In my opinion, Halloween and classic rock go hand in undead hand. Lots of classic rock songs lend themselves to the spooky vibes of Halloween and scary movies. This list is dedicated to scary movie classic rock songs and the moments they appear in scary movies.

I chose the top 7 Scary Movie Classic Rock songs based on input from a recent post on the WCSX Facebook page:

Scary Movie Classic Rock Song Covers

“People Are Strange” from The Doors was covered by Echo and The Bunnymen for the movie Lost Boys. This 1987 CLASSIC film featured the hottest vampires we’d seen thus far plus some post-Goonies Cory Feldman and his BFF Corey Haim fighting vampires like true nerd-heroes.

Deep Purple’s “Hush” is a banging masterpiece, but it’s also a cover! The song was written by Joe South and first recorded by the country singer Billy Joe Royal in 1967. The song was not a hit for Deep Purple. Kula Shaker covered the song for I Know What You Did Last Summer in 1997.

The songs on my list of scary movie classic rock songs are all originals. Some have been used in multiple movies. I did not include ALL of the movies, but there are videos of the movie scenes with the song for the most part. Some movies fell before the days of videos. Do you have any top pics off the top of your head? Think it over or scroll down to peruse our picks.

7 Scary Movie Classic Rock Songs

• "Don't Fear The Reaper" - Blue Oyster Cult - Halloween

  “Don’t Fear The Reaper” plays in the background as Jamie Lee Curtis drives around with her girlfriend smoking a joint and it runs again on the end credits. “It’s Halloween. Everyone’s entitled to one good scare.” – Brackett

• "Dream Warriors" - Dokken - Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3

  Dokken created the title track for Nightmare on Elm Street 3 – Dream Warriors. “Welcome to prime time.” – Freddie Krueger <–Robert Englund played Freddie. He adlibbed that line to give some dark humor to the scene. Entertainment Weekly rated all the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. You can check out their work here.

• Deadman's Party - Oingo Boingo - Ghostbusters

  This song has been in a ridiculous amount of movies and TV shows. “Deadman’s Party” is best known for the scene where the band plays the song in Back To School with Rodney Dangerfield, which is obviously not a scary movie, but the song was also a part of Ghostbusters, Donnie Darko, and Weird Science. Have you seen the video Tim Burton did for the song?

• "Bad Moon Rising" - CCR - American Werewolf in London

  It’s all fun and games until the CCR kicks in. “We were attacked by a werewolf. On the moors, we were attacked by a lycanthrope, a werewolf. I was murdered, an unnatural death, and now I walk the earth in limbo until the werewolf’s curse is lifted.” – Jack Goodman

• "Who Made Who" - AC/DC - Maximum Overdrive

  Stephen King kicks off the movie as a goof that gets crapped on by an ATM. The movie was directed by King and based on his short story, Trucks. “The implications are pretty clear; fill up them trucks as fast as you can, then get right down to business, bubba.” – Hendershot

• "American Girl" - Tom Petty - Silence of The Lambs

  You’re minding your own business, driving home and singing along to Tom Petty’s “American Girl.” The next thing you know, you’re putting the lotion in the basket. “Mister… my family will pay cash. Whatever ransom you’re askin’ for, they pay it.” – Catherine Martin

• "Bad to the Bone" - George Thorogood - Christine

  Stephen King makes his second appearance on our list of scary movie classic rock songs with his use of “Bad to the Bone” in Christine. “Oh man, there is nothing finer than being behind the wheel of your own car! Except *maybe* for ___!”- Good old Arnie Cunningham has a way with words.

• BONUS: "Go to Hell" - Alice Cooper - Ash Vs. Evil Dead

  Alice has written entire album’s for scary movies. I chose instead to highlight “Go to Hell” used in the TV series Ash Vs Evil Dead. Actually, multiple Cooper songs have been used in the show including “Is It My Body” “Be My Lover,” and “No More Mr. Nice Guy.” “Poison” was featured in American Horror Story S9E7 “The Lady in White.” Alice also helped compose the soundtrack for Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives

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