I started watching horror movies in Grade 7, giving myself quite a scare with my first run at The Ring (the original Japanese version, which I think is way better than the remake). Needless to say, I steered clear of the horror genre for a good few years after that.
During Grade 9 however, I devoured Stephen King’s collection of essays on horror, Danse Macabre. That same summer, I took part in an advanced music history course with an incredible teacher who took liberties to expose us to some very intense, very fascinating music, including a piece in the list below. Since then, I’ve developed a love for horror movies, but even more so for their soundtracks. Here are just a few of my favourites.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV8i-pSVMaQ
Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975) – Main Title (Theme from Jaws) by John Williams
Starting off this list is the Academy Award winning, immediately recognizable Jaws theme. Held together by a sinister-sounding, persistent ostinato bass, this piece utilizes the inherent tension of alternating between the leading-tone and tonic degrees in a simple two-note pattern. It’s suspenseful, grinding, and fills listeners with nervousness.
2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968) – Atmospheres by György Ligeti
Any musical score that can make a black rectangle seem dangerous is pretty incredible. 2001: A Space Odyssey isn’t a horror movie, but Stanley Kubrick’s intelligent pick of György Ligeti’s shimmering, unsettling Atmospheres gives its scenes a nervous tension. Through the use of micropolyphony and measureless, uncomfortablely vague tonalities, it creates an impression of a slow strangulation.
Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978) – Halloween Theme by John Carpenter
Atonal and minimalistic, Halloween’s theme song was composed by the director himself and is based upon a very simple piano melody written in compound ⅝ time. It’s among the most iconic of horror movie soundtracks, and I imagine that getting home after hearing this music is one of the scariest experiences in the world.
Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1967) – Lullaby by Krzysztof Komeda
This opening melody from Rosemary’s Baby is beautiful and fragile. In other circumstances, it would, as its name would suggest, be a comforting lullaby, but there’s something in this track that gives it a haunting, disarming chill. Instead of the jump scare that so many soundtracks aspire to, Lullaby slowly immerses you in the movie, slowly peeling back layers to expose the vulnerability of the protagonists and the disturbing nature of the situation they have found themselves in.
Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) – The Murder by Danny Elfman
The aggressive, screeching strings used in Danny Elfman’s The Murder theme are what make the legendary shower scene as scary as it is. Watching the movie without sound makes it very clear just how crucial the score is. This track is jarring, shiver-inducing, and succeeds tremendously in terrifying audiences.
Honorable Mentions: Silent Hill, The Shining, The Silence of the Lambs, Shutter Island
