Horror movie scores

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 1:16am

People mentioned their love of the scores of various movies in the "Lesser known Halloween movies" thread. It got me thinking about favorite horror film scores.

I love John Williams's "Dracula" score. Also Claudio Gizzi's scores for Andy Warhol's "Dracula" and "Frankenstein."

Others?

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 6:36am

Bernard Hermann - Psycho
Pino Donaggio - Carrie / Don't Look Now
John Carpenter - Halloween
Bride of Frankenstein - Franz Waxman
Bram Stoker's Dracula - Wojciech Kilar
The Omen - Jerry Goldsmith (his only Oscar)
Jaws - John Williams
From Hell - Trevor Jones

And unofficially (since it wasn't written for the movie):

Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells - The Exorcist

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 10:38am

Nobody did horror movie scores quite like the great Jerry Goldsmith. Even drek like HOLLOW MAN, LINK had the THE HAUNTING remake had scores of pure gold.
Some of the score of LINK

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 10:43am

While finally catching up on American Horror Story last night, I caught a total rip off of Kilar's Dracula score.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 10:53am

My favorite horror film scores are:

POLTERGEIST - Jerry Goldsmith
CARRIE - Pino Donaggio
PSYCHO - Bernard Herrmann
THE OMEN - Jerry Goldsmith
HALLOWEEN - John Carpenter
THE FURY - John Williams

[romantico]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 10:55am

I always loved the music from THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS but then again, I just love that movie so I might be a little bias on that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qPlhkgnRrs

Of course, ROSEMARY'S BABY is pretty spooky as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQFwW8eAy4U

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 11:33am

Needful Things - Patrick Doyle

[uncageg]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 11:55am

My all time favorite is the opening to Amityville Horror:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiWoF8tx6Zw

My second is Tubular Bells

[strummergirl]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 1:25pm

Good choices already mentioned. Ones not mentioned yet that I am very fond of are:

Goblin: Deep Red, Suspiria, and Dawn of the Dead.

Phillip Glass, Candyman

Ennio Morricone, John Carpenter's The Thing

[morosco]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 2:09pm

Ennio Morricone's score for John Carpenter's THE THING. It puts you on edge right from the start of the film.
Ennio Morricone - The Thing (theme)

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 2:26pm

Just to add a little more Jerry Goldsmith love...the score to Alien. I really love Goldsmith's score to Gremlins too, even though that really isn't a horror movie.

[morosco]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 2:31pm

SIGNS has a pretty good score too. You can hear the highlights of the score here.
Signs trailer

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 8:54pm

I have a question for any of you still watching American Horror Story (which I am not) ...

Are they still using old movie scores? They used Bernard Hermann's "Vertigo" score in the first episode.

Just wondering.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 10/22/11 at 8:46pm

Really love Marco Baltrami's score for SCREAM. Not so much his additional work for SCREAM 2, 3, and 4.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 10/25/11 at 6:14pm

"Are they still using old movie scores? They used Bernard Hermann's "Vertigo" score in the first episode."

Yep, they used part of the score from Bram Stoker's Dracula in the last episode, and I think they might have used part of the Psycho score in another ep.

I think the score for the slasher movie The House on Sorority Row (starring Eileen Davidson aka Kristen from Days of Our Lives!) is underrated: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkG5WfjNDq4

I also kind of love the cheesy/creepy theme song from the Melissa Sue Anderson slasher Happy Birthday to Me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6kmD5upbcE&feature=fvwrel

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/25/11 at 6:31pm

David Buttolphs score for the original House Of Wax really adds to the film. Listen to it ( and the movie) with the lights out. This one really sticks in your mind.

Updated On: 10/26/11 at 06:31 PM