2014/2015

the music room

ELLEN OCHOA LC

MUSIC IN HORROR FILMS

Sound is very important in all films, but in Horror
films it becomes a huge part of the overall package. When
you see someone walking down a street at night, the
choice of music can change this from a gentle relaxing
stroll to an ominous1"something's going to happen any
minute" feeling. In fact because of the extreme nature of
the plots in Horror films, it can give composers the
freedom to experiment with unusual styles and techniques
that couldnt possibly be used on mainstream films. For
that reason, horror films have been, in a sense, at the
forefront of musical expression for general audiences, and
composers have used modern avant-garde2 methods of scoring and electronic effects to a greater
extent than in other film genres.
In the UK, the Hammer Film Studios created many horror films from the 1950s through the
1970s. A number of composers were involved in these films, but it was James Bernard who
created the signature sound for many of their key movies, especially the Dracula and
Frankenstein movies. The music for these films also seemed to transport the viewer into a
different world, a world that was uneasy and foreboding3. Together, with Christopher Lee and Peter
Cushing as their main stars and the music of James Bernard, these films seemed to inhabit a
different realm where strange things happen. For the Dracula character Bernard used a sequence of
strong dark chords in an unsettled tonality.
Other composers have opted for a
much more minimalist4 approach. Much of
John Williams music for Jaws is bright and
energetic as people enjoy themselves in the
water, yet his Jaws Theme itself springs from a
short motto of only two notes. Those two notes
are recognized by millions across the world and
now symbolize a lurking underwater menace. A
minimalist theme was also used by John
Carpenter on his film Halloween. The impact
is similar because you instantly know that the
bad guy is getting closer. In this case, Carpenter used a repetitive piano pattern with 5 beats in the
bar and some dark brass notes. Both these themes have been so successful that they have been
used in many sequels and other films.
Bernard Herrmann's film music was often in
the thriller category, but he made significant
contributions to the horror genre with his screeching
string instruments in the shower scene of Psycho,
the electronically enhanced bird noises for The
Birds and ominous 4-note motif for Cape Fear (reused by Elmer Bernstein in the remake). Howard
Shore has also scored a fair number of horror films,
mostly for David Cronenberg. His orchestral music for
"The Fly", while it certainly had moments of suspense
1

OMINOUS: giving the impression that something bad or unpleasant is going to happen; threatening; inauspicious.
AVANT-GARDE: new and unusual or experimental ideas, especially in the arts, or the people introducing them.
3
FOREBODING: fearful apprehension; a feeling that something bad will happen.
4
MINIMALISM: a type of music based on simple elements and avoiding elaboration or embellishment.
2

2014/2015

the music room

ELLEN OCHOA LC

and Horror, also emphasized the human emotional side of

the story.
In the 70s, some movie directors started
experimenting with other music styles. Mike Oldfields
Tubular Bells piano solo was used as part of the
soundtrack of The Exorcist. Tubular Bells was a
progressive rock album and it wasnt composed
intentionally for the movie, but it proved a perfect
accompaniment for the unsettling story that was told in the
film.
Definitely, there as been a very diverse range of
music styles that have been used in horror films; music is
one of the principal elements that contributes to the chilling
experiences that we live when we watch a horror movie. In
order to get that experience, there are some conventions
or techniques that are normally used in Horror Film scores:

Isolated instruments are often used just before a

key event occurs which helps link the idea of vulnerability,
to the audience.
Long suspenseful notes often help contrast with short sharp notes to help shock the
audience
Extreme but intentional changes of pitch tones. For example low long brass notes which
suddenly change to very fast high-pitched notes to make the audience feel immediately
tense.
Use of special sound effects to create a tense atmosphere.

People in general and creative artists in particular have always had a fascination with the
macabre. Why is this? It is a complex subject, but what its true is that this interest has been
present in all art manifestations. In the art world we have artists like Hieronymus Bosch and
Salvador Dali, while in literature there are the disturbing short stories of Edgar Allan Poe, and novels
by Mary Shelley (Frankenstein), Robert Louis Stevenson (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) and Bram Stoker
(Dracula). Composers have also looked to some dark subject matter as the inspiration for their
compositions, and this article has tried to present some of those examples of music in horror films
and the special techniques composers have used to make their compositions genuinely scary.

Read the text above and answer the following questions:

1. Write a bulleted list with the name of, at least, 4 composers of horror films and the name
of the movies they made the music for.
2. Why does it say the text that music for Horror films is more advanced than music for
regular films?
3. Explain with your own words what is MINIMALISM and cite two composers (and their
movies) that used this technique in their film scores.
4. What instruments were mainly used for the soundtrack of Psycho? Which ones were
used in The Exorcist?
5. Explain, with your own words, 2 conventions or techniques that are used to create the
chilling effect in a Horror Film soundtrack.
6. Write a paragraph of 5-10 lines in where you explain why do you think people like
watching scary films and how do you feel about horror movies.