Horror Musicals: When they work they are next-level works of art. It’s some of the worst material ever created when they don’t work. Eric cajoled/dragged Liz and Mike to participate in evaluating one of his favorite sub-genres, the Horror Musical. (Like it or not, Eric WILL break into song!)
Horror movies are emotionally charged and fantastical films. Musicals are similarly fantastic presentations. When you pair them up, you get something magical, full of passion and emotion. Or, it’s a hot mess. A lot of it will depend on the quality of songs in the movie, but when judging a horror musical, it also should be a scary movie.
If you want to see our ENTIRE list of horror musicals, you can check out our Horror Musical Dead List, which also contains Spotify links for as many of the musicals as I could find. I have tried to uncover EVERY horror musical ever made. Defining the criteria was a bit of a trick. The movie needs to use singing as a narrative method. The exposition should be sung, rather than said, at least for some of the film. The characters need to break the fourth wall and sing to the audience.
Fudging around the corners would allow some recent fare like Your Monster and Smile 2, which contains big live stage performances. Both of those films are worth a watch. Don’t be surprised to see both films on the big Musical Horror Dead List, soon. Perhaps the thrilling presentation and huge box office success of Wicked (Which we will NOT consider a horror-adjacent movie, despite the presence of a witch). Knowing that many horror movies have successfully made the transition from video nasty to the Broadway stage, perhaps we can get a full feature of one of these as a reboot, with songs already written:
- Carrie, The Musical
- Creature From the Black Lagoon, The Musical
- The Fly
- Silence of the Lambs
- American Psycho
- Evil Dead: The Musical
- Young Frankenstein
- Teeth
- The Human Centipede: First Sequence
Make it happen, Hollywood!
Horror Musical Spotify Playlist from Episode 191:
Now you too can sing along to a Horror Musical Jam! DO IT!
- American Horror Story: Asylum – The Name Game, Jessica Lange
- American Horror Story: Freak Show – Life on Mars, Jessica Lange
- American Horror Story: Freak Show – Come As You Are, Evan Peters
- Anna and The Apocalypse – Hollywood Ending
- Anna and The Apocalypse – I Will Believe
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More with Feeling – Walk through the Fire
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More With Feeling – Where Do We Go From Here?
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I’ll Never Tell – I’ll Never Tell
- Cannibal the Musical: Schpladoikle
- Cannibal the Musical: Hang the Bastard
- Little Shop of Horrors – Prologue (Little Shop of Horrors) – Bill Mitchell, Michelle Weeks, Tichina Arnold, Tisha Campbell
- Little Shop of Horrors – Feed Me (Git it) – Levi Stubbs, Rick Moranis
- Little Shop of Horrors – Dentist! – Steve Martin, Michelle Weeks, Tichina Arnold, Tisha Campbell
- Lucifer S5 EP10: Bloody Celestial Karaoke Jam – I Dreamed a Dream
- Lucifer S5 EP10: Bloody Celestial Karaoke Jam – Wicked Game
- Lucifer S5 Ep10: Bloody Celestial Karaoke Jam – Every Breath You Take
- Phantom of the Paradise- Goodbye Eddie – The Juicy Fruits
- Phantom of the Paradise – Special To Me (Phoenix Audition) – Jessica Harper
- Phantom of the Paradise – The Hell Of It – Paul Williams
No Spotify tracks are available for Toxic Avenger: The Musical or The Apple, sadly.
OR: You can go to the full Horror Musicals Playlist from The Scariest Things, which includes many other songs from our Horror Musical Dead List.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Our Selections from this Episode:
