Just imagine some of our favorite films and how they would play out if there was no music. Would Jaws be so effective in building that tension and suspense? What about Dario Argento’s Suspiria? Just think of watching that with out the incredible score created by Goblin. Or maybe the vocals in The Omen, with the demonic chanting? All of them make such an impact through audio that registers with the audiences just as much as the visuals, though maybe not as apparent. While Jaws probably effected me as a horror film more so than anything else, it was John Williams score for Star Wars that I really started to understand the power of film music. And have been a strong follower ever since.
So for today’s Friday Favorites, what would be one of your favorite horror film scores? Is it something from Goblin? John Williams? Tangerine Dream, maybe? Christopher Young, Jeff Grace, Bear McCreary, Marco Beltrami, or any of the other amazing composers out there? It doesn’t have to be one that you can listen to by itself over and over, but one that consciously made an impact on you while you were watching it? Was it something that got to you on that first viewing, or one that you heard later and then realized how the music in the film help make an impact on you.
Let’s hear you!
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Id have to go with Fulci’s Zombie. It has aways stood out to me since the first time I viewed the film.
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That opening theme really sets the tone for this film. Really a classic one that is still effective.
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One of my all time favorites is Colin Towns score for THE HAUNTING OF JULIA. Haunting and heartbreaking in equal measure.
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This is an underrated movie to begin with, but I don’t recall the score. Was this ever released on CD??? I think I need to look for this one!
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Like yourself, Jon, I’ve been a massive fan of music from movies, tv, and I’ll also add video games for as far back as I can remember! It was my first musical love even before rock, metal, and everything else that has come after. Score music remains among my biggest inspirations when I create my own music even to this very day! Some of my top favorites are: Carpenter’s The Thing, Interview With The Vampire, Hellraiser 1 & 2, Stoker’s Dracula, Gates of Hell, Cannibal Holocaust, Dawn of the Dead, Phantasm, Aliens,
Night of the Demons, Predator, and Terminator.
Some of my favorite newer scores are from: Inside, Wolf Creek, Triangle, and Let the Right One In.
I’ll get even nerdier and include some of my favorite main themes: Jaws, Candyman, Zombie, Demons 2, Chopping Mall, Slumber Party Massacre, Subspecies, Suspiria, Tenebre, Hardware, Cannibal Ferox, The Fog, and The Exorcist.
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Geez Ryan…so many scores you listed but I’m right there with you…so many themes that made an impact on us. Glad to see you mentioned Interview with a Vampire because I am also a big fan of that one.
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Yeah, sorry, as you can see it’s very easy for me to get carried away when it comes to talking about film music! Lol! I don’t honestly think that I could pick just one from those that I’ve mentioned, cuz it would definitely change the next day! Haha haha!
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I’m going to go with Sisters by Bernard Herrmann. I had soundtracks to all the DePalma films at the time… Obsession, Carrie, The Fury. I’d consider Sisters a “bridge” between Psycho and Halloween, as far as scores go. I mean, Psycho and Halloween are obvious favorites, but Sisters lies somewhere in the middle.
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I remember reading (I believe) an interview with DePalma, where he had used a Hermann score over a rough cut of Sisters so the composer would know what he’s looking for. And apparently Hermman chewed him out because now that was the only music he could hear in his head!
Might have to look into the score for The Fury. Don’t think I remember that one too well.
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So just to give my two cents…okay, this might be more like a buck fifty…
I know this isn’t horror, but besides Jaws, it was Star Wars that introduced me to real film music, which not only had me seeking out others, it also made me look into classical music and became a lover of that as well. Talk about the original heavy metal!
But for film scores, another early one that again showed me the power of a film score (and again, not really horror) was Conan the Barbarian. Such power there. As for horror, Creepshow still remains to this day as one of my favorites. As great as Halloween might be, I just love the score for The Fog and Prince of Darkness. So much depth and atmosphere in there.
I could go on and on for days on this subject…
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Star Wars definitely ranks very highly for me as well! I own the scores for all 9 films, and regardless of the quality of the actual films themselves, Williams music has never lost an ounce of its incredible power.
Funny that you mention Conan the Barbarian, because that is my number 1 favorite score of all time!
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Funny thing about the Star Wars scores, as I know you are as well, the ’79 version of Dracula is another great score, also by Williams. But there are more than a few moments in that score that sound pretty damn close to Star Wars.
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Yes, I did notice that! He was so busy at that point that I chalked it up to that some ideas may have inadvertently spilled over into his Dracula score.
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Also with you on The Fog! That is my favorite Carpenter score.
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My top three favorite music scores from the horror genre would be BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW (also my favorite horror film), THEATRE OF BLOOD, and HANDS OF THE RIPPER. All of these films have amazing title music and can be sampled on YouTube. My top three scores for Sci-Fi films would have to be BLADERUNNER, ALIEN and PLANET OF THE APES,
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Great choices. And over the years, Blade Runner has also become a favorite on mine.
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