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Movies & TV

26th Oct 2018

We’re all entitled to one good score – the best scary movie soundtracks

Dave Hanratty

Best horror movie music

Tune into the most terrifying frequency.

The chilling sound… of your doom.

Wait, that’s a line from Batman & Robin, and while B&R is no doubt a horrible viewing experience, it’s not technically a horror film.

Here’s the thing; sound and music are so crucially important to a great horror movie that a bad score can ruin the whole experience, while a precise arrangement of noise (or lack of) can result in many a sleepless night.

It’s a cliché, but truly great horror cinema music is a character of its own, one that wields compelling, devastating power.

With that in mind and Halloween just around the corner, let’s look at the very best and most dread-inducing examples out there…

Halloween

But of course.


It really doesn’t get any better than John Carpenter’s score for Halloween – the original, not the lumbering latest chapter that boasts the same name – especially the main theme.

The signature theme is simple enough in its construction; ascending and descending individual piano notes combine with a sinister rising and falling synth motif alongside a relentless ticking clock rhythm.

Carpenter is as well-regarded for his skills inside a production studio as he is behind the camera, and Halloween gave him a chance to really create something special even when working on what many quickly dismissed as a fairly flimsy idea for a movie.

‘Laurie’s Theme’ and ‘The Shape Lurks’ are further extensions of the main piece, striking fear into the heart of viewers and listeners as Michael Myers stalks, ghost-like, around the suburbs.

In a film entirely about atmosphere, the score alone is enough to make you look nervously over your shoulder.

Suspiria

The remake is nearly here, and while Radiohead man Thom Yorke is an inspired choice for music duties, it’s hard to imagine anyone outdoing what Goblin brought to Dario Argento’s 1977 classic.

For the uninitiated, Suspiria centres on a killer running amok at an all-girl’s ballet school, only there’s some even deadlier lurking beneath the pristine surface.

Experimental prog rock outfit Goblin teamed up with Argento to provide a soundtrack best described as ‘dizzying’, its unnerving stretches and cries of “Witch!” living long in the memory after the credits have rolled.

The Shining

For best results, track down an old cinema (or a modern one that strains to look old) with a booming sound system, sit back, and allow the opening titles of The Shining to devour you entirely.

Clip via MrAlienUSA

Just mesmerising. Again, it’s all about atmosphere and Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece is positively dripping in it from the opening frame.

28 Days Later

Cillian Murphy announced himself – and his presence by shouting “hello” a lot amidst empty London streets – in Danny Boyle’s gripping account of viral outbreak terror.

Music from several artists is employed throughout, and while ‘East Hastings’ courtesy of Godspeed You! Black Emperor is an unsettling highlight, it’s John Murphy who needs to take a bow for his efforts.

The composer knocked it out of the park with ‘In the House – In a Heartbeat’ which serves as a regular warning sign that something very bad indeed is going to happen.

The track exists in another form as ’28 Theme’ if you’re interested, and its mix of darkness and beauty remains powerful 16 years, er, later.

For more from Murphy – who also worked on the score to Intermission – check out the astonishingly great ‘Adagio in D Minor’ from Sunshine.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

For this writer’s money, Texas Chain Saw is the best horror film ever made.

It’s short, it moves fast, it makes you think you’ve seen unspeakable horrors purely by suggestion and expert selection of images, it has characters that you won’t ever forget and it has maybe the best ‘cut to black’ conclusion in the whole genre.

A large part of why TCM works is its sound design, particularly a certain sonic screech that pops up every now and then to burrow all the way under your skin.

It Follows

A terrific modern chiller that manages to get on board the 80s nostalgia train without making too big a fuss about it, ultimately emerging as its own strange beast.

The moment the booming title theme kicks in – thank you, Disasterpeace – it has you.

Candyman

Walkin’ on, walkin’ on Philip Glaaaaaaaaass.

Saw

Credit where it’s due.

Before the Saw franchise went way, way, way off the rails it had a certain presence and even felt vaguely original.

2004, a simpler time. Still, fair play to former Nine Inch Nails man Charlie Clouser – who would go on to score the opening credits for American Horror Story – for unleashing this dark gem:

Clip via ROMEwolfboy357

The Exorcist

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mike Oldfield.

Under The Skin

Mica Levi’s viola-heavy adventure does exactly what it says on the tin and then some.

Jaws

Law dictates that a list like this must feature the Jaws theme, so here it is.

The Thing

That man John Carpenter again, sloshing paranoia about the place like a fine wine.

The Omen

Because the devil has the best tunes, after all.

Psycho

Same rules as Jaws.

Alien

Despite the 2002 American edition of The Ring somehow ousting Alien from JOE’s World Cup of Horror Movies on Twitter earlier this week, we know you guys appreciate the nail-biting slow burn of Ridley Scott’s space oddity.

If you’ve played Alien: Isolation you’ll know how important sound design is to the Alien franchise, and with a tagline like ‘In space, no one can hear you scream’ you really have to be inventive with your audio approach.

And so it was that legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith dug deep, essentially ripping his own soul out of his body* and processing it into one of the greatest scores ever created.

*Metaphorically speaking. We think. We weren’t there, so who knows?

Oh, and, yeah, Alien is a horror film so don’t start.

Hellraiser

We have such sounds to show you.

Dare we say it; Christopher Young’s central theme isn’t a million miles away from the Alien score?

Give it a go, sure.

And now we reach the part of the article where the only way to sign is off by lumping in something from Spice World: The Movie as some hilarious jape.

But we’re going to take the high road here and wish you all a happy, loud Halloween instead.

(Don’t watch Spice World though, not even ironically. It sucks.)

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