In need of a little melody with your macabre, a little harmony in your haunt? Spooky season is the perfect time to cuddle up on the couch and hum along to skeletal songstresses and wallowing witches. So, we’ve got you covered with must-watch movie musicals this Halloween season. 

‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ 1975 | Hulu

“It’s astounding. Time is fleeting. Madness takes its toll,” so lean in deeper as Dr. Frank-N-Furter beckons you via his plan to make a man with “blonde hair and a tan.” The Rocky Horror Picture Show is one of the campiest, quirkiest, genre-bending creations ever produced. The science fiction, horror, musical, comedy, romance is a sexually-explosive joyride from start to finish boasting sing-a-long tunes like “Time Warp” and “Sweet Transvestite,” as well as an upbeat, head-bopping rock ballad from the likes of Meat Loaf, who bursts onto the screen in a cheetah-print adorned leather vest on an engine-growling motorcycle. 

It’s ridiculous. It’s a larger-than-life irreverent, darkly comedic musical that challenges societal norms while celebrating the queer community and relegating the traditional to the fringes of the frame…for once. Nothing pairs better with Rock N’ Roll than rebellion. 

‘Little Shop of Horrors’ 1986 | Max

Paying homage to B-movie horror films, Little Shop of Horrors boasts a black-and-white opening sequence akin to Night of the Living Dead and The Blob, as well as a seemingly innocuous plant that transforms into a monstrous creature, pulling inspiration from the likes of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Day of the Triffids. 

The characters intentionally embody B-movie archetypes, like Seymour the Mad Scientist and Audrey the Damsel in Distress, yet with a satirical delivery and a tragicomic narrative, Little Shop of Horrors becomes a melodramatic masterpiece in its own right. 

Not to mention, Ellen Greene’s loveable and worship-worthy performance as Audrey. She sings “Somewhere That’s Green” — cueing audiences into her simple desires far from Skid Row — with humor and heart. She shifts seamlessly from the beatific expression resulting from her 12-inch TV-screen fantasy to the despondent disappointment at her current predicament. She can get you to cackle while envisioning a “washer and a dryer,” right before she gets you to tear up. With a perfect mix of slow numbers and faster, patter-style songs, it has everything you could want in a movie musical — with a healthy heaping of the supernatural. 

‘Hocus Pocus’ 1993 and ‘Hocus Pocus 2’ 2022 | Disney+ 

Though neither of these movies feature musical numbers from start to finish, both include a couple of theatrical performances that warrant their place on the list. Not to mention, the multi-hyphenate living legend, the Divine Miss M, is garbed in 17th-century attire and sports a buck-toothed smile — which only adds to her witchy delivery of songs like “I Put a Spell on You” and “One Way or Another” (which boast adjusted lyrics to account for the narratives at play).

Bette Midler’s Winifred plays the leader of the pack among her trifecta. Her sisters, the dimwitted and boy-crazed Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker) and the obedient and timid Mary (Kathy Najimy) operate as her near-useless but beloved henchmen. It’s a family-friendly one-two punch perfect for a night in. The witches are determined to suck the youth out of Salem’s children, breathing in their souls with pursed lips as if trying to suck a thick milkshake through a straw). In short, the film’s whimsical nature and Bette Midler’s embodiment of mischief meets impatience lends way to a comic villainy that maintains the film’s light-hearted tone despite the witches’ grim assault on the innocent youth. 

‘Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas’ 1993 | Disney+ 

Tim Burton’s quirky gothic aesthetic is on display once again in the stop-motion ‘90s hit The Nightmare Before Christmas. Featuring surreal landscapes via twisted trees and crooked buildings, the film carries a dreamlike quality that complements the magical creatures of Halloween Town, which range from ghosts and werewolves to vampires and witches. 

It’s got a generally eerie atmosphere — at least while in Halloween Town — and features gothic rock songs to really sell the setting. When in Christmas Town, the songs shift to a more jazzy vibe with swing elements that augment Christmas Town’s lively nature. The musical also features the classic ballads, giving characters time to lament audiences with their emotional struggles. And, of course,  the villain Oogie Boogie has a cabaret-style anthem with many a cackle and vocal intonation to indicate sarcasm, creating a memorably playful baddie. The film is here to tell us why Christmas (and Halloween) are special outside of their commercialization, and each song carries viewers through such important yet oft-forgotten thematic undertones. 

‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ 2007 | Hulu

Tim Burton is at it again with source material that beckoned his distinctive touch and dark flair. Based on the Stephen Sondheim musical of the same name, the movie follows a wronged Barber seeking revenge. He teams up with the pie-shop-owning Mrs. Lovett and the plan is pretty straightforward: he’ll slit the throats of those who come for a shave, and she’ll put ‘em in her meat pies. Nothing’s better than a little Royal Marine…the only problem is “it tastes of wherever it’s been.” 

Though the movie eschews some of the musical’s beloved theatricality and comedic extravagance, it’s a bloody beguiling take on the macabre tale. A story of love and justice surges to the surface in the chemistry between Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, who make up for what they lack in musicality with conviction. Sondheim’s magnum opus, featuring classics like “A Little Priest,” “Not While I’m Around,” and “The Worst Pies in London,” receives a fresh makeover in the hands of Burton that, though slightly predictable given the director’s proclivities, still makes for a blood-splattering, serenading good time. 

‘Into the Woods’ 2014 | Disney+ 

Yet another Sondheim interpretation, Into the Woods blends multiple fairytales — Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, and more — into a story about wishes and consequences, loss and grief, and the ambiguity inherent to good and evil. 

With Meryl Streep as the cantankerous-turned-captivating Witch, Anna Kendrick as the yearning and conflicted Cinderella, and Johnny Depp as the sultry and scheming Wolf, the film boasts many a memorable musical number. Sondheim’s lyrics, as always, range from poignant and reflective to hopeful yet doubtful or regretful and accusatory — depending on the character at play. He is a wordsmith whose grasp on humanity comes pouring out of his lyrics and, with this all-star ensemble, his nuanced lyrics are in capable hands. From “Stay With Me” and “No One Is Alone” to “Agony” and “Hello, Little Girl,” you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll wonder, you’ll dream, you’ll feel, you’ll fester, you’ll question. You’ll be fully alive, for that is the power of Sondheim.