Scary movies are as old as cinema. This makes plenty of sense, considering that film is based on a precarious illusion, a trick of the light — still images posing as motion — an alternate sensorial universe of hidden corners and menacing shadows.
Horror knows no bounds; it finds nourishment in our deepest phobias, and liberates both creator and viewer. The same applies to the composers entrusted with the difficult task of expressing the abhorrent and ghostly in sound and melody. From Bernard Herrmann to Jerry Goldsmith and Pino Donaggio, many musicians found in horror and suspense the spark to create some of the most memorable work of their careers. These 10 soundtrack albums set the scene for some of film's most visceral frights — press play and move to the edge of your seat.
Vertigo - Bernard Herrmann (1958)
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 tour de force often appears on critics’ lists as the greatest film of all time. A sumptuous meditation on memory, erotic obsession and the power of film to hypnotize sensitive viewers, Vertigo works its magic in circular, self-referential patterns. And once you catch onto the inevitability of its tragic ending — this happens about halfway through — it becomes unbearably painful to watch.
In reality, the plot is an elaborate magic trick, and part of the spell is cast through Bernard Herrmann’s hyper-romantic score. Marked by ominous brass, bombastic drum beats and sinister harp lines, the score is as self-obsessed as the film itself.
Psycho - Bernard Herrmann (1960)
The most disturbing element of Psycho is not the inner world of Norman Bates, but rather the glee with which Hitchcock can transform a savage murder in the shower into a beautiful ballet of screaming faces and blood spiraling down the drain in inky black and white.
Following his epic work on Vertigo and North by Northwest, Bernard Herrmann was on a creative roll, and this particular score is the final installment in a sublime trilogy of romance motivated suspense. The shrill dynamics of the shower sequence are memorable, but the escape of Marion Crane with the stolen loot and plenty of remorse is brilliantly punctuated by a restless chorus of strings and an exotic melody that keeps moving the plot forward.
Jaws - John Williams (1975)
Before Star Wars and Jurassic Park, before Indiana Jones and Harry Potter, John Williams showcased his genius with his two-note tuba impersonation of a shark inching closer and closer to its prey. Williams has always borrowed liberally from Debussy and Stravinsky, and at times his score assumes the joyful grandeur of an old style pirate flick. The lonely, aquatic harp notes following the attacks are gorgeous.
Suspiria - Goblin (1977)
An opera of witchcraft and entrails told in saturated primary colors, this masterpiece by Italian director Dario Argento is one of the most unsettling and surreal horror spectacles ever made — it defined the very essence and anarchic tendencies of the splatter genre.
The music was equally memorable, created with Argento’s input by progressive rock band Goblin. A combination of trippy psychedelic effects with clanging industrial noise and exotic melodic patterns, the soundtrack achieved legendary status and is often performed in concert with a live screening of the film. A botched 2018 remake — with music by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke — only underscored the utter brilliance of the original.
Halloween - John Carpenter (1978)
The idea of a film director composing the score of his own movie was a rarity when John Carpenter turned American horror upside down with the raw, low-budget, female-centric scarefest that was the original Halloween. Stylistically, it followed on the brutality of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), but with a more mainstream sensibility. The awesome score — a sequencer, odd time signatures, a creepy electro keyboard line — spawned many imitators but remains unsurpassed to this day.
Dressed to Kill - Pino Donaggio (1980)
Pino Donaggio’s music for Brian de Palma’s love letter to Psycho — a vulgar film tribute if there ever was one, but still brimming with garish delights — may well be the most perverse horror score in history.
Donaggio was a ‘60s pop hitmaker in his native Italy, which accounts for his talent for syrupy melodies.
In Dressed to Kill, the strings tower and linger, caressing the ears with soft-core female choruses while the screen is soaked in blood — the elevator sequence is sickening and operatic at the same time.
De Palma envisions horror as sensuous liturgy, and Donaggio is definitely on the same page. Their collaboration would continue with equal intensity on Body Double.
The Thing - Ennio Morricone (1982)
Critically panned when released, The Thing found director John Carpenter on a creative high. A movie unlike any other, its narrative festers on layers of distrust, paranoia and repulsive visual effects.
The film benefits tremendously from a glacial orchestral soundtrack by Italian master Ennio Morricone. Not all of it was used in the final product, as Carpenter decided to enrich some of the scenes with electronic tones of his own creation. The blend of symphonic and abstract is fascinating.
Blue Velvet - Angelo Badalamenti (1986)
There are echoes of Vertigo in Angelo Badalamenti’s sweeping intro to the darkness of Blue Velvet. David Lynch’s magnum opus offers delirious psychological terror, an authentic slice of American gothic laced with unforgettable characters and the sweet promise of redemption lurking just around the corner.
At its best, the movie hints at an ever engulfing darkness beyond human imagination. When sunlight returns, Badalamenti’s minimalistic melodies — coupled with a carefully curated selection of oldies — become especially poignant.
Basic Instinct - Jerry Goldsmith (1992)
A walking contradiction of a thriller, Basic Instinct is unrepentantly trashy, but can also turn slick, eerie and sophisticated when the mood strikes. It is the tension between the film’s Hollywood histrionics and the arty impulses of Dutch director Paul Verhoeven that makes it such compelling entertainment — together with Sharon Stone’s star-making performance. Verhoeven found a trusted ally in veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith (celebrated for 1976’s The Omen.) His sinuous opening theme is unforgettable, evoking the majestic frisson of a Hitchcock classic.
Midsommar -Bobby Krlic (2019)
Beware of Scandinavian pagan rituals. Writer/director Ari Aster wrote this deeply disturbing, hallucinogenic nightmare of a film while listening to Excavation, a 2013 electronica album by British composer Bobby Krlic (aka The Haxan Cloak.) In a case of poetic justice, Krlic ended up writing the layered score to Midsommar – and the music itself plays a lead role in the narrative. Horror has rarely sounded this beautiful.
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