The countdown to Halloween 2022 has already begun with the onset of October. No matter what the holiday may be for, you always need an essential tool to set the mood for it – music. And this is why for this pumpkin patch season, we’ve curated the list of best Halloween music videos that will transport you to a supernatural setting you won’t be able to escape.
Here are a few of our favorite music videos that help prepare for the Halloween fun fest. Hopefully, your spooky season will ascend to new heights after watching these.
Best Music Videos to Set the Mood for Halloween 2022
Thriller by Michael Jackson
Immortalized as one of the greatest music videos of all time, Michael Jackson’s Thriller birthed a new genre of music videos as short films altogether. There’s a shortened version of the video as well, but nothing can beat the magic of the original take, wherein Jackson and his girlfriend in the video are seated in the theatre, watching a werewolf movie with the same title as the eponymous song.
An epigraph penned by the King of Pop precedes the short film stating that “…this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult”. Thereafter, it proceeds with the story-telling, and the movie they’re watching features Jackson’s look-alike, who shape-shifts into a werewolf at night in the woods.
The remainder of the video follows Jackson and his girlfriend’s exit from the theatre as the latter is scared of the spooky visuals while Mj himself seemed to have been having a blast. They walk the night away in the deserted street as Jackson dances along to the beats of the song. In the meantime, the dead become undead and rise from their graves and join him in the choreography. Our star turns into a ghost himself and they all circle in on his girlfriend, jump-scaring her and revealing that it was a nightmare after all (or was it?).
Menacing ghoulish laughter, all kinds of supernatural creatures busting a move to Jackson’s groovy song, ah, those were the days. This evergreen music video is an essential participant in the Halloween music video playlist without a doubt.
Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr.
Before the several failed reboots of the movie Ghostbusters, there was the 1984 OG herself with a classic theme song of her own chanting, “Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!”
The video starts off with a woman walking into a house that’s neon-lit, with her sensing a presence as soon as she takes her step into the house. Ray Parker Jr.’s ghosty avatar fades in and starts belting out his signature theme and playing pranks on her. Scenes of the original movie are also included in the video, showcasing our titular group of saviors – Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler, and Winston Zeddemore – racing across the city with their ghost-busting gears.
Parker Jr. even steps up with the group towards the end, with the signature no ghosts allowed logo of the movie wrapping it up. It’s a great nostalgic trip back into the ’80s. Your Halloween playlist can never be complete without this supreme music video.
Also Read: Halloween 2022: Best Dracula Movies For the Spooky Season
Zombie by The Cranberries
Carving a path of its own, the Zombie music video presents the most unique take on monsters. Rather than depicting metaphorical or supernatural evil elements, this video provides a social commentary on the pre-existing real evil forces in the world. The same pictorial violence is also drawn into the lyrics of the song.
Filmed in North Ireland, the video feautures real film acquired from the location about soldiers patrolling the area, murals, and more. The prevailing harsh reality also bears witness to young children holding on to guns. The black and white imagery of their reality is held in contrast with the golden vision of a woman, quite similar to Cleopatra, standing against a cross with a noose hanging off it.
The music video is a reminder of the IRA bombing of 1993 that was responsible for killing two children. Dolores O’Riordan, the lead singer claimed at the time, “This song’s our cry against man’s inhumanity to man; and man’s inhumanity to child.”
Emperor’s New Clothes by Panic! At the Disco
Brandon Urie’s character in the music video is fatally tricked into being transported to Heaven upon his demise. However, he soon finds himself plummeting to the depths of Hell. As soon as he thuds to the ground, his body starts transforming into the devil himself.
With dark horns on his head and fangs taking shape in his mouth, he soon fully takes the ultimate shape of Lucifer’s look-alike. As disorienting his visage may be, he is a sight to behold. Changing from his tie-wearing gentlemanly countenance, he becomes completely unrecognizable.
The dance-rock music accompanies its unhinged video portrayal of his character’s descent from the pursuit of white light to emerging out of the piercing red light that consumes his transitioned devil self. The Halloween 2022 playlist needs this video at any cost.
Monster by Irene & Seulgi (Red Velvet)
Taking a rather mature stand, the Monster music video featuring the Red Velvet duo displays the dual personalities of both the artists in what is a more dance-focused outcome. Nevertheless, their black and white splits are obviously parts of the whole, as is also represented in the lyrics of the song’s demo version, “I’m not afraid of the monsters under my bed, they should be afraid of the monster in my head”.
Fans of the group instantly blew up the positive response to the video when it was released, and have also noticed that it’s been inspired by Sheridan Le Fanu’s gothic fictional work titled Carmilla, a story about a lesbian vampire. Several presentations of the bed chamber and loads of creepy dolls invoke the same theme as Halloween’s dark perception.
Look What You Made Me Do by Taylor Swift
Its name itself is enough to reconstruct the visuals of the entire music video in your head. Taylor Swift cosplays as her numerous album avatars, with even a ghoulish version of the Out of the Woods Taylor stepping out. The culmination of the video is cinematic and poetic perfection with each Taylor Swift identity towering on top of the other, clawing and fighting to reach the top.
Ultimately, each of them takes the fall with only the Reputation avatar standing at the top, because as she says, “the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh! Cause she’s dead”.
There are a lot of profound contextual reasons why this music video is the way it is, but for now, it’s one of the best picks for Halloween 2022. Why? It’s because if you can’t find anyone else to cosplay, you can always count on your old selves to fit the bill.
Teeth by 5 Seconds of Summer
With an eerie rock tune, Teeth already makes up for the best Halloween banger but its psychologically thrilling arc adds the cherry on top. Even Rolling Stone Magazine went on to call it “dark” and “creepy”, setting the appropriate mood for the jack o’lantern season.
Each of the four members is strapped onto a chair and experimented upon. The eventual failure of it all pushes them into their respective mental hells as they struggle to find a means to escape throughout the video. People conducting the experiments on them are no short of the ominous figures present in the media’s representation of mental asylums, elevating the horrifying element of the video.
MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) by Lil Nas X
If there’s anyone who can kill the devil, it’s Lil Nas X. Ranging from the wishful aesthetics of the Garden of Eden representing biblical motifs and symbols like the enchanting serpent but also Lilith, Adam’s first wife as per the Jewish context, to a historical jump in space to the Greco-Roman Colosseum.
Eventually, he even walks into the fiery pits and snaps the devil’s neck, taking his crown for himself and assuming the shape of the dark angel himself. The video is high on visual perfection and endless allusions but it all climaxes into presenting the artist as his individual and subjective self unlike the stone audience present at the Colosseum. The themes make a bang-on attempt at destabilizing the link between religion and heteronormativity, assigning homosexuality a space of its own.
You Owe Me by The Chainsmokers
One of the most jarring and unexpected turns among all of these music videos is featured in You Owe Me. Up until the 2-minute mark, the duo is seen compulsively preparing for a dinner feast. It appears to be a regular routine followed before one’s guests show-up.
You’re caught off guard as soon as the guests arrive and get seated to dine together with the hosts. The candle-lit table separates the two but they exchange a glance that is so foreboding and menacing that you realize something is off-putting for sure.
And voila the beat drop! They’re revealed to two black-eyed blood-sucking vampires, who pounce on their guests as if they were the feast, quite literally for them at least. Now you know why they were feverishly rubbing their house’s surface clean. This video comes as a warning to you as you don your costumes to go trick-or-treating. Make sure to check whether the house you’re heading towards has such unusual hosts beforehand, might save you a lot of trouble.
Which one of these is your ultimate go-to Halloween music video? Let us know your personal favorites that we may have missed out on in the comments section below. Happy trick-or-treating!
Also Read: Luckiest Girl Alive on Netflix: Cast, Release Date, Trailer and More