The post Let’s Talk About… The Importance Of Music In The Horror Genre appeared first on Entertainment For Us.
]]>It turns out that there is actually a science behind creating a chilling soundtrack. There are certain sounds that are predetermined to make our skin crawl. Clashing piano notes, screeching violins and abrupt pitch changes all trigger our instinct that something isn’t quite right. These kinds of disjointed sounds mimic that of a shrieking animal in pain, informing us that a predator is nearby.
This is why the Insidious and The Conjuring soundtrack has our hair standing on end before we even catch sight of the demon-like creatures lurking in the shadows. We are already clued in from the shrieking violins that trouble is on the way.
While jarring sounds trigger a fight or flight response, silence in movies can be equally unsettling.
One film that stands out in particular as using silence effectively is Robert Eggers’ The Witch. Long, uneventful scenes are accompanied with long, dragged out silences, and we are kept in a state of suspense the whole time. The music itself then takes on the role of the Witch or Satan, who we catch no more than a glimpse of in the film. The silence thus signifies the absence of a tangible monster and yet the snippets of music indicate the presence of an evil lurking in the shadows.
When asked by The Independent what music adds to a film, The Witch‘s composer replied: “I would say that in very general terms, sound is the external world and music is the internal world. If you want the audience inside the character’s head? If you do, push the music. But if you want the audience to focus on the exterior world, you push the sound.”
This makes sense if you compare the jolting violins of Jaws to the more intricately devised film score for the chilling psychological horror Suspiria. While the former uses sound to indicate the presence of an outside threat, the later uses music to portray the trauma of a horror that is very much internal. Both soundtracks are extraordinarily effective and yet the two composers have taken an entirely different approach to orchestrating their respective thematic horrors.
In conclusion, music in horror seems to be most effective when it taps into our primal instincts or toys with our darker internal psychology. When used effectively, silence seems to be the most frightening music of them all. After all, it is not the monster’s face which terrifies, but the prospect of something unseen hiding in the shadows that truly causes our hair to stand on end.
The post Let’s Talk About… The Importance Of Music In The Horror Genre appeared first on Entertainment For Us.
]]>The post Top 10 Chilling Horror Movie Soundtracks appeared first on Entertainment For Us.
]]>Game composer Disasterpeace created a horror score that combines the eerie sounds of horror classics with modern, synthy twists.
Goblin’s film score for the original Suspira was superb. Thom Yorke’s score for the remake, however, was equally chilling.
John Carpenter handed the task of scoring his 1982 masterpiece The Thing over to Ennio Morricone. The score is admirable and remarkably anxiety inducing.
Riz Ortolani’s orchestral score for the gruesome 1980 horror is made disturbing thanks to the unsettling juxtaposition between the beautiful score and the grotesque events of the film.
Kryzysztof Komeda’s score for Rosemary’s Baby is melodic and innocent sounding. This creepily contrasts with the evil lingering in the movie.
Charlie Clouser’s SAW theme fits the dark and sinister basement setting of the movie perfectly. The score builds up suspense and then climaxes perfectly.
Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells” accompanies the horrifying exorcism scene. Oldfield was only 19 when he wrote it.
The mostly music-less film contains just two pieces of music. One of them is the strange and jarring track “In Heaven,” sung by the lady living in the radiator. It’s bizarre and intriguing, just like the rest of the feature.
Jerry Goldsmith’s theme for The Omen definitely helped the movie out at the box office.
Finally, John Cartpenter’s chilling synth theme for Halloween was amazingly composed in under one hour. Nonetheless, it remains one of the most iconic soundtracks of movie history and that’s why we’re putting it at number one.
The post Top 10 Chilling Horror Movie Soundtracks appeared first on Entertainment For Us.
]]>The post Let’s Talk About… The Importance Of Music In The Horror Genre appeared first on Entertainment For Us.
]]>It turns out that there is actually a science behind creating a chilling soundtrack. There are certain sounds that are predetermined to make our skin crawl. Clashing piano notes, screeching violins and abrupt pitch changes all trigger our instinct that something isn’t quite right. These kinds of disjointed sounds mimic that of a shrieking animal in pain, informing us that a predator is nearby.
This is why the Insidious and The Conjuring soundtrack has our hair standing on end before we even catch sight of the demon-like creatures lurking in the shadows. We are already clued in from the shrieking violins that trouble is on the way.
While jarring sounds trigger a fight or flight response, silence in movies can be equally unsettling.
One film that stands out in particular as using silence effectively is Robert Eggers’ The Witch. Long, uneventful scenes are accompanied with long, dragged out silences, and we are kept in a state of suspense the whole time. The music itself then takes on the role of the Witch or Satan, who we catch no more than a glimpse of in the film. The silence thus signifies the absence of a tangible monster and yet the snippets of music indicate the presence of an evil lurking in the shadows.
When asked by The Independent what music adds to a film, The Witch‘s composer replied: “I would say that in very general terms, sound is the external world and music is the internal world. If you want the audience inside the character’s head? If you do, push the music. But if you want the audience to focus on the exterior world, you push the sound.”
This makes sense if you compare the jolting violins of Jaws to the more intricately devised film score for the chilling psychological horror Suspiria. While the former uses sound to indicate the presence of an outside threat, the later uses music to portray the trauma of a horror that is very much internal. Both soundtracks are extraordinarily effective and yet the two composers have taken an entirely different approach to orchestrating their respective thematic horrors.
In conclusion, music in horror seems to be most effective when it taps into our primal instincts or toys with our darker internal psychology. When used effectively, silence seems to be the most frightening music of them all. After all, it is not the monster’s face which terrifies, but the prospect of something unseen hiding in the shadows that truly causes our hair to stand on end.
The post Let’s Talk About… The Importance Of Music In The Horror Genre appeared first on Entertainment For Us.
]]>The post Top 10 Chilling Horror Movie Soundtracks appeared first on Entertainment For Us.
]]>Game composer Disasterpeace created a horror score that combines the eerie sounds of horror classics with modern, synthy twists.
Goblin’s film score for the original Suspira was superb. Thom Yorke’s score for the remake, however, was equally chilling.
John Carpenter handed the task of scoring his 1982 masterpiece The Thing over to Ennio Morricone. The score is admirable and remarkably anxiety inducing.
Riz Ortolani’s orchestral score for the gruesome 1980 horror is made disturbing thanks to the unsettling juxtaposition between the beautiful score and the grotesque events of the film.
Kryzysztof Komeda’s score for Rosemary’s Baby is melodic and innocent sounding. This creepily contrasts with the evil lingering in the movie.
Charlie Clouser’s SAW theme fits the dark and sinister basement setting of the movie perfectly. The score builds up suspense and then climaxes perfectly.
Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells” accompanies the horrifying exorcism scene. Oldfield was only 19 when he wrote it.
The mostly music-less film contains just two pieces of music. One of them is the strange and jarring track “In Heaven,” sung by the lady living in the radiator. It’s bizarre and intriguing, just like the rest of the feature.
Jerry Goldsmith’s theme for The Omen definitely helped the movie out at the box office.
Finally, John Cartpenter’s chilling synth theme for Halloween was amazingly composed in under one hour. Nonetheless, it remains one of the most iconic soundtracks of movie history and that’s why we’re putting it at number one.
The post Top 10 Chilling Horror Movie Soundtracks appeared first on Entertainment For Us.
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