turns into a night of monsters, graves opening and zombies filling the street. The red jacket and the dance are the bits everyone remembers, but the slow build is half the fun of John Landis’s 1983 short film.
This is the full 13:42 version, including the spoken opening. Put it on when people are ready to watch for a few minutes; save the shorter videos below for when the party gets going.
2. Backstreet Boys: Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)
6:02 · Music video · Backstreet Boys
The Backstreet Boys get stranded at a mansion and turn up for the dance in monster costumes. Huge sets, elaborate makeup and a chorus practically everyone knows: this is exactly the sort of ridiculous production a Halloween party needs.
The six-minute version includes the story around the song. It makes a good follow-up to Thriller, especially if your crowd grew up watching music television in the 1990s.
3. Ray Parker Jr.: Ghostbusters
4:05 · Music video · RayParkerJuniorVEVO · Limited availability
Ray Parker Jr. wanders through a haunted house outlined in neon, with famous faces popping in to shout the chorus. It’s bright, daft and instantly recognisable, and the video gives you plenty to enjoy beyond the clips from the film.
This is an easy early-evening pick: four minutes of glowing sets and a singalong chorus. Follow it with Somebody’s Watching Me for another very 1980s house where something is wrong.
4. Rockwell: Somebody’s Watching Me
3:36 · Music video · RockwellVEVO
Rockwell can’t relax in his own home. Ordinary rooms turn threatening, the camera keeps finding something suspicious, and the whole video commits to the song’s paranoia. The horror effects are a large part of the appeal.
It’s one of the best fits here for an old-fashioned Halloween party: a familiar chorus, synths and a house full of reasons to look over your shoulder. No long introduction to wait through, either.
5. The Cure: Lullaby
4:08 · Music video · The Cure
Robert Smith is in bed, and the bedroom is getting worse by the second. Tim Pope’s video fills it with webs, looming faces and a spider nightmare that feels much too close for comfort. The whispered vocal makes it creepier still.
Put this on when you want the mood to turn darker. The spider and body-horror imagery is a step up from the friendly ghosts in Ghostbusters; Experiment IV takes you further into horror-film territory.
6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Heads Will Roll
3:40 · Music video · yeahyeahyeahsmusic · Limited availability
A werewolf takes over the dance floor, and for a while he’s just another good dancer. Then the party turns into a massacre, with red glitter standing in for blood. It’s a wonderfully nasty joke built around a song that already belongs at a Halloween party.
Choose this when you want something people can dance to without losing the horror theme. The violence is deliberately artificial, but it’s still a step beyond the friendly monster costumes in Everybody.
7. Rihanna: Disturbia
4:21 · Music video · Rihanna
White eyes, spiders, cages and dancers who move as if something has taken possession of them: Rihanna throws herself into the nightmare. The video keeps changing its grotesque little scenes, so there’s always something new to catch on the screen.
It’s a strong choice for the middle of the party, when you want a familiar pop song with enough disturbing imagery to justify the Halloween decorations. Expect restraints and spiders rather than cuddly monsters.
8. Rob Zombie: Living Dead Girl
3:22 · Music video · Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie builds a crooked silent-movie world out of painted scenery, tinted images and old-fashioned title cards. The sets look as though they might fall over, which is part of their charm. It has the feel of a monster film playing on a battered old television.
Pick this for a short, loud burst of horror-movie theatre. Its handmade-looking world gives the list a different texture after the glossy dance videos, and there’s much more to look at than a band performing in the dark.
9. Gorillaz: Clint Eastwood
4:27 · Music video · Gorillaz
A spirit rises out of Russel, the sky darkens, and zombie gorillas arrive to dance. Gorillaz’s cartoon world turns the graveyard into a stage, with enough skeletons and lumbering monsters to make the Halloween connection obvious.
This is a welcome change of pace after the live-action horrors. The animation is funny and eerie in equal measure, and the loose, loping song gives everyone a breather before the next strange story.
10. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Don’t Come Around Here No More
4:35 · Music video · Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Tom Petty plays the Mad Hatter at a tea party that gets increasingly unpleasant for Alice. The bright colours make it look inviting at first; by the time Alice has become a cake, that invitation feels like a very bad idea.
Choose this for the kind of music-video weirdness that can stay with you for years. It earns its place through a complete little nightmare, with a surreal ending that’s more unsettling than another trip through a foggy graveyard.
11 to 20
11. Ozzy Osbourne: Bark at the Moon (4:24 · Music video · Ozzy Osbourne). Ozzy in werewolf makeup, gothic rooms and a transformation straight out of a theatrical monster movie. The exaggerated acting and big guitar riff make this an easy pick for anyone who likes their Halloween horror loud and a little ridiculous. Watch on YouTube
12. Basement Jaxx: Where’s Your Head At (4:11 · Music video · Basement Jaxx). A visitor arrives at a laboratory and finds monkeys with human faces. Then things get out of hand. The enormous dance hook makes it party material; those faces make it the sort of video someone will stop mid-conversation to stare at. Watch on YouTube
13. Fall Out Boy: A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More “Touch Me” (6:40 · Music video · Fall Out Boy). Fall Out Boy become vampire hunters in a city full of rival undead gangs. At 6:40, with dialogue and a street fight around the song, this is one of the more ambitious little horror stories here. Put it on when people are willing to follow the action. Watch on YouTube
14. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince: A Nightmare on My Street (5:57 · Music video · DJJazzyJeffVEVO). A rap story turns into a scruffy horror comedy, moving from everyday life to blue-lit trouble in the bedroom. The grainy image suits it. Listen to the verses: the reactions and jokes are as much the attraction as the scares. Watch on YouTube
15. My Chemical Romance: Helena (3:30 · Music video · My Chemical Romance). A funeral becomes a dance performance, complete with a coffin and an umbrella procession. It’s all black clothes, flowers and extravagant grief. Choose it for gothic melodrama and a chorus that can pull the room back into the music. Watch on YouTube
16. Evanescence: Going Under (3:38 · Music video · Evanescence). At first this looks like a dark, dramatic concert video. Then the faces in the crowd start turning monstrous, while underwater scenes make the whole thing feel like a nightmare Amy Lee can’t wake from. A good pick for early-2000s rock nostalgia with actual scares on screen. Watch on YouTube
17. Bat for Lashes: What’s a Girl to Do? (2:56 · Music video · Bat For Lashes). Natasha Khan cycles through the night, joined by riders in enormous animal masks. Their synchronised movements make a simple bike ride feel quietly wrong. Under three minutes long, this is a lovely eerie pause between the louder, more elaborate productions. Watch on YouTube
18. Soundgarden: Black Hole Sun (5:20 · Music video · Soundgarden). A sunny suburb fills with stretched smiles and faces that look increasingly wrong, before the sky starts swallowing the neighbourhood. This is the pick for anyone who remembers being unsettled by something on afternoon music television. The cheerful colours make it worse. Watch on YouTube
19. Kate Bush: Experiment IV (4:44 · Music video · KateBushMusic). A military experiment to create a deadly sound gets disastrously out of control. Kate Bush directed the video in a disused military hospital, giving its corridors and monstrous visitor a proper horror-film setting. Choose this when you want a story with a nasty turn. Watch on YouTube
20. Aphex Twin: Come to Daddy (6:05 · Music video · Aphex Twin). An abandoned television, children with grotesque adult faces and a gaunt creature turn a housing estate into a nightmare. This is the director’s cut, and the harsh sound and prolonged scream make it the most confrontational choice here. Save it for the horror fans still watching at the end of the night. Watch on YouTube
The full list at a glance
| # | Video | Runtime | Channel | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Jackson: Thriller | 13:42 | Michael Jackson | Horror musical short |
| 2 | Backstreet Boys: Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) | 6:02 | Backstreet Boys | Music video |
| 3 | Ray Parker Jr.: Ghostbusters Limited availability | 4:05 | RayParkerJuniorVEVO | Music video |
| 4 | Rockwell: Somebody’s Watching Me | 3:36 | RockwellVEVO | Music video |
| 5 | The Cure: Lullaby | 4:08 | The Cure | Music video |
| 6 | Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Heads Will Roll Limited availability | 3:40 | yeahyeahyeahsmusic | Music video |
| 7 | Rihanna: Disturbia | 4:21 | Rihanna | Music video |
| 8 | Rob Zombie: Living Dead Girl | 3:22 | Rob Zombie | Music video |
| 9 | Gorillaz: Clint Eastwood | 4:27 | Gorillaz | Music video |
| 10 | Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Don’t Come Around Here No More | 4:35 | Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers | Music video |
| 11 | Ozzy Osbourne: Bark at the Moon | 4:24 | Ozzy Osbourne | Music video |
| 12 | Basement Jaxx: Where’s Your Head At | 4:11 | Basement Jaxx | Music video |
| 13 | Fall Out Boy: A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More “Touch Me” | 6:40 | Fall Out Boy | Music video |
| 14 | DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince: A Nightmare on My Street | 5:57 | DJJazzyJeffVEVO | Music video |
| 15 | My Chemical Romance: Helena | 3:30 | My Chemical Romance | Music video |
| 16 | Evanescence: Going Under | 3:38 | Evanescence | Music video |
| 17 | Bat for Lashes: What’s a Girl to Do? | 2:56 | Bat For Lashes | Music video |
| 18 | Soundgarden: Black Hole Sun | 5:20 | Soundgarden | Music video |
| 19 | Kate Bush: Experiment IV | 4:44 | KateBushMusic | Music video |
| 20 | Aphex Twin: Come to Daddy | 6:05 | Aphex Twin | Music video |
Watch them like a TV channel
Channel Surfer lets you flip between YouTube channels and see what’s playing. Use the links above to start these particular videos from the beginning, then head back to the dial when you feel like browsing.
For haunted rooms and longer spooky soundtracks, try our Halloween ambience and music guide. For another dose of old television, browse the best 90s commercials on YouTube.