Dunedin band Haunted Love ticked every cliché but still won the hearts of librarians everywhere with this tale of summary justice administered to a disobedient user by two spooky, other-worldly librarians (not to mention “the best use of compact movable shelving in a music video, ever”). This video was the song’s only release and achieved considerable viral success. It was directed by Donald Ferns and filmed at Dunedin Public Library with Haunted Love’s Geva Downey and Rainy McMaster as the avenging librarians – and Henry Davidson as the hapless user.

The video for BRF's second single contrasts images of youths in gas masks with This is New Zealand-style panoramic scenery. The song ominously describes a complacent society ignoring apocalyptic possibilities: it could be the theme song to The Quiet Earth. But like BRF's UK contemporaries the Cure and Joy Division, behind the brooding, melancholic music is a pop song with deceptive hooklines. The haunting melody emerges slowly from a funereal marching beat, while the chorus is almost ecstatic, with phased synthesised strings that seem to take flight.

This all star cover of Mutton Birds classic ‘Anchor Me’ was made to mark the 20th anniversary of the sinking of Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior. After Hinewehi Mohi’s haunting introduction, singers including Anika Moa, Kirsten Morrell (Goldenhorse) Che Fu, and Milan Borich (Pluto) walk towards the camera across a washed out landscape. Nuclear blasts, pollution and Greenpeace vessels can all be seen, while doves pull rainbows across the screen.

The feverish complexity of Flicker is captured in this video collaboration between Fetus Productions' Jed Town and director Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City, promos for INXS, Crowded House, Mike Oldfield). The pair deliver a terrifically haunting clip, skillfully creating an intensely serpentine work full of dark frames and layered, unnerving images. Yikes.  

"Things are not always the way they should be", sings Steve Gilpin in 'Blue Day', from Mi-Sex's 1984 album Where Do They Go. Reaching number 24 in Australia and 36 in NZ, it was their last charting single before the band broke up; it's also on the APRA Top 100 NZ Songs list at number 54. The band plays on a darkened studio set, a strong neon-blue visual style complementing the soft, haunting keyboard intro. Artificial light suggests the day outside; pushed up jacket sleeves and genie pants are an unmistakable reminder of mid-80s fashion.

An eco-anthem lurks at the heart of this infectious, upbeat Minuit number. To accompany it, director Sally Tran conjures up a claustrophobic world where people are trapped inside a decaying building (actually Spookers haunted house at Karaka), and flowers and outdoor pursuits are the stuff of museum displays. Lead vocalist Ruth Carr (complete with bird make-up) and her dancers run this way and that, but there seems to be no escape. The song plays out with Carr singing to herself because she decided no-one else would write a song with her name in it.

After hit song 'I Got You' proved definitively that art rockers Split Enz could be chart-topping pop stars, their 1980 album True Colours yielded a second classic single. This time it showcased Tim Finn's vocal range. The music video is set in some stately mansion after the last champagne of the night. Finn wanders into the back garden as he mourns the pain of being "haunted by the things that you feel", while the rest of the Enz stand around as part of the tableau. Annie Crummer later covered the track for Eddie Rayner-led project ENZSO.