5 Spooky K-Pop Music Videos to Get Your Haunt On To This Halloween
K-pop probably isn’t the first thing most people think of when they want to watch something to get in the Halloween spirit. Usually the internet sticks to KXVO’s Pumpkin Man or the “Spooky Scary Skeletons” song. But there are some seriously awesome and spine-tingling videos that have graced the K-pop industry, and it’s time more people added them to their pre-party mix.
Chase Me - Dreamcatcher
When it comes to a debut single, you couldn’t do much better than Dreamcatcher’s “Chase Me”. It’s an addictive, high-energy rock-pop track that will get anyone bouncing in their seat. But the song’s accompanying music video stood out for completely different reasons.
A mixture of several classic horror concepts, “Chase Me” follows a man researching a group of girls from the past. He visits a spooky old hotel, which happens to be haunted by the girls’ spirits, who then taunt him in various ways. The video isn’t filled with gore or packed with jump scares, but instead relies on more psychological horror elements to tell the story.
The video ends with an eerie music box-style outro, which actually turned out to be the intro for the group’s next single. “Good Night” continues the story, showing the girls’ side of the ordeal.
Voodoo Doll - VIXX
CONTENT WARNING: Graphic gore. You can find the clean version here.
As the concept kings in the K-pop industry, it probably comes as no surprise that VIXX is the group behind probably the most disturbing and graphic music video in K-pop’s history. One of their other singles, “hyde”, has a spooky vibe as well, but nothing the group has released could ever match “Voodoo Doll” when it comes to sheer haunting content.
The video shows all five members caged up as prisoners in a girl’s twisted game of voodoo-style possession. They try to escape, but are pulled back and trapped once again, leaving the video on more of a hopeless feeling rather than a happy note.
Both the video and the choreography were deemed unfit for broadcast when the song was released in 2013. Jellyfish Entertainment then provided a clean version of the video, which took out the entire story, and the group performed a reworked version of their choreography, which took out all of the stabbing motions. (Check out 0:45 in their comeback stage on Music Core as an example.)
Married to the Music - SHINee
A crazy Halloween party and monster mashup all mixed into one, the video for “Married to the Music” is a bright and colorful approach to an otherwise odd subject. The mysterious host hold a party in order to collect different facial features to make her ideal male face. It all kicks off with probably the most surprising part of the video: Key getting beheaded by a butcher’s knife to reveal his fluorescent insides.
Each member slowly gets one of their features taken away, with the video ending in the reveal of the pieced-together face on Key’s disembodied head. The video is a fun approach to a Halloween-ish theme that doesn’t completely remove the weird and grotesque. It’s the perfect mix if you’re looking for something spooky but want to avoid blood.
TT - TWICE
If you’re more into treats than tricks, “TT” is right up your alley. The seventh most-viewed K-pop music video of all time with over 407 million views, TWICE’s mega-hit shows the girls welcoming trick-or-treaters into a huge mansion, where they then dance and celebrate in their own costumes.
“TT” gives you all the Halloween vibes with none of the scares, which is great if you’re looking to get in the spirit without feeling queasy at the end of the video.
Black or White - Cross Gene
Content Warning: Gore and violence.
An often overlooked video, Cross Gene’s “Black or White” definitely plays up to the creepy and slightly gore-filled nature of the season. The video shows each member running away from alternate versions of themselves, finding safe spots in different places. They don’t stay safe for very long, though. The alternate versions catch up with them and kill off their “original” selves in different but equally disturbing ways.
The eerie vibe of the video is amplified by the color palette throughout. All the shots are pretty dark, with deep reds or lifeless grey-blues tinting the entire shot. Some of them are dressed in outfits that are far from normal, but they’re in neutral or dark tones, so they easily blend in with the surroundings.