These music videos will freak you out! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for those video clips that haunted our dreams then, and continue to scare us in the modern day.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for those video clips that
00:08haunted our dreams then and continue to scare us in the modern day.
00:18Number 20, Thriller, Michael Jackson.
00:25Everyone of a certain age probably remembers where they were the first time Thriller dropped
00:29its music video on MTV.
00:30Noted director John Landis was hired to helm this dyed-in-the-wool homage to classic horror
00:35cinema, and the end result absolutely delivered.
00:47Granted Thriller may exist in the realm of Halloween staples today, but Jackson, who
00:50was a Jehovah's Witness at the time, still felt the need to include a film disclaimer,
00:54denouncing any fervent belief in the occult.
00:56That alone tells us that Landis and crew truly desired to make something both funky
01:00and scary.
01:01Every dancer and performer in the video gives their all.
01:11The makeup effects still look great today, and Thriller remains essential music video
01:15viewing.
01:22Number 19, Dragula, Rob Zombie.
01:30The love possessed by Rob Zombie for retro aesthetics has been long documented, right
01:34back to the singer's days fronting White Zombie.
01:39However, Dragula takes things back a bit further and lays down some groundwork for Zombie's
01:45eventual helming of the monster's origin story in 2022.
01:53The video melds drive-in culture with flashbacks to creep shows of old.
01:56Images of creepy clowns and devils are juxtaposed against Zombie's own wicked makeup to create
02:01one hell of a cool-looking atmosphere.
02:09That said, we totally understand how younger viewers might be disturbed by some of the
02:12visuals at play.
02:20Number 18, Sabrina, Einstuhlzinde Neubauten.
02:32It's nearly impossible to pigeonhole the music of Germany's Einstuhlzinde Neubauten.
02:40One thing's for sure, however, the video for their song Sabrina is profoundly creepy
02:43and disturbing.
02:52The song possesses a dark lyrical approach to match the visuals as well, with Sabrina
02:56reportedly being about Germany's current place in the world, and how her people struggle
02:59with cultural identity in the aftermath of World War II.
03:09Meanwhile, the image of a porcine-visaged individual singing to its reflection in a
03:14grungy mirror is more than a little scary.
03:21The lighting looks like something out of the Saw franchise, while Sabrina even brings with
03:25it a tragic sense of melancholy.
03:26It's a video clip that's truly unique.
03:28Number 17, Obscure, Dieron Gray.
03:34The vibe of pure, unfiltered Japanese horror cinema permeates the video clip for Obscure,
03:39by that country's avant-garde metal group, Dieron Gray.
03:48The band has had several videos banned in some areas, so it's no surprise that this
03:52one was heavily censored for its graphic visuals and disturbing imagery.
03:55Obscure is heavily stylized, and pulls no punches with its unrepentantly gory approach
03:59to shock rock.
04:03This is a case where the aggressive nature of a song's execution melds perfectly with
04:07how it's presented to an audience.
04:09Dieron Gray's flair for the theatrical shines through his blood, guts, and pure terror assault
04:13viewers' senses, without a moment of reprieve.
04:15Honestly, this video for Obscure is better left unspoiled.
04:18Just watch it for yourself, since we can't even show you most of it anyway.
04:30Number 16, Mein Herz Brent, Rammstein.
04:38The translation of the title of this 2001 Rammstein song may be My Heart Burns, but
04:43make no mistake, Mein Herz Brent is no love song.
04:51The original video clip for the track is gorgeously shot, while simultaneously being completely
04:56nightmarish in scope.
04:57Rammstein has made a career at this point of continuously pushing boundaries when it
05:00comes to the music video medium, and Mein Herz Brent actually had two separate ones
05:05filmed.
05:06Imagery seemingly analogous to World War II medical experiments rears its ugly head, while
05:10Rammstein's frontman, Till Lindemann, acts like an unhinged, murderous psychopath.
05:22Mein Herz Brent presents pure horror wrapped up in a stylish package, the sort of video
05:26clip that's revolting yet also impossible to resist.
05:36Number 15, Lullaby, The Cure.
05:39The term nightmare fuel gets brought up often when it comes to describing these kinds of
05:42music videos.
05:50That said, Lullaby by The Cure seems to be inspired by real-life bad dreams, as well
05:54as those vintage, bloody children's stories a la The Brothers Grimm.
05:57Robert Smith is both predator and prey in this video, while the other members of The
06:08Cure appear as creepy little soldiers.
06:09The Spider-Man present within the song's lyrics is brought to life, and Smith sells the horror
06:13for all he's worth.
06:14The actual construction of the set for Lullaby is fantastic as well, full of dusty cobwebs
06:19and Grimm makeup effects.
06:20It's a beautifully morbid banger through and through.
06:27Number 14, There There, Radiohead.
06:36The musical visionaries behind Radiohead had already proven they could reimagine the music
06:40video medium via their long-form clip for Paranoid Android back in 1997, however the
06:55English group didn't rest upon their creative laurels and upped the ante again with There
06:59There in 2003.
07:10The stop-motion animation style used in the video is decidedly old-school, and stylistically
07:14indebted to late-Czech surrealism.
07:16There There's a bit uncanny as a result, featuring singer Tom Yorke stumbling across the lives
07:20of forest animals, before suffering an attack and becoming trapped as a tree.
07:31The execution here is captivating and full of imagination, the sort of video that sticks
07:35with you long after it's over.
07:42Number 13, Mr. Crinkle, Primus.
07:49There's no doubt that the members of Primus seem to be having a lot of fun whenever they
07:52decide to make a music video.
08:02Clips for songs like Winona's Big Brown Beaver have gone down in history as some of the most
08:06inventive examples of the medium ever filmed.
08:08Mr. Crinkle arrived a bit earlier in the band's career, and showcased even at this stage how
08:12willing Primus was to break the hard-rock-heavy metal mold.
08:22Granted guitarist Larry Lalonde's hair-metal get-up isn't too scary, but there's no denying
08:27that frontman Les Claypool's pig mask is creepy AF.
08:30The song itself also just sounds foreboding.
08:32While the video also features a whole mess of random, assorted chaos erupting in the
08:36background, it's wild stuff.
08:44Number 12, Pagan Poetry, Bjork.
08:49There's a lot to be said about those little devils of the mind, that part of our imagination
08:53that can see things which may or may not be there in front of our face.
08:56Bjork's video clip for Pagan Poetry features a lot of subliminal imagery of a very explicit
09:01I'm holding on to a love button
09:09Yet these sequences are stylistically and intentionally blurred.
09:12Our minds, then, are required to connect the dots of what's going on behind Bjork's private
09:16doors.
09:17Pagan Poetry was also controversial at the time for its filmed, real-life piercing scenes,
09:21as well as Bjork's revealing dress designed by Alexander McQueen.
09:24I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him
09:29The clip was banned in the US right from the jump, although standards and practices
09:33eventually allowed the full uncensored version to be aired.
09:41Number 11, Bleed, Meshuggah.
09:47A logical Venn diagram situation may come to mind when discussing the creative overlap
09:51between extreme heavy metal and scary music videos.
10:02Bleed by Swedens and Meshuggah isn't just blood and guts, however, but also gobs of
10:06frightening atmosphere and harrowing dread.
10:08The band's heavy, mathematical approach to metal creates a wall of sound that backs the
10:12video's seemingly demonic goings-on.
10:18The bondage in chains, the frantic, seizure-inducing strobe effects, it's all there to give fans
10:23bad dreams and then some, before the clip's creepy final images.
10:26Bleed is part fairy tale, part horror movie, and 100% cool.
10:34Number 10, Breathe, The Prodigy.
10:44Mostly confined in a decrepit house that fosters the claustrophobic tone, the music
10:48video for Breathe uses lighting, imagery, and sound design to prey upon a variety of
10:52phobias in order to garner the desired response.
11:06In addition to paint peeling off the walls in jagged chunks, alligators slithering around
11:10the floor, and roaches scuttling about in the sink, The Prodigy also makes use of centipedes,
11:14rats, and hair-sprouting curtains to turn up the fear factor.
11:23Then there's also the case of the simple yet effective levitating shoe.
11:26Combined with the unsettling theatrics of Maxim and Keith Flint, Breathe delivers a
11:30creepy and spades.
11:37Number 9, The Perfect Drug, Nine Inch Nails.
11:46Although we could have gone with the music video for Closer, we feel the more refined
11:49approach to The Perfect Drug is just as scary in what it suggests rather than shows.
12:00Outfitted with enough gothic trimmings to make Tim Burton proud, Nine Inch Nails'
12:04video for The Perfect Drug contains no shortage of the macabre.
12:14With Trent Reznor playing a father with substance use disorder grieving the death of his daughter,
12:18the video's increasingly dark tone seems to suggest that his sanity is slowly withering
12:23away.
12:31As Reznor divides his time up between cuddling up with a bearskin rug and cooling off in
12:36a fog-shrouded pool, The Perfect Drug also offers up creepy-looking kids, vultures, and
12:40stoic servants to add to its classier style of subtle terror.
12:50Number 8, Prison Sex, Tool.
12:57Although Tool's video for Enema would have been a good choice too, the video for Prison
13:01Sex is arguably even more terrifying for its gruesome undertones and frightening implications.
13:13As the song's title suggests, the video explores the harsh reality of sexual assault, but also
13:17puts Tool's own unique spin on the topic by avoiding explicit depictions of the act and
13:22focusing rather on the unbalanced power dynamic at work within it.
13:32Using a miniature white doll and a much larger and ghoulish black doll as stand-ins for the
13:36roles of victim and attacker, Prison Sex provides a metaphorical but no less ugly representation
13:41of a truly scary and very real subject.
13:48Number 7, Kids, MGMT.
13:56This controversial video by MGMT is every kid's worst nightmare come to life, with
14:00the protagonist being played by a toddler who is terrorized by people in some pretty
14:03grotesque monster costumes.
14:13You could be sure that things get more than a little uncomfortable.
14:15Aside from the fact that the monsters in the video are pretty terrifying on their own,
14:19what makes kids even more frightening is the fact that the toddler's frightened reaction
14:22to them appears to be very genuine.
14:24Combined with the lack of attention the kid's mother gives him, the video generates an intense
14:28concern for the child's safety, making it one scary video that you won't forget any
14:32time soon.
14:40Number 6, 666, Queens of the Stone Age.
14:47Cannibalism is often considered a universal taboo.
14:49666 takes a page out of Hannibal Lecter's playbook by dressing up the consumption of
14:54human flesh as a classy and refined affair.
14:56As Queens of the Stone Age play for an elegantly dressed woman during her dinner, the video
15:00cuts between their performance and the preparation of her meal, which happens to include human
15:10fingers.
15:11As each member of the band is carted off by a creepy masked figure, her appetite only
15:14increases and she soon discards her table manners to gorge herself.
15:18A modern retelling of many a Grimm's fairy tale, 666 might make you want to consider
15:22becoming a vegetarian.
15:33Number 5, Overneath the Path of Misery, aka Born Villain, Marilyn Manson.
15:39Though Sweet Dreams Are Made of This was also a contender, Marilyn Manson's Shia LaBeouf-directed
15:52short film Born Villain takes the singer's knack for horror to the extreme.
15:56Beginning with an ominous scene of Manson giving two women a haircut, Born Villain jumps
15:59headfirst into the grotesque, all to the beat of Overneath the Path of Misery.
16:03On the singer's 2012 album, the scene in which Manson drives a needle through the cheek
16:15of a woman and then playfully pulls it in and out before kissing her epitomizes the
16:19video's blurring of the lines between pleasure and pain.
16:22This recurring theme is echoed in Manson's torture of a scantily clad patient while dressed
16:26as a surgeon, another powerful metaphor for the power dynamic of predator and prey, which
16:30In hindsight, makes the video all the more disturbing.
16:35Number 4, One, Metallica.
16:37A song and a video about the horrors of war, Metallica's One is as grim as it is poetic
16:41in its narration of a wounded soldier's agony.
16:51Using scenes and dialogue from the 1971 film Johnny Got a Gun to emphasize the song's message,
16:56Metallica plays One somberly in a deserted warehouse as both the band and the film's
17:00footage convey the unspeakable agony of a person missing their limbs and their voice
17:03who wishes for death.
17:11Describing the feeling of sheer helplessness of not being able to walk, speak, or even
17:15have the strength to take your own life, One is even more powerful considering it tells
17:19the story of only one scarred soldier.
17:30Using its audience to ponder how war affects the thousands it touches.
17:39Number 3, I Think You Freaky, Deontverd.
17:45A celebration of all things freaky, this music video from the controversial South African
17:49alt-hip-hop group revels in its subject matter and disturbing imagery.
17:58From explicit drawings on the wall to the rats and the accidental cooking of cockroaches,
18:02I Think You Freaky is a fairly tongue-in-cheek style that is less about genuine horror and
18:07more about creating a sensation of unease.
18:13Furthermore, the intensity and seriousness in which Ninja and Yolandi Visser deliver
18:20their lyrics do possess an unsettling vibe which, combined with the black and white palette
18:25of the video, may make your skin crawl just a bit.
18:34Number 2, If I Had a Heart, Fever Ray.
18:42Opening with a torch-lit boat ride through a river at night, If I Had a Heart establishes
18:46its gloomy tone from the beginning, which foreshadows the chilling things to come.
18:53With recurring images of witch doctors, dead bodies, and suffocating shadows, Fever Ray's
18:57ghoulish exploration of a lifeless estate is made all the more haunting by the fact
19:01that it is never made clear who or what is responsible for the massacre.
19:13The combination of its ghostly chants, gothic undertones, and unnerving calm make If I Had
19:18a Heart all the more scary, because it leaves its story open to interpretation, making it
19:22a kind of Rorschach test for its audience's worst fears.
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19:49Come to Daddy – Apex Twin Dripping with an insane and eerie atmosphere
19:57from the get-go, Apex Twin's Come to Daddy is truly a nightmare come to life, which is
20:06both unrelenting and truly terrifying.
20:08After an elderly woman's dog urinates on a discarded television, it comes to life with
20:12a malevolent face hungry for souls.
20:14The old woman then flees in terror, only to come upon a group of frightening children
20:18whose faces are identical to Apex Twin himself.
20:21While the gang of man-children go on a rampage through the neighborhood and terrorize whoever
20:25they come across, an inhuman monster emerges from the television and takes physical form,
20:29to the children's delight.
20:37He also proceeds to scare the you-know-what out of the old woman and just about everyone
20:41watching.
20:53Which music video scared the crap out of you?
20:55Let us know in the comments!
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