The right soundtrack can instill terror with just a few notes for years after you see the film. The wrong soundtrack can kill a flick. Don’t believe me? Imagine PSYCHO with a jazz score. WTF, right? Well that’s how Hitchcock wanted it originally. The soundtrack is so important, in fact, that the top four entries on the list are instantly recognizable when spelled out phonetically!
So let’s get to some genius music that has caused most of us to foul our pantalones at some point or another in our lives
1. Jaws
Composer: John Williams
Duh, dUH
What can be said about John Williams work here that doesn’t fall short of praising the most genius horror score of all time. Is there anyone in the world who can enter a body of water without THAT music going through their head? I doubt it. Want to see people walk on water? Play the JAWS theme at the beach and watch abject fear cause people to rise up out of the water and sprint like [email protected] gazelles to the beach. Then prepare to get your ass kicked, so you probably shouldn’t do it. But this score is the scariest, most effective music I have ever heard.
2. Psycho
Composer: Bernard Herrmann
Ee, Ee, Ee
We can all thank our lucky stars that Herrmann talked Alfred Hitchcock out of going with a jazz score for PSYCHO. It would have been a far different movie, and considering PSYCHO basically birthed the slasher genre, who knows what alternate horror universe we’d be stuck in. Perhaps more than any other score except for #1, the music here IS a character in the film. Just brilliant. Ever been scared to take a shower? Thank Bernard Herrmann.
3. Halloween
Composer: John Carpenter
Dee, Doo, Doo, Dee, Doo, Doo, Dee
Carpenter’s main theme is as relentless as Michael Myers and perfectly matches his pace. There’s no hurry because it is pre-ordained that both WILL get you. While I am less impressed with the C-man’s overall work as a composer than some give him credit for, there is no question that with this effort he hit it straight out of the [email protected] park.
4. Friday the 13th
Composer: Harry Manfredini
Ki, Ki, Ki, Ma, Ma, Ma
Let’s be honest. There is plenty of better music earlier on this list. But you can’t get past the fact that Manfredini, with two syllables repeated three times each, created an aural classic that will most likely be with us until the end of mankind (even if we do get it together and survive the next 50 years). It’s just so perfect and permeating that the rest of the soundtrack doesn’t matter.
5. The Omen
Composer: Jerry Goldsmith
To paraphrase Worm in ROUNDERS, “Y’know what Mr. Goldsmith, [email protected] you and your never-ending stream of nightmare inducing music.” I seriously can’t listen to any part of the this score without feeling like Satan is gonna pop out of my basement and say “Howdy”. I wonder if devil-worshippers ever creep each other out? Because that crap scares the shite out of me.
6. Candyman
Composer: Philip Glass
Philip Glass is a certified genius. He writes music like nobody else. Mix that with the imagination of Clive Barker and what the hell do you think you’re gonna get. Pulsing, intense, controlled insanity. I challenge anyone to listen to this in a darkened room and have the balls to say “Candyman” three times without getting scared like a little kid hearing monsters in the closet. This shite will keep your ass up at night.
7. The Exorcist
Composer: Various
Did I indicate that Goldsmith’s ALIEN score was mostly unique? Well, I had to give that caveat because the full THE EXORCIST soundtrack is unparalleled in smashing the listeners’ brains in and making them wonder how they ended up in this [email protected] up world. Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells is the most recognized tune from the film, and it’s great. Much of the other music got left out for arguable reasons (rights issues vs. creative issues), but when you hear it, like it or not, it is powerful shite. If more of the music was actually in the film, it’d be much higher on the list.
8. Suspiria
Composer: Goblin
Argento. Goblin. Classic. The mixture of these perfectly unsettling songs mixed with Dario’s legendary visual style was a combo that served us well through many films. There’s no question, however, that SUSPIRIA, is the one that showed the full power of the duo. Fun ride? Hell yeah!
9. Alien
Composer: Jerry Goldsmith
For pure [email protected] you up tonal assault there aren’t many better examples than Goldsmith’s work here, though much of it didn’t get used in the film. In fact, much of the fear in ALIEN comes from deep echoes in cavernous, metallic spaces. There’s an argument that what Goldsmith did manage to get into the film does brilliantly what the score is supposed to do – enhance each scene without drawing attention to itself. Perhaps that’s why the finished product left out some of the more aggressive moments in the orchestrations, but regardless this is one sick (in the good way) piece of work.
10. Nightmare On Elm Street
Composer: Charles Bernstein
The generous use of synthesizer’s immediately pegs the music as the 80’s influenced child that it is, but it doesn’t take away from the genuine creepiness as the kids (and us) deal with Freddy for the first time. It’s not surprising to find that many have a nostalgic place in their hearts for this soundtrack, but what does surprise is how effective it remains in spite of tragically dated instrumentation.
