20 Ballet and Dance Horror Movies

What comes to mind when you think about ballet and dance? Perhaps the words beautiful, ethereal, and graceful. Don’t be fooled. If there’s anything horror has proven is that there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to the craft. After all, it’s an art form that requires torturous discipline, serious rigor, fine skill, and physical endurance. Ballerinas and dancers must adapt to grueling physical conditions, all the while having to appear poised and effortless. These performers give their sweat, blood, and tears for the thing they’re the most passionate about. 

For many in horror, dance and ballet has come at a higher cost. The obsessive nature of their love for the art form can be destructive—deadly, even. As beautiful as the artistry can be, it’s a visceral pursuit in which many push themselves to unimaginable extremes to excel. To shine. To be perfect. 

The 20 horror movies on this list demonstrate that there’s something eerie that lurks beneath every tap, pirouette, tap, and jeté.

The Red Shoes (1948)

This adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s fairytale of the same name may not be a traditional genre film, but it’s full of dark undertones, psychological horror, and existential dread. It follows Victoria Page (Moira Shearer), a young ballerina who finds herself torn between her love of ballet and the love of a man, composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring). As Vicky cracks under the pressure of her controlling dance instructor, Boris Lermontov (Anton Walkbrook), she goes into a downward spiral of madness, eventually leading her to a haunting, tragic conclusion. The movie explores the destructive nature of obsession and the extremes artists are willing to go for their craft. Its inspiration on Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is undeniable. 

Suspiria (1977)

Dario Argento’s dark academia classic is the most renowned ballet horror in existence. Suspiria is a surreal gothic fairytale that captivates from the opening narration: “Suzy Bannion decided to perfect her ballet studies in the most famous school of dance in Europe. She chose the celebrated Academy of Freiburg. One day at 9 in the morning she left Kennedy Airport, New York and arrived in Germany at 10:40 p.m. local time.” The wide-eyed protagonist appears bathed in red light and exiting an airport. Her unsettling cab ride to Freiburg instantly sets the tone for the film. Jessica Harper marvelously plays the role of American ballet student Suzy, whose prestigious dance academy serves as a front for an evil coven of witches.  

Stage Fright (1987)

This bizarre and stylish Italian slasher is directed by Michele Soavi, one of the greatest horror directors from Italy. It follows the cast of a musical as their director locks them inside their theater for extra rehearsal time for their play about a fictional murderer known as the Night Owl. Unbeknownst to them, an escaped psychopath is locked inside with them. The killer picks the performers off one by one in the most gruesome of ways. With its excellent kills, dreamlike setpieces, and striking imagery, you simply cannot look away from the screen. 

Audition (1999)

Japanese horror master Takashi Miike directs this film that has been cited as a source of inspiration by the Soska sisters, among others. Encouraged by his son and coworker, widower Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) is ready to start dating again. In order to find the “perfect wife,” he holds auditions for a fake production to interview women for the role. When he meets the soft-spoken ballerina Asami (Eihi Shiina), he’s instantly enamored. Little does he know that she isn’t who she portrays to be at all. House of Psychotic Women author Kier-la Janisse writes that “Miike’s Audition is able to make commentary on the systematic abuse of women that goes beyond the film’s notoriously graphic denouement.”

Wishing Stairs (2003)

This haunting South Korean film explores jealousy, obsession, toxic friendships, love, and revenge. It follows two best friends and ballet students at an all-girls boarding art school, Yun Jin-seong (Song Ji-hyo) and Kim So-hee (Park Han-byul), whose friendship starts to crack when both compete for a coveted spot at a prestigious Russian ballet school. Jealous of her bestie’s talent and knowing she’s the inferior dancer, Jin-sung resorts to using a school legend to get ahead. It is said that if a student walks up the dorm staircase while counting all 28 steps aloud, a 29th step will appear with a wish-granting spirit. Soon, Jin-seong discovers that her wish comes at a dark cost. 

Black Swan (2010)

A list of ballet horror movies wouldn’t be complete without Darren Aronofsky’s disturbing psychosexual horror Black Swan. The story revolves around a production of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” by New York City Ballet. Oscar-winning Natalie Portman stars as Nina, a ballerina who lands the coveted lead role and who struggles to capture the polar opposite essences of the White Swan and Black Swan. Plagued by insecurity and suffocated by her domineering mother, she unravels completely. Her all-consuming obsession with being perfect threatens her sanity and leads her to a dizzying descent into madness. The film’s tragic ending is one of the most haunting conclusions in the history of cinema. 

Livid (2011)

Dimension Films sat on this French horror movie for over a decade until Shudder bought its rights and released it in the US in 2022. The film could be described as a beautiful nightmare that’s a little bit of everything—ghosts, vampires, witches, a slasher. The story revolves around a rumored treasure hidden inside an old mansion, home to a once-renowned dance teacher. On Halloween night, a young trio of thieves break into the old woman’s house to find it. What follows will keep you up at night. The less you know going in, the better. 

Suspiria (2018)

Luca Giadagnino’s gruesome reimagining of Suspiria may not have impressed Dario Argento, but for many, it remains a thoughtful, beautiful, and haunting exploration of female empowerment and generational struggle. The movie may also be set in 1977 West Germany, follow an American dance student, and feature a dance academy run by a coven of witches, but it’s profoundly different from its predecessor. Dakota Johnson stars as Susie. Much like the original, 2018’s Suspiria makes for one unnerving experience, but unlike Argento’s vibrant psychedelic nightmare, Guadagnino uses a muted color palette to reflect Berlin’s tumultuous political climate during the Cold War. The story, themes, and tone of this version are something else entirely. 

Abigail (2024)

This Radio Silence and Melissa Barrera collaboration is one of the best horror films of 2024. The movie follows a group of criminals who kidnap 12-year-old Abigail (Alisha Weir) and hold her for ransom from her wealthy father. Unbeknownst to them, the preteen ballerina is no ordinary child. She’s no child at all. Abigail is a ravenous vampire who, in her own words, likes to play with her food. When she turns the tables on her kidnappers, they have nowhere to go and nowhere to hide. Weir, who’s a skilled dancer IRL, shared that Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett wanted to incorporate ballet into every element of the film: “Well, we wanted to infuse it and incorporate it so that no matter what Abigail was doing, even when she was standing or running or fighting or chasing people on banisters, she was always doing it, like, she could do it in her sleep and in a balletic and lyrical way.”

Apartment 7A (2024)

Natalie Erika James’ prequel to Rosemary’s Baby tells the story of struggling dancer Terry Gionoffrio (Julia Garner), the ill-fated young woman Rosemary meets in the basement laundry room in the original film and who soon after is found dead. After a devastating foot injury, Terry’s Broadway career is hindered. When she’s rejected from a show, she tracks down the producer to the Bramford, where Minnie (Dianne Wiest) and Roman (Kevin McNally) Castevet seemingly take pity on her and give her an apartment. Soon after, her luck turns around and she gets a second chance at fame. Little does she know of her neighbors’ ulterior motives to have her give birth to the Antichrist. Many considered Apartment 7A to be predictable and not worthy of its predecessor, but the movie is worth watching for the strong performances alone. It features a phenomenal trippy, hallucinatory musical number you won’t soon forget. 

More ballet and dance horror movies…

Étoile (1989) Jennifer Connelly stars as a young American ballerina student at a prestigious ballet school in Hungary who becomes dangerously obsessed with Swan Lake.

Dance Macabre (1992) This slasher stars Robert Englund as a dance instructor with a dual personality of a serial killer who obsesses over his talented new student, Jessica (Michelle Zeitlin).

Pearl (2022) Ti West’s prequel to X may not be entirely focused on dance, but Pearl’s shattered dreams of dancing on stage unravel her into a murderous fiend and push her to become the embittered villain we see in the first film.

Red Shoes (2005) A South Korean supernatural horror about a woman who finds a pair of red shoes on the subway that bring a horrifying, destructive curse into her life. 

Stage Fright (2014) This genre mashup revolves around a musical theater summer camp where there’s a killer on the loose. 

Climax (2018) A French psychedelic horror by Gaspar Noé about a dance troupe whose sangria is punched with LSD, causing their rehearsal to turn into a nightmare. 

Birds of Paradise (2021) This thriller focuses on two students at a Parisian ballet school who compete for a highly coveted contract to join Opéra national de Paris.