Dance Til You’re Dead: Best Dance Scenes in Horror Movies

Dance is usually beautiful and graceful. From ballet and jazz to hip-hop and modern dance and everything in between, dance is a performance meant to impress, move, and entertain. But what happens when we twist it just a little bit? When dancers contort a little too far, or their expressions harden into edges just a little too jagged — what then? Well, that’s where this physical art and the horror genre intersect.

For decades, horror has thrived on turning what we consider lovely into something grotesque. Dance is not exempt from this creative change. In fact, many horror movies use dance to express what a straight scene just couldn’t accomplish. So, below, and in no particular order, let’s break down some of the best dance scenes in horror movies.

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M3GAN

What’s more unsettling than a creepy doll? A creepy, neutral-faced, dancing doll! M3GAN is a child’s best friend, but give her a sharp weapon and some choreography, and suddenly she’s your worst nightmare.

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Suspiria

Viewing Suspiria requires a strong stomach. Set in a very modest dance studio, one scene in particular puts a dancer under a spell to turn her into a human pretzel. Olga’s death features stunning choreography, but also bone crunching contortions that will leave you sleeping with one eye open for a week.

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IT

Obviously we have to include Pennywise the Dancing Clown. It’s in his name! This flame-filled, high-kick, physics-defying dance is a still a stand-out scene from IT Chapter 2. It’s so iconic, even, that it was memed quite often after the movie premiered.

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Us

Adelaide and Red’s grand pas de deux in Us is an excellent and chilling example of how dance elevates horror. Here, two mirrors of each other compete for dominance while learning the similarities between their bodies and lives. Where words would have failed to convey the depth of this connection, movement prevails.

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The Rocky Horror Picture Show

“Let’s do the Time Warp again!” Although The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a musical with tons of dance sequences, the Time Warp is the most popular. Look anywhere this Halloween, and you’ll see at least five people dressed in the sparkly black lingerie Dr. Frank-N-Furter sports here — don’t forget the pelvic thrust!

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American Psycho

American Psycho‘s famous dance scene is also a torture scene. It’s bizarre, to say the least. But it’s also intense and off-putting, scary and gory — all the things that make us love the horror genre in the first place. We love a clear, crisp, killer sound. So catchy!

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Beetlejuice

A family dinner with an impromptu dance party should be great fun, right? Wrong! In Beetlejuice, a bunch of people are forced to sing and dance to Harry Belafonte’s “Banana Boat Song” while their shrimp cocktails terrorize them. It’s awful for them, but we get a lot of laughs and a catchy tune to hum out of it.

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Anna and the Apocalypse

It’s Christmas, and you’ve got to sing if you want to survive. That’s Anna and the Apocalypse in a nutshell. This festive, frightening delight is so full of fabulous dance sequences that we can’t possibly just pick one. You’ll have to watch it yourself to pick your favorite.

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Queen of the Damned

Vampires fall on the more erotic side of horror. After all, the entire concept of drinking blood and biting people’s necks is pretty sensual. Therefore Akasha’s dance in Queen of the Damned — part of the Interview with the Vampire movie series — is both alluring and deeply frightening.

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Every teen movie needs a prom scene. Add a dash of vampirism, and you’ve got the 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. Because prom night just isn’t exciting without the undead on the loose.

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Black Swan

Swan Lake is one of the most famous ballets in the world. Additionally, the black swan dance features extremely technically difficult and impressive choreography. Black Swan makes those performance aspects into something truly sinister, combining the pressures of the dance world with the way a ballerina must become a monster to be the very best … or die trying.

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What are your favorite dance sequences in horror movies? Share your picks with horror fans at side.show/geekgroup or in the Sideshow Social Network, and don’t forget to Let Your Geek Sideshow!

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