Five Themes to Scare Your Ears

There's a lot of fun to be had in a horror movie. The violence, the gore, the stupidity of most of the characters... One of my most favorite pieces to any horror film is the music. It can make a bad movie interesting; it can make a boring movie absolutely creepy. Here are five horror movie themes to scare your ears!

City of The Living Dead: Main Theme 

If you've read this blog for very long, you'll realize that most of us love a good zombie movie. While most prefer the rough and rugged American style (Night of the Living Dead, etc), we have a soft spot for the Italian flicks as well. They are usually a little gorier, and normally have a weird reason for the dead to roam the Earth. 

City of the Living Dead, a film by horror master Lucio Fulci, is a perfect example of the genre. In the film, a priest's suicide opens the gates of hell and beckons the dead to arise. A psychic witnesses the events in New York and the main characters travel across the pond to stop hell from spewing forth. 

The music is the epitome of soundtracks of Italian horror. Gentle at times, pounding at others, City's main theme will have you watching your back for the living dead!

Phantasm: Main Theme

One of the best things about horror films of the 70's is that they often took old ideas and made them weird. Cemeteries had been used in scary movies since the invention of the genre itself. Yet, the makers of Phantasm took the idea and turned it on its head. The result was one of the strangest, unsettling films of the period. (They even scared us by just having a guy walk down the street!)

The music to Phantasm is equally impressive. It features a simple pattern repeated over a warbling organ/synthesizer. The effect could almost be comical if left to the wrong hands. However, the composers knew exactly what they were doing. Playing this piece with the lights turned low will surely have you ducking under the covers in terror! (Although, that didn't work out so well for the kid in the first film....)

Suspiria: Main Theme by Goblin

Italian Horror legend Dario Argento's frequent collaboration with rock band Goblin produced a number of outstanding, if unlikely, scores. Perhaps the best one of the bunch is the theme from Suspiria. The music begins with a loop that is reminiscent of The Exorcist (or even Phantasm). But don't let the intro fool you. Other instruments slowly begin to creep in. Soon, a demonic voice is added. The music builds to crescendo before the band flies into full swing. The music instantly switches from soundtrack to prog/punk.

The music works much like Argento's directing style. He allows space to fill his scenes, almost to the point of dullness, before lashing out with a gory effect. The theme to Suspiria performs exactly the same way. It is one of the most unusual scores, to be sure, however it is definitely one of the most effective.

Martin: The Calling/Main Theme 

After the success of Night of the Living Dead, director George Romero branched into broader territory. His film, Martin, tells the story of a young man who is convinced he is a vampire. He moves in with his religious relatives so that they may execute him in the traditional ways. The film updates the vampire lore for modern times. Martin doesn't bite his victims, he drugs and drains them. One of the strengths of the film is that it leaves the final decision of Martin's identity to the viewer. Is he really a creature of the night, or a young man suffering mental disabilities?

The film is shot much like Night: in a stark documentary fashion. The music, contrasts the film's look with an elegant piano based score. Other instruments are brought in (woodwinds) as well as a haunting vocal. The dichotomy of the film's look with its sound illustrates the main character's other worldliness.  He appears to be one thing, while just underneath, there is something entirely different.

The score is beautiful and enchanting. Though definitely not one of the greater known pieces in horror films, the soundtrack will have your skin rising at the setting sun.

28 Days Later: In the House/In A Heartbeat 

By the early 2000's, the zombie genre was pretty much, er..dead. Sure, the occasional film would be made, but there were no television shows, games, or much else to be found that dealt with the undead. People had grown tired of watching characters run from slow moving, mindless creatures. Danny Boyle's film 28 Days Later changed all that.  Suddenly, zombies weren't slow any more. They were the crazed, blood thirsty animals they had always been, however they could run just as fast as the humans. The film was a huge success and relaunched the genre in a big way.

Not only did the film deal with the grim subject in a flashier, more compelling way, it handled the music in a similar fashion. Instead of relying on the usual orchestral score with massive hits meant to make the audience jump, Boyle uses ambient artists like Brian Eno to set a more human mood. The main theme of the film, is a triumphant in horror music. It is unnerving, to say the least, however, it holds the sadness of the situation within its simple piano and guitar strumming. You can picture a lone survivor walking down the road to this music. As a figure reveals itself in the distance, a steady pounding of bass is added beneath the guitar. The figure eventually lunges for the survivor; his teeth gnashing and clawing for blood. At this point, the music becomes a frantic mesh of distortion and drums. There is no way not to feel anxious once you start playing this theme.

Posted in: 28 days later,city of the living dead,martin,phantasm,soundtrack,suspiria