Top 10 Terrifying Music Videos to Haunt Your Playlist This Halloween 2025

It’s that time again. The air feels strange, lights flicker, and every song hits a little darker. Halloween is not complete without music videos that creep under your skin. Imagine blood-soaked pop queens and undead icons. Because what is scarier than a zombified Taylor Swift clawing out of the dirt or a red-stained Sabrina Carpenter losing her mind on screen?

Michael Jackson set the standard decades ago with ‘Thriller’, a 15-minute horror film disguised as a music video. The budget was wild, the dancing was unreal, and the energy still makes your pulse race. That video changed everything, turning pop into pure cinematic fear. Since then, artists like Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, Rihanna, and Metallica have all stepped into the dark. Some went for campy chaos, like Backstreet Boys turning into monsters mid-dance. Others went for nightmare fuel; Aphex Twin’s ‘Come to Daddy’ and Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Closer’ will make you sleep with the lights on.

So grab your candy, gather your friends, and dive into the shadows. These 10 music videos are not for the faint-hearted. They are a reminder that even in pop culture, the monsters never really stay dead!

1. Michael Jackson – ‘Thriller’

 Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ changed music forever. Directed by John Landis, the mind behind ‘An American Werewolf in London’, it pulled Jackson’s love for old monster flicks into the spotlight. The 13-minute short film looked like nothing anyone had seen before. It was part horror movie, part dance revolution, and pure pop magic.

The best part hits early. Jackson gives his girl a ring, then his eyes glow, and he mutates into a growling werewolf. The shift feels wild every single time. Then Vincent Price’s creepy narration kicks in, and the dead start to move. The graveyard dance that follows is pure legend, including shoulder shrugs, stiff walks, and that timeless groove that still owns every Halloween party!!

2. Billie Eilish – ‘All Good Girls Go to Hell’

 Billie Eilish takes things to another level in her 2019 video from ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’. It starts with a chilling image – her back exposed as dozens of needles pierce her skin, forcing out a set of white angel wings. The wings look divine for a moment, but that peace shatters fast when she falls straight through the sky into a pool of black tar. The visuals hit hard, mirroring her message about a world falling apart. Eilish once said the video reflects the planet heating up, ice melting, and oceans rising. You can feel that weight as she walks through fire, dragging her oil-soaked wings down an empty street. By the end, she turns toward the flames again, tired but still moving. And honestly, those needles will haunt you long after the video ends!

3. Lady Gaga – ‘The Dead Dance’

Lady Gaga turns horror into pure art in ‘The Dead Dance’. Shot in eerie black and white on Mexico City’s Island of the Dolls, the video feels like a fever dream from Tim Burton’s mind. It starts with close-ups of cracked doll heads and glassy eyes before cutting to Gaga, pale and twitchy, dressed like a haunted Kewpie doll. She moves through the ruins, hosting a bizarre dance party for the dead, channeling classic horror energy with clear nods to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’. The scene hits its peak when she launches into the twisted ‘Dead Dance’ routine, clutching her throat and jerking her hands like she is half alive and half possessed. And yes, those doll heads moving and blinking along? That is nightmare fuel right there!

4. Nine Inch Nails – ‘Closer’

Trent Reznor has always known how to mess with our heads, but ‘Closer’ takes it to another level. Directed by Mark Romanek and filmed in the abandoned Linda Vista Community Hospital in L.A., the video feels like a trip into a decaying lab where nothing sane survives. A crazed scientist runs twisted experiments where hearts puffing smoke to the beat, monkeys nailed up, Siamese twins tangled by their hair, and Reznor himself gagged and trapped in the madness. The gritty, grainy shots make everything look real, too real. The most haunting moment is Reznor floating in slow circles, like he is caught between life and death. Moreover, that spinning pig’s head on a machine? It burns into your brain and stays there long after the music fades.

5. Backstreet Boys ‘Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)’

In the late ’90s, the Backstreet Boys were known more for catchy hooks than horror vibes, but ‘Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)’ changed that. Directed by Joseph Kahn and inspired by Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’, the video turned the boy band into a pack of monsters with style. When their tour bus breaks down, they end up stranded at a haunted mansion where things get weird fast. Each member slips into a different nightmare: Dracula, Mummy, Werewolf, Phantom, you name it. The whole thing plays out like a fun, spooky dream set to Max Martin’s slick production and those classic BSB harmonies. The highlight? Howie D’s Dracula is spreading his cape as bats fly out. And let’s not forget Nick Carter’s Mummy asking, “Am I sexual?” while dancing in an iron maiden. Creepy, funny, dark, and forever iconic.

6. Taylor Swift – ‘Look What You Made Me Do’

Taylor Swift flipped the script in her 2017 ‘Reputation’ era with ‘Look What You Made Me Do’, turning every rumor and headline into a full-blown horror fantasy. The video opens with a gravestone reading “Here Lies Taylor Swift’s Reputation,” and out crawls zombie Taylor – pale, cracked, and grinning through the dirt. From there, she shifts into her villain phase, lounging on a golden throne while snakes coil and pour her tea. It is dark, dramatic, and totally self-aware. The most savage part comes when she stands above her old selves, waving them away like ghosts from a past she has done with. Still, nothing hits harder than that first graveyard shot where Swift, undead and unbothered, proved that she is the monster everyone thought she was.

7. phex Twin – ‘Come to Daddy’

Aphex Twin’s ‘Come to Daddy’ feels like a nightmare that crawled out of a broken TV. Released in 1997, this six-minute horror trip from Richard D. James is chaotic from the start. An old woman walks her dog through a gray, empty street when strange sounds start echoing around her. The dog pees on a shattered TV, and suddenly, everything unravels. A horde of creepy children with Aphex Twin’s adult face chases her as James screams, “I want your soul!” over a violent and distorted beat. It is equally bizarre and brilliant, like a bad dream you cannot look away from. The wildest part? A massive demonic creature bursts from the TV, screaming in the old woman’s face. It is pure madness, and yeah, those kids’ faces still haunt the viewers!

8. Sabrina Carpenter – ‘Taste’

Sabrina Carpenter goes full scream queen in her wild, blood-soaked video directed by Dave Meyers. Inspired by Death Becomes Her, the music video is a twisted mix of glam and dark humor with Jenna Ortega and Rohan Campbell along for the ride. It kicks off with Sabrina calmly applying lipstick using a machete as a mirror, then sneaking in to murder her rival, only for Ortega to wake up and blow a hole through her chest with a shotgun. From there, it is simply chaos. Sabrina falls, lands impaled on a fence, and still manages to throw a knife straight into Ortega’s eye. What follows is pure camp: chainsaws, defibrillators, voodoo dolls, and gallons of fake blood. The wildest moment? Ortega slices off Sabrina’s arm, blood spraying everywhere, before strangling her with it. It is gory, stylish, murderous, and darkly funny; the perfect horror-pop fantasy!

9. Doja Cat – ‘Demons’

Doja Cat’s ‘Demons’ video, directed by Christian Breslauer, skips all the metaphors and dives straight into nightmare territory. It opens quietly with Christina Ricci asleep, the house still, until a shadow moves across the ceiling. That is when you see her, Demon Doja, skin black as ink, eyes glowing red, draped in diamonds like some unholy queen. She crawls upside down toward Ricci, slow and deliberate, and it is pure horror. Soon, more demons pour from the attic, and Ricci’s family bolts for their lives. The tension never lets up. Every frame feels haunted, like the walls are alive and watching. The most chilling part comes when a bald and naked Doja sits calmly in a bathtub, rapping as a black hand grabs her head and yanks it back. It is bold, it is gory, disturbing, and impossible to look away.

10. Hozier – ‘Dinner & Diatribes’

You definitely do not want an invite to Hozier’s twisted dinner party! The video stars Anya Taylor-Joy stepping into a nightmare where her host, a decayed and sinister Hozier with rotting black teeth, serves up a feast of animal skulls, slimy oysters, and fish heads. The whole scene feels rotten and surreal, like a dream you would rather wake up from. When Anya starts flicking matches at him, things spiral fast. Dancers swarm her, tossing her around as she fights to escape this haunted banquet. The tension builds until she makes one final move. She lights one more match and roasts a marshmallow over Hozier’s burning body. It is disturbing yet darkly poetic. And yeah, those moldy teeth are pure nightmare fuel.

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