Horror movie music breathes terror into the horror movies, the music may do this by building tension or having a subtle ominous presence. Horror music is used in a variety of interesting and unique ways on this page we are going to look into how the music of horror has developed through the years of cinema to make the audience feel scared when the musical scores play on screen.
Through the early decades of the 1900’s movies where still going through what we call today the silent movie era, this is when the films had no audio at all meaning there was no dialogue or music to increase the fear factor of the horror movies. However in 1935 the movie the ‘Bride Of Frankenstein’ was released by Universal Pictures, this film was directed by James Whale and the music was composed by Franz Waxman. This film was made in the Golden Age of Hollywood film which is known for it’s romantic sounding musical orchestration. This film also had lush and romantic sounding orchestration within it’s musical scores, however it’s pulsating rhythm in the timpani’s had a sinister and menacing tone to them. The musical scores in this film are very dominant and easy to hear within the film making it a large presence within the scenes of the movie, this is used to create sinister and aggressive scores within the film.
In Dracula 1958 was a Hollywood horror movie directed by Terrence Fisher, the music was also composed by James Bernard. In this film the music is a form of personification of the main villain of the movie which is Dracula. The musical scores in this film are filled with heavy instrumental orchestration which the film is highly reliant upon, the music is made to make the scenes in the film be more horrifying and scary to the watchers of the film in 1958. The music will reflect on Dracula’s actions and movement which are displayed in the film, for example when Dracula is creeping around the set the music will reflect on his presence with dark and lurking musical qualities. The main theme for Dracula is made up of only 3 notes which make up a sinister and malevolent presence within the music, this score is played every time Dracula is shown or mentioned within the film. This warns the audience that something is not right in the film creating an ominous presence.
Physco was a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in the year of 1960, the musical scores for this film where composed by Bernard Hermann. This film was not just revolutionary for film making and cinematography but also for the future of film music composition. The music in the opening scenes of physco are moody and unnerving however they are very subtle in the scenes of the film, the lingering ominous tone to the music suggests something is bad is going to happen to the character in the film. Later on in the film the music get’s a lot more intense and chaotic when awful things begin to happen on the set of the film such as on screen murders. The film physco is home to one of the most iconic scenes of all time, the scene I am referring to is the shower scene where it shows a man stab a women through a shower curtain. The music in this scene is made up of string stingers which create an aggressive and sinister orchestration which evokes terror through the screen to the watcher. This music is pure chaos and reflects on the desperation and panic of the victim on screen, the evil and aggressive tones of this music are made up of clashing notes and harsh string tones which gives the music an aggressive and horrifying tone to it. Physco set of a trend in the film industry called jump scares, we still see this technique used in almost every horror movie today. A jump scare is a fright that comes very unexpectedly in an instant of a moment on screen, this causes the viewer to be shocked from the scare. Physco used loud clashing and harsh orchestration which stand out in the film and shock viewers with the ear piercing aggressive score made just to scare the audience.
Jaws 1975 is an iconic movie we all know directed by Steven Spielberg and the music was composed by famous Hollywood composer John Williams. The Iconic theme for jaws is made up of only two simple notes, this theme was made to personify the shark in the film as it swims closer to unsuspecting victims. This 2 note motif varies in tempo depending on how close the shark is to it’s prey, the closer the shark get’s the faster the rhythm get’s of the two notes. John Williams also added heroism and more orchestration to this score with strings and brass instruments, this gives the a brighter tone to it.
In 1976 the first mainstream horror soundtrack was made with the introduction of vocal tracks, this was seen in the movie The Omen directed by Richard Donner. The music for this film was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, this soundtrack did a very good job on creating a dark and evil choir themed soundtrack for the movie. This film was based around the theme of the anti-Christ which was fitting for the music as it sounded like it came from straight from hell with it’s demonic and hellish tonalities in the music. Vocal tracks from then on could be seen in other horror movies, on example of this for the movie Friday the 13th. The theme for Jason (villain of film) was based around one vocal track which the composer Harry Manfredini made through his own mouth, he also used the addition of some echo delay to create a spacious and ominous atmosphere through his music. Along side this vocal track the composer also added instruments such as string pulses similar to the ones used in the film physco, this created tense and chaotic atmospheres within the music. Susperia is a film that also used vocals to create a disturbing and evil theme in the movies soundtrack, however it adopted elements of rock and included synths in the music’s instrumentation, this later encourages experimental and more technological horror movie soundtracks for future movies.
In 1978 the movie Halloween was released, directed and composed by John Carpenter. This movie brought the horror to everyone’s front door as the film was about a massacre on a neighbourhood block. The music reflected on this theme with the terrifying screeching and droning strings of the composition along with it’s growling brass. The soundtrack was similar to Golden Age films in the fact that it had a strong character theme for the villain of the movie that is dominant in the films audio. Viderome was a film about a man plugged into virtual reality for a long period of time leading to him eventually losing track of what was real. The music reflects on this story by combining string orchestra with digital samplers using a synth, he then mixed them together until they where both obscure. This was a great example of story telling through the music as the theme of instrumentation heavily reflects on the story of the film.
Stanley Kubrick’s the shining released in 1980 was composed both by Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind. The main title sequence for this film was a synthesised adaptation from the symphony fantastique, all the other musical scores in this film were re- purposed. In this film the music often reflects on Wendy’s anxiety, for example when Wendy is flicking through the pages of a book in one specific scene the music get’s more intense and chaotic as she flicks through more and more pages.
Many horror movies use music as a form of irony within the scenes which make it feel misplaced and unnatural in it’s environment. This sense of juxtaposition has sometimes been composed by the the film music composers for this very same reason of creating irony within the film. A lot of horror movies revolving around a group of teens often start with summer hits to make the film feel like it has a theme of freedom and light hearted fun. This will leave the audience unprepared for when the horror begins in the movie. Films such as 28 days later use instruments such as guitars and drums which we all recognise, but then they manipulate them to make them sound unnatural and disturbing, overall creating an unsettling atmosphere within the music. Some horror movie directors like to create fear in the audience through lack of music, this is because they do not know what to think or expect as their is no music telling them what to feel. This means the film must rely on sound design to create fear within the movie.
Reading List
Reverb, 2018. What Makes Horror Music Scary? A Brief History of Horror Movie Music | Reverb. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1iWbKlDt54> [Accessed 16 June 2021].