Best horror score

[XpatrickX]

Alright since in the other thread people seem to dislike day/dawn's scores....what in your opinion are some of the top movie scores out there?

the music in american psycho is superb...and i have to admit the music in halloween is great too.

[Masterbrain]

Top three horror scores:

The Beyond
Deep Red
Suspiria

[skweemkween]

Hellraiser
The Shining
Queen of the Damned (well, I mean the Jonathan Davis songs,not the movie)
Bram Stoker's Dracula

[RogueSpear]

Pretty much any score by John Carpenter, with Halloween being the best.

Just for the pure cheese factor I love the disco score for Zombie.

[pyscho dude]

Basically any Goblin score, most of John Carpenter's scores, the Day of the dead score, the Demons score, Return of the living dead score and others.

[artguylarry]

This is a subject dear to my heart...so I can pick just one favorite. But I can say the top spot is a toss up. Either The Omen, Halloween or Amityville Horror. VERY creepy. LOVE it.

[Shockwave]

HALLOWEEN. Easily the best score to a horror movie.

The only one that comes close is GREMLINS!:cool:

[martyds761]

Halloween
ANOES
Lost Boys

[Guy Strong]

Halloween
Friday the 13th
Psycho

[Jason13thh]

Phantasm
Sleepless
The Beyond
Jaws
Halloween
The Thing

[saintofscars]

Originally posted by RogueSpear
Pretty much any score by John Carpenter, with Halloween being the best.

Just for the pure cheese factor I love the disco score for Zombie.

I agree with all that. If you like the Zombie score check out the one in Madman...(yes, I keep mentioning this film until everyone's seen it!!!!!! Mwhahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!)

[ANTBond007]

I love the scores to Halloween and Hellraiser II.

[Mr.HyDe807]

Definitely The Shining, its so damn creepy and sits in with the vibe of the movie perfectly

[Brett Talley]

Either HALLOWEEN or AMITYVILLE HORROR

[KillerKlown]

Dawn Of The Dead
Suspiria
The Beyond
Donnie Darko
Halloween

[SteveSzyk]

There is no question it is Suspiria. I just got back into this disc and am loving it more than ever before. "Sighs" and "Witch" are the scariest songs ever made, and the main theme is legendary and brilliant. "Markos" is ridciculously cool and "Black Forest" is the perfect lush contrast. "Blind Concert" is an upbeat contrast and is funky and incredible.

Not only one of the best horror scores, but one of the best rock instrumental albums of all time.

[Cronos]

Suspiria
Zombie
Halloween

[psycho path]

Best Horror Scores:

Amityville Horror 1 and 2: The Possession

Pet Sematary

The Haunting(Both versions had great and eerie music.)

Rose Red

Deep Red

A Nightmare on elm street

Halloween(Dont like the movie that much, but the score is really good and scary.)

Jaws(One of my top ten music scores, and movies.)

House by the cemetery

The Fog

Honorable Mentions: Hell Night, Suspiria, The Night Flier, The Changeling, Signs, Cabin Fever, Stephen Kings IT, The Haunting of Julia.

Worst Horror Scores:

Ghosthouse(Besides the nursery rhyme, this film has some pretty cheesy music.)

Dont go in the woods

Edge of the axe

Honorable Mention: Superstition(Not horrible, but not that great a score.)

[darchangel]

of course, halloween and psycho

i don't know if this counts as a score per se, but i really liked the audio effects in the shining. i thought the scenes with the natural sound were most creepy,especially the parts where jack was throwing the baseball against the wall and where danny was riding his bigwheel through the halls.

kubrick is, was, and always will be the freaking man!


"talk hard. steal the air."

~darchangel~

[sarah1980]

Psycho
Halloween
The Omen
Queen Of The Damend
The Lost Boys
The Thing
Donnie Darko

[BloodMan]

Ginger Snaps definitely has one of the moodiest scores ever!!!

Nick

[countchocula]

Only one mention of Phantasm and no mention of TCM?

[poopontheshoes7]

JAWS
GREMLINS
HALLOWEEN
FRIDAY THE 13th
FREDDY VS JASON
PHANTASM
SUSPIRIA

[Odd Emu]

I consider Suspiria the creepiest score to a movie ever. For all the reasons SteveSzyk mentioned.

Halloween is what I'd put at 2nd for getting my heart pumped but it can't reach anywhere near where Suspiria can for sheer suspense.

[artguylarry]

Originally posted by Mr.HyDe807
Definitely The Shining, its so damn creepy and sits in with the vibe of the movie perfectly

Good call. I hadn't thought about that one.

[TheAxeGrinder]

The Shining

The Thing

The Fog

Halloween

[kirkman316]

Any score in a John Carpenter is a classic:

Halloween
Escape From New York
Thing
Fog
Prince of Darkness
In the Mouth of Madness
Vampires

All great scores.

[Giselle]

Hellraiser has a beautiful score, The Exorcist, and what little music there was in The Ring.

[Ripper1888]

Psycho
Halloween
Suspiria

[IamNoOne666]

only ones that come to mind are Return OF the Living Dead, Dawn oF The Dead (GOBLIN FOREVER), House Of 1000 Corpses. Something i'd like to vent, it still pisses me off that Re-Animater one of my favs ripped off Psycho's score another one of my favs.

[Lizarrd]

American Psycho was perfect....

[MickeyKnox]

John Carpenter's The Thing
The Fly
Videodrome
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Interview With A Vampire
Jaws
Dawn of the Dead
Psycho
Halloween
The Shining
The Omen

[ICP RULZ]

My favourite score is Friday the 13th. I also love the scores to Cannibal Holocaust,Salo and finaly Zombie

Peace,
Matt

[Horrorific]

It has to be Halloween.
Then comes the score for Resident Evil by Marlyn Manson.

[Boba Joe]

Resident Evil .

[sarah1980]

One score that hasn't been mentioned is the wicked score to Firestarter by Tangerine Dream

[Jason13thh]

Sleepless ( The Goblins )

Mulholland Drive ( Badalamanti )

The Beyond ( Frizzi ? )

The Thing ( Ennio Morricone )

Phantasm ( ? )

Christine ( Carpenter )

[fevers]

Dawn of the Dead
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Shining
Halloween
Donnie Darko

[Luke-Abbott]

Ginger Snaps
Nightmare on Elm Street
Event Horizon
Friday the 13th

To name a few...

[EVILxxx]

Reqium for a Dream, if that counts, and then American Psycho.

[Heavenley]

The Amityville Horror
The Shining
Halloween
The Omen

[syxxpac]

Another great score that hasn't been mentioned that I really, really like is the underrated score for Pitch Black.

Catchy tune.

[jagged halo]

As a keyboard player and all round synth-noodler myself, I'd have
to say Carpenters The Fog is one of my favourites, it's utterly infectious, with a haunting smattering of classical piano!. Good stuff!!. I couldn't possibly choose a 'best score' due to the limitless choice on offer.

[WhatsInaName]

I was about to make a new thread for this topic, but I found this thread, so here it goes:

My favorite Horror movie scores are:

Halloween
The Omen (original)
Bram Stoker's Dracula '92
Resident Evil

All these work wonders for their respective movies.

There are many other scores that worked well within their context, like those for The Others, The Ring and most of M. Night Shayamalan flicks, but if I had to Choose favorites, I'd go with the ones I mentioned at the beginning of my post.

[Frank the Tank]

Candyman

Near Dark deserves some mention

Fabio Frizzi's scores (Fulci movies ) deserve some mention for being cheesy, yet having moments where they are completely awesome.

[KillerKlown]

Yeah, Near Dark has a fantastic soundtrack. The only track on the CD that blows is the first one (Caleb's Blues). Other than that, it's awesome!

[Narfellus]

ALIENS
Bram Stoker's Dracula (God, that Annie Lennox song rocks)
The Shining
Slither

I use all of the above (and many others) in regular Call of Cthulhu games for outstanding results. I was particularly surprised at how awesome the "Slither" soundtrack is. Definitely one of my new favorites.

[PSU80]

Halloween, NOES, The Shining. All great scores.

[WhatsInaName]

Originally posted by Narfellus

Bram Stoker's Dracula (God, that Annie Lennox song rocks)


The song (called "Love Song For A Vampire" - how cool is that?) is magnificent. Especially when you hear it as the end credits roll.

[Terror Australis]

Halloween
Friday The 13th
The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
The Descent
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Resident Evil
The Omen (1976)


Woo hoo! 2900 posts!

[dantesan]

Near Dark

Tangerine Dream rules.

Especially during the "burning" scene at the end.

Weirdly though, it's by no means T.D.'s spookiest music. The best I have ever heard from them is on the album "echoes."

[X-Nightcrawler]

"28 Weeks Later" has one of the most intense score tracks ever.

Also, "Silent Hill". Sure, they're all recompositions from Yamaoka's work, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

[Sad man]

Recent movies...

28 Days Later (The same music was used in the sequel)
Resident Evil
The Ring
Ginger Snaps
May
TCM

[X-Nightcrawler]

Originally posted by Sad man
Recent movies...

28 Days Later (The same music was used in the sequel) The same style you mean. I have both soundtracks and they're quite different. "Weeks"' is better in my opinion.

[!MorganOnyx!]

It's a tie between HALLOWEEN and PHANTASM. The former is the more infectious, memorable and all around most instantly recognizable score. The latter is my personal favourite. It's the best score EVER! I could listen to it over and over again. You cannot beat it! Hypnotic, haunting - simply awesome. :)

[teenkiller]

Having finally finished the Phantasm series I can wholeheartedly agree. Coscarelli REALLY knew how to get full use out of that score. Definitely a staple of the franchise and for good reason! Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[MickeyKnox]

Halloween
The Thing
The Descent
High Tension
The Shining
Suspiria
Jaws
Psycho

[LordSimen]

Halloween and the Exorcist have two of the most memorable horror scores I can think of, followed by Jaws and Friday the 13th.

[Henry Lee Lucas]

Tenebre
Candyman
American Psycho :) Genisis?

[mindkiss69]

The original Omen is great. The Exorcist puts you on edge, and Halloween is intense.

[zombievictim]

The ones that really stand out for me:

The Descent
Halloween
American Psycho
A Nightmare on Elm Street
The Shining

[mindkiss69]

I forgot, perhaps, my favorite horror score: Amityville Horror.

The children chorus is spine tingling.

[Cronos]

anything by John Carpenter, not only does he make amazing films he also makes damn great soundtracks

[Le_Big_Mac]

The Omen (1976) is, in my opinion, the scariest film score of all time, but I may still have to go with Psycho as the best. Aside from those:


Jaws
Halloween
The Fog (1979)
Dawn of the Dead (1978) (I love the way it sounds like the music they'd probably have playing in malls at the time)
28 Weeks Later
Jacob's Ladder
Rosemary's Baby

The music in The Exorcist and The Shining isn't original. I'd include them, but I assume the original poster only wants original scores.

[Le_Big_Mac]

The Omen (1976) is, in my opinion, the scariest film score of all time, but I may still have to go with Psycho as the best. Aside from those:


Jaws
Halloween
The Fog (1979)
Dawn of the Dead (1978) (I love the way it sounds like the music they'd probably have playing in malls at the time)
28 Weeks Later
Jacob's Ladder
Rosemary's Baby


The music in The Exorcist and The Shining isn't original. I'd include them, but I assume the original poster only wants original scores.

[Henry Lee Lucas]

I'm surprised no one else is saying Candyman, the theme for that movie is so haunting, and Phillip Glass is a great composer.

[Inglorious]

Suspiria, The Exorcist, Phantasm, any John Carpenter score, and as was said earlier any Goblins score (such as the aforementioned Suspiria), The Omen, Amityville and Requiem are some of my favs.

[stefolof]

I agree with many of the previous suggestions. Suspiria is one of my favourites, the bouzouki line is fantastic. A film with great suspense music I think is La Chiesa by Michel Soavi.

[SkottSkywalker]

My top 10 favorite horror movie music, starting with most favorite to least favorite: :cool:

1. JAWS
2. JAWS 2
3. HALLOWEEN
4. A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
5. FRIGHT NIGHT
FRIGHT NIGHT II
7. SCREAM
SCREAM 2
SCREAM 3
10. HALLOWEEN II

[sarah1980]

Psycho
Halloween
The Omen
Queen Of The Damend
The Lost Boys
The Thing
Firestarter
Jaws
28 Days Later
The Fog (original)
Bram Stoker's Dracula