Five Horror Movie Musicals to Stream This Week

Singing and dancing are an integral part of musicals, never mind that they’re often associated with a much more lighthearted, sentimental tone. That makes musicals feel out of place in the world of horror, a genre dedicated to graphic violence, death, and scaring audiences silly.

Yet, as it’s been proven time and time again, horror plays well with everything, including the movie musical. Movies like Little Shop of Horrors or Phantom of the Paradise showcase the magic of combining genre thrills with earworm songs and lavish production design, further stretching the boundaries of what horror can be.

This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to horror musicals, some that aim to tickle the funny bone while others go for the jugular. Here’s where to watch them on streaming this week.

For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.

The Lure – Criterion Channel, Max

Before The Ugly Stepsister, there was The Lure, a dazzling yet violent retelling of The Little Mermaid set in a Polish cabaret during the ’80s. The vibrant setting means no shortage of dazzling musical numbers and earworm tunes as carnivorous mermaid sisters Golden and Silver come ashore and get adopted by a local nightclub band. Agnieszka Smoczynska’s stunning feature debut is a visually resplendent horror fairy tale that’s unafraid to get weird, bloody, and downright tragic. It’s a coming-of-age story told from the perspective of inhuman creatures eagerly exploring what it means to be human while giving into their baser instincts, including devouring flesh in more ways than one.

Rockula – MGM+, Pluto TV, Prime Video

For those craving a heaping helping of excess ’80s cheese, have I got the pick for you. Even the premise is so very ’80s: sexually repressed but friendly 400-year-old vamp Ralph (Dean Cameron) starts up a rock band to impress his one true love and break the curse that prevents his happily ever after. It’s technically set in 1990 and was released at the beginning of the year, but Rockula‘s style and schlocky horror-comedy hijinks are pure ’80s. Toni Basil plays Ralph’s vampire mum, which means you can count on a song and dance number or two. “She Blinded Me with Science” singer Thomas Dolby plays an eccentric mortuary owner, with Susan Tyrell and influential guitarist and singer Bo Diddley in supporting roles.

Stage Fright – Hoople, Peacock, Pluto TV, Roku Channel, Tubi

Writer-Director Jerome Sable marries the musical with the horror-comedy in Stage Fright, a slasher set at a musical theater summer camp facing bankruptcy. Meat Loaf plays Roger McCall, the camp’s producer and adoptive father to Camilla (Allie MacDonald), the film’s heroine, desperate to land the coveted lead role in the kabuki rendition of The Haunting of the Opera. That setup alone is enough to signal whether this joyful, silly horror-comedy packed with theater kid characters and an inspired slasher villain is for you. The kills are as vicious as the riffs on musical theater tropes, and it shows surprising restraint when it comes to the song numbers.

Suck – Starz

This horror-comedy musical follows a struggling band touring across Canada and the US as they try to survive from gig to gig. They’re the definition of starving artists; that is, until bassist Jennifer (Jessica Paré) gets bitten by a master vampire. Jennifer’s stage presence skyrockets soon after, increasing the band’s popularity tenfold, but it comes with an insatiable lust for blood that compounds their road-tripping woes. Suck is a silly yet endearing rock horror-comedy that features original songs and Malcolm McDowell as Eddie Van Helsing. Look for a slew of notable cameos from Alice Cooper, Henry Rollins, Iggy Pop, and Moby playing hilariously against type.

The Wicker Man – Hoopla, Kanopy, Pluto TV

As May Day arrives this week, there’s no better time to revisit this seminal folk horror classic that’s rarely recognized for being one of horror’s greatest musicals, too. Perhaps that’s because director Robin Hardy and screenwriter Anthony Shaffer (Frenzy), inspired by David Pinner’s 1967 novel Ritual, present an atypical aesthetic for a horror movie. Or perhaps it’s because the song and dance numbers are diegetic, played in full, and presented naturally within the film as Police Sergeant Neil Howie (Edward Woodward) explores Summerisle for traces of a missing girl. The devout Christian finds himself unsettled by the increasingly vague answers to his questions and even more unnerved by their Pagan practices, no matter how vibrant, warm, or jovial. To be fair, the Summerisle residents are so disarming with their spirited musicality that you’d be forgiven for being caught off guard by the sucker punch finale.

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