The Rocky Horror Picture Show and 6 more toe-tapping horror musicals you can stream
- Carla Davis
- 3 minutes ago
- 5 min read
I recently attended a great local stage performance of The Rocky Horror Show. A week later, Tim Curry died, and I dug out my DVD of The Rocky Horror Picture Show to indulge in some nostalgia. It had been years since I saw Curry’s splendid performance as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, and I was completely enthralled all over again. And it got me thinking about the fact that there are just not enough horror movie musicals out there.
I am admittedly a theatre nerd, which means I adore stage musicals. Obviously, not everyone feels the same, so if you like horror, but hate musicals, move along. The rest of you read on for my horror movie musical recommendations.
Anna and the Apocalypse – This one hits the sweet spot for me, because it encompasses three of my favorite genres. It’s a horror movie, but also a Christmas movie, but also a musical! Anna is about to graduate from high school in Scotland, and her plan to travel a year before starting college has really ticked her Dad off. Meanwhile, her friends have their own problems: Steph is struggling with a recent breakup, Chris is dealing with a tough class assignment, and Anna’s bestie John is secretly in love with her.
But all of those issues seem very small once it becomes evident that a zombie apocalypse is happening. The musical / dance numbers are great and catchy, there are plenty of laughs (along with some emotional tears), and the gore is plentiful.
Anna and the Apocalypse can be watched on Pluto TV, or rented on multiple platforms.
Little Shop of Horrors – Little Shop began life as a low budget 1960 film. Then it was adapted for the musical stage, and that production was adapted as a film. Rick Moranis, the divine Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia and Steve Martin starred, and there were appearances by notables such as John Candy, Jim Belushi, and Bill Murray.
The story of nerdy flower shop employee Seymour and the object of his affection, Audrey, seems simple enough. But when Seymour buys a strange plant during a solar eclipse, simplicity leaves the flower shop. This plant only flourishes when Seymour feeds it blood, so you can see where all of this leads. It’s a fun, sweet, delightful film with some horror overtones (and some toe-tapping tunes).
Little Shop of Horrors is available to watch on Philo, and can be rented on multiple platforms.
Phantom of the Paradise – The music for this 1974 film was written by Paul Williams, who also stars in it as Swan, a shady music producer who is opening a new concert venue called The Paradise. He steals the music of Winslow Leach, then frames him for supposed drug-dealing, which lands Winslow in Sing Sing prison.
When Winslow manages to escape, he comes after Swan. Phantom of the Paradise is a sort of mashup of The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Phantom of the Opera, and features some pretty awesome 70s-style rock numbers and super-trippy special effects.
Phantom of the Paradise is available to rent on multiple streaming platforms.
Repo! The Genetic Opera – Yet another film based on a stage musical, Repo! released in 2008, when it premiered at Fantasia Film Festival. While it was not hugely successful initially, it has acquired a cult following over the years since.
Set in 2056, the plot involves a corporation called GeneCo that takes advantage of an epidemic that causes organ failure. GeneCo offers “loans” for organ transplants, and anyone who misses a payment must contend with Repo Men who will – ahem – repossess the financed organs.
Alexa Vega. Paul Sorvino, Anthony Stewart Head, Sarah Brightman, Bill Moseley, and Paris Hilton star.
Repo! The Genetic Opera can be streamed on Tubi, Pluto, and Flex.
The Rocky Horror Picture show is a horror movie musical that has withstood the test of time.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show – The stage musical The Rocky Horror Show was a big hit in the UK before making its Broadway debut in 1975 (the same year the film adaptation was released). It was not especially successful during its first run, but the movie has, of course, become legendary throughout the past 50 years.
The role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter will always be synonyous with Tim Curry, and there is good reason for that. He embodied the role in a way that nobody else could. Brad and Janet encounter Frank and his band of odd followers when their car breaks down during a bad storm, and they are in for the night of their lives. The plot defies clear explanation, so I beg of you, if you have never seen it, PLEASE watch. It has it all: good, catchy tunes, killer performances, very strange sets and costumes…and our dear Mr. Curry.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show can be rented on several streaming platforms.
Sinners – OK, calling sinners a musical is a bit of a stretch, I know. But you have to admit that music plays a HUGE part in the storyline, so I chose to include it on this list. It is SUCH a good film! Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) are twins returning to their hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi after being in Chicago for the last 7 years.
Their plan is to open a juke joint intended only for the local Black community, and they bring in musician Delta Slim and their cousin Sammie to provide the music. The brothers also recruit a Chinese couple to help, field worker Cornbread to serve as a bouncer, and Smoke asks his estranged wife Annie to cook for the patrons. Meanwhile, a group of three vampires decides to invade the juke joint in order to grow their ranks.
There is a scene where Sammie is playing the guitar so skillfully, that he accidently calls out to the ghosts of performers/dancers from both the past and the future, and I was positively transfixed.
Sinners can be streamed on HBO Max.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Alan Rickman headline this film adaptation of the stage musical. That cast, plus the music of Stephen Sondheim tell you right away that you are in for something special.
Sweeney Todd is an English Barber who has been more or less driven mad after the evil Judge Turpin had him exiled in order to steal away his wife Lucy. After Turpin sexually assaulted Lucy, she committed suicide, and the judge adopted Todd and Lucy’s daughter Johanna.
Todd becomes focused on getting revenge, and starts killing the customers at his barber shop. He and Mrs. Lovett start up a business selling meat pies made from the corpses of his victims.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street can be seen on Pluto TV, MGM +, and Philo.
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