Slog News & Arts

Line Out

Music & Nightlife

« Is Masturbation Considered Abs... | Is Hugh Foskett Celibate? »

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Scream-Worthy Soundtracks

posted by on October 31 at 12:14 PM

I’m an unapologetic fan of horror films, and by extension, the role that music plays in scaring people senseless. Audible ingredients are obviously important to movies of any genre, but when it comes to building and maintaining suspense, disorienting or disturbing an audience, or just generally creating uncomfortable ambience, a carefully crafted score or soundtrack is a critical tool for a horror film director.

The first time I remember being fundamentally spooked by a soundtrack was when I heard the ghostly strains of theremin that color the score to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1945 psychological thriller, Spellbound. The theremin (pictured below) went on to become the basis for many frightful features, including The Thing From Another World and The Day the Earth Stood Still, the latter of which was composed by Bernard Herrmann.

leon_theremin300c.jpg

Herrmann ended up being Hitchcock’s most prominent collaborator and the man responsible for The Trouble With Harry, The Birds, Vertigo, and most notably, the stabbing violins of Psycho. Hitchcock was well aware of the gravity sound added to his work, and always gave Herrmann elaborate directions.

Unsurprisingly, late ’70s and early ’80s slasher films were infected by the same plastic sound that was infiltrating pop music at that time: the synthesizer. While this made for more than a few thoroughly unscary, dated-sounding scores, it was this simple, effective element that made Halloween one of the most disturbing movies of that era. In an effort to stay within the confines of his paltry budget, director John Carpenter composed Michael Myers’ tinny, relentless theme music himself.

More recently, I was impressed by the score for 28 Days Later, composed by Canadian avant garde art punks Godspeed! You Black Emperor, a beautifully paced and intricately constructed post-apocolyptic soundtrack. Despite what I enjoy in non-cinematic contexts, I find it completely distracting when directors recruit industrial rock artists like Trent Reznor (Seven) or Marilyn Manson (the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre) to create a what amounts to a music video soundtrack.

Sometimes the sheer absence of sound or the misappropriation of a formerly benign song as the backdrop for something henious is the most effective device of all. David Lynch used Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams” with chilling results in Blue Velvet, as did Stanley Kubrick with “Singing in the Rain” in themerciless rape scene from A Clockwork Orange.

clockwork-orange2.jpg

Locally, one of my favorite connoisseurs of disturbing music is KEXP’s Greg Vandy. Every Halloween, he does a special edition of his Roadhouse show using gothic alt-country and vintage Americana as the foundation. You can listen to this year’s edition here (just click on “most recent show”).

RSS icon Comments

1

A Clockwork Orange's rape scene used "Singing In The Rain", not "In Dreams".

Posted by Fnarf | October 31, 2006 12:39 PM
2

Right, accidentally left that out, thanks Fnarf. Fixed now.

Posted by Hannah Levin | October 31, 2006 12:59 PM
3

ditto FNARF's comment.

it should be noted that the clockwork orange rape scene took the longest to shoot (three or four days) of the entire film and was largely improvised.

kubrick got the rights to singin' in the rain for a ridiculously low sum (something like $10k, which is unheard of today).

Posted by kerri harrop | October 31, 2006 12:59 PM
4

i always get confused between 28 days and 28 days later. which is the really creepy one with sandra bullock?

Posted by konstantconsumer | October 31, 2006 1:07 PM
5

The goblins soundtrack for George Romeros 'Dawn of the dead' and those Agento films like 'Susperia' those synthesizers and howling ghosts effects freak me out

Posted by sputnik | October 31, 2006 1:49 PM
6

Don't forget the best use of the theremin ever: Scooby Doo.

Posted by The_Pope_Of_Chili_Town | October 31, 2006 1:59 PM
7

Actually, that's Goblin, not the Goblins.

Posted by some velvet morning | October 31, 2006 3:34 PM
8

C Average playing a live soundtrack to F.W. Murnau's silent film classic "Nosferatu" on Halloween at the EMP a couple years ago was quite epic and very EVIL.

Posted by timebomb | October 31, 2006 3:39 PM
9

C Average playing a live soundtrack to F.W. Murnau's silent film classic "Nosferatu" on Halloween at the EMP a couple years ago was quite epic and very EVIL.

Posted by timebomb | October 31, 2006 3:39 PM
10

Ditto to #5. Suspiria is a bad movie, but the soundtrack is creepy as fuck.

Posted by Frigidity | October 31, 2006 3:50 PM
11

Who could ever forget the soundtrack to the original 'Omen'? Choruses in Latin, for what have to be the freakiest church hymnals ever recorded.

Posted by Scare Monger | October 31, 2006 7:24 PM
12

Um, Old Testament church hymnals to be more specific.

Posted by Scare Monger | October 31, 2006 7:26 PM
13

That excerpt of " East Hastings" by GSYBE was awesome and made 28 Days Later so good. Too bad they couldn't include it on released soundtrack lp. i mean cd.
The goblins soundtack stuff is wonderful in a creepy prog rock kinda way.

Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai can get hairy and heavy as well.

Too many good soundtracks to choose from!

Posted by biggie J | November 1, 2006 5:32 PM
14

The Rolling Stones cancel a gig in Hawaii and postpone other tour dates as Mick Jagger suffers throat troubles...

Posted by Jay Perrin | November 12, 2006 6:49 AM
15

Microsoft and Peter Jackson postpone the making of a film based on the Halo video game after backers pull out...

Posted by Logan Currier | November 12, 2006 12:43 PM
16

Microsoft and Peter Jackson postpone the making of a film based on the Halo video game after backers pull out...

Posted by Logan Currier | November 12, 2006 12:44 PM
17

Classical singer Russell Watson postpones his forthcoming UK tour after undergoing brain surgery...

Posted by Jared Manzo | November 12, 2006 6:27 PM
18

Alec Baldwin asks for his voice to be removed from an "unfair" documentary about Arnold Schwarzenegger...

Posted by Leon Healey | November 16, 2006 7:04 PM
19

A musical about the witches from The Wizard of Oz breaks West End box office records, its producers say...

Posted by Justyn Brunson | November 17, 2006 12:32 AM

Comments Closed

In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).