My favorite this time of year tends to be Patrick Doyle's Needful Things - which I associate with Halloween and autumn when I first saw it on video many years ago.
Another I enjoy pulling out this time of year - Don Davis' House of Frankenstein. It's just hilariously over the top, and I love it. (Kind of a guilty pleasure version of Goldsmith's Omen scores, which I know inside out so don't play as much any more.)
The new edition of Hellraiser is also terrific, enjoying that one this year.
Halloween (Carpenter) Halloween 2 (Carpenter) Halloween 3 (Carpenter) Bram Stoker's Dracula (Kilar) The Final Conflict (Goldsmith) The Fog (Carpenter) The Phantom Of the Opera (Budd)
THE FOLLOWING POSTS REPRESENT MY SPINNING HORROR SCORES; THEY'RE NOT ALL THE MOST POPULAR BUT I URGE YOU TO PLEASE CONSIDER THEIR MERITS!
ALL THE BEST, HAPPY OCTOBER AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
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It Follows by Disasterpeace has rocketed to the top of my October/Halloween playlists to take its rightful place alongside other seasonal staples. One of the most unnerving, terrifying, audacious horror scores in the past twenty years.
Marco Beltrami has done so much horror music, it's easy to overlook the utterly brilliant scary writing in his ouvre. The Woman In Black is one of his best horror scores, and "In the Graveyard" is a terrific piece, with exquisite writing and outstanding instrumentation and sound design. It opens with one of Beltrami's trademark unique original sounds, then segues into a deceptive, wistful thematic stretch before utilizing amazing sounding strings to usher in moments of terrible unease. Before the two minute mark, faint whispers crawl up your spine in an insidious manner, and then a sustained note carries you along for the rest of the duration, as unsettling growls and effects slither around in the background.
I guess it would be sacrilege not to mention the Young-est of horror composers. I believe his best horror work to be The Exorcism of Emily Rose. The "Interludes" (1-3) are what get me the most...the unbelievable in-your-face female vocals (at once beautiful and haunting), the eerily pitched high tones, the delicately played piano theme variation, the half-screeching/half-screaming effect, the ghostly wailing in the background, the perfectly placed soft strings. What makes these Interludes sublime is how Young allows them to breathe; they gently waft in and out of the foreground -- and that's what makes it so creepy! It recedes into the shadows for a moment, allowing you to breathe a sigh of relief, only to swing back into play for another round of psychological and aural dread. Again it backs off for a few seconds, but then imperceptibly slides back in with another bag of tricks.
I've taught myself the basics of music editing in Pro Tools in the past year, and I've often been able to use it in very interesting and creative ways when I want to try something different with certain cues/tracks of scores. If anyone's interested in hearing my edit of all three Interludes from The Exorcism of Emily Rose in one long "Interlude Suite" (8:12) -- it's basically all three strung together back-to-back as one continuous uninterrupted piece, and they flow together quite seamlessly -- let me know your email and I'll send you a copy.
I've been a massive fan of the huge 80's synth throwback movement that's taken place in many film scores in the past ten or so years. So many examples, but some of my favorites are Jeff Grace's Carpenter-esque Cold In July, Disasterpeace's It Follows, Paul Haslinger's period-specific music for AMC's Halt and Catch Fire, and even though they're not necessarily 80's throwbacks, Cristobal Tapia de Veer's score for AMC's Humans (Season 1) and Rob Simonsen's Nerve.
Which brings me to Rob's Maniac! Definitely fits in with all of the above and is a perfect homage to 80's synth glory in its unabashed primal efforts to provide a unforgivingly cold and uniquely disturbing soundscape to murder by (or be murdered by). It's an awesome score and I'm loving it this month...or any other month, really. Favorite track:
Personally (although largely solitarily) I think that Steve Jablonsky is a master of modern horror music when he's kicking it Platinum Dunes style. Those days seem to be over for the most part, but I love what he's done for those films. I really think that his music is dismissed by way of the baby being thrown out with the bathwater; so many people loathe the remakes (and with the Nightmare on Elm Street remake, they would be correct in doing so) and could miss the wonderful music or think it unworthy of their attention. Don't be that guy! Don't be that gal! Don't be that gender neutral individual!
Nightmare on Elm Street's "Main Titles" -- while obviously not being as original or iconic or creative as Charles Bernstein's original -- are still effectively creepy and wonderfully lyrical, with a great main theme and utterly awesome use of both male and female vocals. Also, yes...there are sensitive, delicate acoustic instruments being played while also being a Platinum Dunes horror score by Steve Jablonsky.
Playing all of my Saw music by Charlie Clouser this month (which is...a lot). Getting ready for the upcoming Jigsaw release on 10.27 and the Saw Anthology releases in late November. I'm extraordinarily well-versed in Clouser's music for the Saw films. I just love them. I love horror music, I love dark music, I love electronics and stuff with an edge and interesting textures and creative sounds, so his work on the series really appeals to me.
Most people on the forum don't care for his work on the franchise, but whoever you ever, wherever you are, whenever you are, whatever your creed, nationality, gender, race, or sexual orientation, I urge you to listen to the following IF and ONLY IF you really do like creepy music that has an inventive sounscape and unusual, interesting textures. An' a rhyming title. Yes, it's atmospheric...yes, it's largely ambient...but you'll know yourself and whether you dig the creativity that is borne out of such parameters.
*pay particular note to what I call the "hell piano" (starts at 0:16 and descends into hell until 0:44 / again from 1:41-1:57).
Nightmare on Elm Street's "Main Titles" -- while obviously not being as original or iconic or creative as Charles Bernstein's original -- are still effectively creepy and wonderfully lyrical, with a great main theme and utterly awesome use of both male and female vocals. Also, yes...there are sensitive, delicate acoustic instruments being played while also being a Platinum Dunes horror score by Steve Jablonsky.
I agree. I don't listen to this remake soundtrack all that much, but I do love this track on it. Very haunting.
