Proving that one can be typecast even based on what articles they write, here’s an article all about Horror Movie Themes! Specifically, my personal favorite horror movie themes.I probably should’ve done this earlier in the year so Dio and Kuma could do lists of their own, but HEY, there’s always Halloween 2014!
Theme songs for movies have a very similar standing to a lot of iconic Level 1 themes from games, as I pointed out in that ancient article I did back when I wrote articles worse then I do now. They’re usually the first piece of music we hear in the film, or the first piece that stands out- usually because it was MEANT to stand out and stick in people’s heads, are were composed with that idea in mind. That’s why many movie theme songs that aren’t sweeping orchestral suites (although those aren’t exactly exempt from the following rule) are composed using relatively simple melodies and repeating refrains. However- as this list should prove- that is not a be-all-end-all clause for a memorable track, and there are plenty of theme songs for movies that remain ingrained in the memory of cinema snobs and movie geeks the world over in spite of having a more complex arrangement and composition. But, alas, I’m getting sidetracked. If you want a general sweeping statement about what I think makes a “good” horror movie theme song or what unites all my choices, you’re shit out of luck. The songs that have stood out and stuck with me do so for different reasons, and I fully intend to say my piece on all of them. So, without further ado, let’s dive in and crank up the Hell Harmonies once again, Lunies, as we delve deep into the realms of audial terror...
As for why I picked 9? Because I'm an uncultured swine and I couldn't think of a tenth.
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HONORABLE MENTION: Stephen King’s “The Boogeyman” Theme (John Coté)
If you’re shocked you’ve never heard of this Stephen King adaptation, don’t be. Included as the second half of a double feature that included the very-much-not-a-horror-story The Woman In The Room, both originally short stories written by King in the 70s, and it’s fair to say nobody really remembers them. I certainly don’t, but if the quality of both of the halves of the double bill are anything to go by- especially the Boogeyman half- they probably weren’t some of his best anyway. The long and short of the story is that this bloke, Lester Billings, is tormented by memories of the deaths of his children and his inability to prevent them. Couple that with accusations of foul play by the police, it’s little wonder Lester pours his heart and soul out to a shrink. Then lots of crazy shit happens, the line “Maybe if you believe in something enough, it becomes real.” is spoken, and then THE SHRINK WHO WAS ACTUALLY THE BOOGEYMAN JUMPS OUT OF THE CLOSET ~OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH~
It’s an incoherent, dreamlike experience, and while some of that is down to style, some of that is down to just plain sloppy film making. It isn’t bad for want of trying, and I admit there is a small bit of creepiness to the whole thing- the constant use of the children’s crying and calling desperately for their father out of terror gives genuine chills and churns the stomach- especially when mixed with the actually pretty nightmarish sound design- and then it blows it by having the buildup lead to a fucking tricycle falling out of a closet. Also, I find it really hard to sympathize with Lester and the torture he's going through when he just flat out fucking hauls ass out of his kids room and leaves him to die; and this is after already losing one kid, mind. The movie does have one good thing going for it though; it’s incredibly short title theme, which is a wonderful little late 70s/early 80s oppressive synthesizer dirge that I am damn sure was intended to be played on an organ, but like hell the production had enough spare cash to rent a pipe organ for half an hour. It doesn’t exactly speak “Semi-Psychological Thriller” to me, but it fits the tone of the story quite well, and goes hand in hand with the weird electronic sounds and equally good synthetic score .It’s pure synth cheese, definitely, but it adds something that could sort of pass as ‘atmosphere’ to the short, if you squint real hard at it.
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9: Hello, Zepp (Charlie Clouser)
Yeah, yeah, I realize this means I’ve already lost a lot of cred in some of you guys’ eyes (and I also cop to cheating on two fronts slightly, as this film is more of a thriller then a horror, and this song plays at the end of the film and not at the start), but just humor me for a second while I make a point; I kinda enjoyed the first Saw. It wasn’t a perfect film and I’d hardly call it a favorite of mine, but it was an interesting concept executed somewhat well. Unfortunately, it gave us a neverending string of genuinely crap sequels with no actual ‘horror’ in them, instead relying on gore so over indulgent and self satisfied it stopped being shocking or comedic and just became tedious, and a complete asspull of a backstory intended to make us feel sorry for the misanthropic egoistic murdering psychopath who’s appointed himself judge, jury, and executioner in regards to people who live a ‘fulfilling’ life and those who can be deemed worthy or worthless people because his wife died and also cancer.
Awesome theme song, though.
About the one constant in the series that didn’t immediately start sucking the very second Saw II assaulted our sensibilities, the song “Hello, Zepp” is a really nice use of blending an ever changing melody and a repeated leitmotif that keeps building and building until it all comes to an absolutely tremendous crescendo, and it’s an absolutely wonderful blend of beautiful strings, some subtle electronica flavorings, and digitally edited and recut drum samples and loops with a delightful psychotic edge that perfectly matches that of Jigsaws. It perfectly captures that specific sense of “Oh, god no.” That feeling of the wool being pulled from over your eyes, as what little you may have clung to completely dissipates; everything you know is wrong, you never had a chance, you and you’re friends are dead, you’ve lost, game over, goodnight Vienna. I admit it’s much more overblown and dramatic then it needs to be, considering the reveal of the film is pretty weak, but I at least get the sense that there was actual EFFORT put in here, not just on the composers front, but on the rest of the production’s crew. That’s more then I can say about the dial-a-follow-up franchise this albatross around the horror culture’s neck spawned.
Alright, now that elephant has been promptly shot, lemme see if I can win back the readers’ (and Dio and Kuma’s) respect~
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8: The Thing (Ennio Morricone)
Shit, do I even need to say a damn thing about The Thing? Because there isn’t a thing I can say that hasn’t already been said and there isn’t a thing I can say that won’t undersell how genuinely fantastic the film was. Thing. ... Sorry.
This is THE film I use as a go-to example when I try to convince people that practical effects are always an option for a film, and that if they could do shit as incredible as that operation scene (you KNOW you know the one; you haven’t stopped having nightmares about it since) back then, imagine what you could do now using shit that’s actually there? Stuff the actors can actually REACT to? It also helps that on top of the amazing practical SFX, the film has a compelling cast, and an atmosphere so thick you could cut it like butter.
And the theme song? Good lord.
John Carpenter scored a lot of his films himself, using synths largely do to small budgets more then intentional design choices in some cases, but for The Thing, who did he bring in to do the music? Fucking Ennio Morricone, that’s who. Yeah, the god damn The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly guy, aka one of the biggest living legends of filmscore. And holy shit, did he do a good job here. If there’s one word for this tune, it’s “Lonely”. This sounds like the very concept of isolation with its minor key, lack of any driving melody, heavy bass synths, depressing strings, and unhinged, airy synths sprinkled on top. Definitely a creepy as all get-out song for a creepy as all get-out film.
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7: Main Theme Of “A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child“ (Jay Ferguson)
To say the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise was in a bit of a state at the time of the fifth films release is an understatement; Krugermania had reached it’s peak and was coming into over saturation, and many people were tired of Freddy. New Line really needed to make an impact with their new film if they wanted to ride the Pasteface Train all the way to Megabuck Land™.
Needless to say, they kinda fucked it. The Dream Child did well at the Box Office, but the critical reception was incredibly uneven and all over the board; many people praised the film for its Gothic styling, but lambasted the plot and the fact that in spite of such lighthearted topics of abortion, bulimia, drink driving, every single moment Freddy and Jacob interact with one another having the most uncomfortable of atmospheres (no doubt intentionally so), and the fact that we bare semi-witness to Amanda Kruger’s assault at the hands of the criminally insane within the first twenty minutes of the film, it STILL tried to push the Tricksy Wisecracker Freddy angle almost as far as it would go, leaving the film feeling very confused. This, ultimately, lead to New Line deciding to axe the series and going out with a huge, epic finale, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare... Which proceeded to push the Tricksy Wisecracker Freddy BEYOND as far as it could go in tandem with an incoherent plot, and topics so grim I’d rather not recount them here. New Line didn’t really have it’s shit all together during the late 80s and early 90s, to say the least.
One of the saving graces of Nightmare 5 is the score, composed by Jay Ferguson, heavily contrasted with the very cheesy selection of Heavy Metal and Rap tracks that were chosen for the licensed tunes, by blending 80s synth cheese with a very gothic ambient compositional sensibility, the most memorable track being this absolutely lovely tune that plays over the opening credits/introductory lovemaking scene between Alice and Dan, which is a brilliantly demented melody that makes great use of a repeated refrain, surrounding it with all manner of strange, warping sound effects, descending scales, an industrial-inspired rhythm, and plenty of uneven pitch bending to create a wonderfully twisted emotional impact. I’d argue that Nightmare 5 actually boasts the best opening composition in the whole series, if not the best score in the whole series, and it’s a shame it isn’t as well remembered as it should be.
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6: In The House, In A Heartbeat (John Murphy)
28 Days Later was an absolutely fantastic early 2000‘s British horror film from Trainspotting director Danny Boyle, and is one of my favorite horror films of all time, specifically because it managed to be so beautiful in being such an ugly film- stylistically, I mean- from the gritty streets of a deserted London, to the old, gothic estate on the outskirts of Manchester, it’s all shot with such loving griminess it’s impossible not to love. A lot of the films effectiveness comes from a combination of a group of awesome actors doing a fantastic job to the production values having a very indie film feel. Also, the speedy, zombie-like (but not actually undead) infected are all presented with genuinely horrific mannerisms and tics that it makes the film creepy as shit- the fact that they don’t even eat you, and instead just try to mercilessly pummel you into oblivion makes them even more terrifying. They’re not even acting on instinct- they are, simply, a force of nature. They ARE rage.
The soundtrack made excellent use of a blend of licensed tracks (let’s face it, you wouldn’t know jack shit about Grandaddy if it wasn’t for this film) and a brilliant original score composed by John Murphy, the most well known track being this one, In The House, In A Heartbeat. Again, I’m slightly cheating, as this isn’t the first song used in the film, but much like Hello, Zepp, it’s become known as a sort of identity song for the film, and indeed the series. It’s such a wonderful song, and part of it’s brilliance is the fact that it captures two very different moods whilst keeping the same key, and using the same progression. The first half of the song is very bleak, bitter, and perfectly suited to a situation as dire as that which has consumed the UK, a simple piano octave that repeats throughout the whole composition, using soft acoustic as and bass guitars, and a nice use of toms and a choir. It makes the song feel empty emotionally even when the arrangement isn’t. Then, for the second half, shit gets kicked into high gear, as a rock beat kicks in backed by fierce distorted guitars, and suddenly the context of the song changes; suddenly it’s very raw, very brutal, very angry and barbaric sounding. The song, too, you could argue, has succumbed to the infection. It’s like the animalistic, primal urges that drive us given musical form. And then, just as suddenly as it came, it stops, and finally the key and progression changes, as the arrangement turns to a lone acoustic guitar playing a somber, but not quite as bleak or hopeless tune.
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5: Creepshow Theme (John Harrison)
What do you get when you put George A. Romero and Stephen King in a room stacked to the rafters with issues of Tales From The Crypt, The Vault Of Horror, and The House Of Secrets? You get quite possibly one of the best horror films of the 1980s, and a wonderful send up of slightly camp, but no less gruesome horror anthologies. Me and Dio are both huge fans of the Creepshow films (well, the first two anyway), and honestly, who can blame us? Be it a greedy, selfish father coming back from the dead, a jerkass germophobe undone by his phobia, an unknowable, featureless blob of pure horror, or a poor dumb hick who just had the unluckiest night of his life, there is something for everyone to love when it comes to both Creepshow films, and this includes the soundtracks!
Thus, my dilemma of choosing with of the two theme songs to go with, as I like both a hell of a lot, but wanted to keep to a strict one-film-per-franchise rule. In the end, I went with the theme from the original film. Sorry, Rick Wakeman; you are a keyboard god and your crazy awesome prog-synth jam from Creepshow 2 is absolutely incredible and very memorable, but the gothic styling and masterful sound design of John Harrison won out in the end just by virtue of being that tiny little bit more fitting!
That blend of SFX, honky tonk piano, wordless choir (and other various vocalizations throughout), ever building arrangement, and synth lines? Shit’s off the chain, son. Perhaps my favorite thing about this theme- and the thing that edges it out above the Creepshow 2 theme- is that while there is a lot of intentional cheesecake to the theme, it’s not 100% dairy. It actually blends the camp “spooky” elements with ones that genuinely horrify. That scraping metallic synth sound that fades in from quiet to loud damn fast at 49 seconds before echoing out? That’s creepy as hell. There are a couple of effects thrown over the storm foley included at points, and the fact that it also sounds like it’s been cut and moved around at points makes it sound much less natural. While the Creepshow 2 theme captures that sense of cheese throughout and never lets up (which is a compliment in this context), the original film’s theme has the exact same mood as the rest of the film; you’re supposed to be afraid, but with a smile on your face the whole time.
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4: Zombi 3 Trailer Music (Steffano Mainetti)
I will totally cop to not having seen Zombi 3 (also known as Zombie Flesh Eaters 2), but I AM familiar enough with it to know it’s legacy as being So Bad It’s Amazing, doing zombies that run, jump and sprint long before Zack Snyder took what videogames were doing to zombies to it’s logical conclusion and changing the face of rotters for the new generation. I’ve tried tracking down more stuff from it besides this trailer, but doing so has alerted me to one alarming fact- this music in the trailer ISN’T the main theme from the movie. I don’t even know if it’s in the movie at all, or if it was even composed by Steffano Mainetti, and the only way I can check is by buying a copy of the film on DVD, which I am not currently in a position to try. So, yet again, I am cheating slightly.
But come on, how could I possibly not include this one? This is synth fusion HEAVEN.
You’ve got brassy synths, a cheesy synth choir/chords belting out some delightfully cliche melodies and progressions, a thumping slap bass and some pounding electric drums, all of which combine to make a track that could not any more perfectly speak of the movie’s quality and content if it tried. You KNOW you’re in for some low budget, gore splattered, Italian grindhouse fun and games that’ll kill your brain cells, but make you feel all the better for it. I absolutely promise I am not being ironic or sarcastic when I say I really, really dig this theme tune, and I sorely miss horror flicks that had songs like this in them.
Also, I love incredibly neurotic film trailers that keep needing to inform you what movie it’s promoting. They’re the best trailers.
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3: Phantasm (Fred Myrow, Malcolm Seagrave)
Phantasm is by now a legendary cult film; one which spawned a franchise of uneven sequels and fully integrated Angus Scrimm as a creature of pure terror beyond the comprehension of man in the minds of many, and it did so through a surreal, fever dream like atmosphere. I have only ever seen the film in very small bits and pieces, but I know of it’s legacy, and I know of the impact this little story about a confused, frightened young lad who is thrown into a world of fantasy far above his understanding around about the same time as he is forced to confront many personal issues and demons. Calling the film “Cult” might be true, but in my opinion it vastly undersells the quality of the production based on what I’ve seen of it.
And it’s theme song is fucking beautiful.
Like many films of the time, it’s theme makes heavy use of synthesizers to create an alien or unknown atmosphere, but it uses these elements for the most part as a springboard for the vibraphone (at least, I think it’s a vibraphone) and Piano driven leads. It also makes good use of mixing a repeating, catchy refrain with continued progression building up on top of it, pushing the song in new directions without changing it too drastically. Also, dem ride cymbals brah. Fucking love that shit. Tonally, I’d say it’s very gothic in nature; not completely nightmarish nor depressing in tone, it sits somewhere between, whilst keeping a suitably surreal air and quality to the whole composition. The whole song feels completely otherworldly, like something that doesn’t belong in of itself.
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2: L'Alba Dei Morti Viventi (Goblin)
Hey, wanna talk about a Zombie movie that’s actually good?
If Night Of The Living Dead laid down the tracks, Dawn Of The Dead was the one that changed the game. This film is single handedly responsible for so much of Zombie culture that I’m pretty sure you’ve had that fact and all the details within soundly beaten into your head by now if, like me, you are a big fan of Biteheads. So instead, I’m gonna point out all the shit it does that most other Zombie flicks HAVEN’T done since- including Romero’s own follow ups. First, there’s the fact that the world of Dawn hasn’t yet completely gone down the sink; in fact, in Dawn, the world doesn’t go out with a bang so much as it does fizzle out slowly and pathetically, which goes a long way to adding a certain tone of hopelessness that is different from the ones usually found in zombie films. There’s the fact that the Zombie’s themselves are more of a force of nature then anything that can be explained or dealt with rationally, yet remain most dangerous when the people around them haven’t got their head screwed on straight. No, the film isn’t perfect- the full cut is a very hefty two and a half hours long and it does sag a little bit in places as a result, not everyone was a fan of blue-looking zombies and the bright, cartoony blood (I personally agree with Romero- it gives the film a really cool Comic Book quality), and yes, that social commentary shtick could not possibly be more hamfisted and heavy handed, but sometimes, it’s the imperfect things which are the most beautiful.
Romero’s original theatrical cut of almost entirely used music collected from the famous DeWolfe library- including the songs Figment by Simon Park, and The Gonk by Herbert Chappell, which has become one of the most well known bits of music in modern pop culture, whereas the international cut created by Claudio Argento used a completely new soundtrack composed by Italian psychedelic prog rock outfit Goblin almost exclusively. However, some of the Goblin tracks, including the movies Theme Song were used in the Theatrical cut. And what an incredible theme it is- 6:15 of pure prog rock badassery, with pounding timpanis, trippy synths, heavy electric guitars, and doom-tolling bells. Much like the first half of In The House, In A Heartbeat, this song gives off an apocalyptic feel, but it does so in a very different way; despite the slow deterioration of the world in-story, this song speaks not of a quiet end of days where humanity grimly accepts it’s fate and fades away. This song speaks of an Armageddon that drags the human race down down, kicking and screaming all the way to the now-overcrowded hell of Romero’s twisted world; one where the dignity of the dead and the sanctity of dying are no longer valid, morality means nothing, and sanity is fast becoming a luxury for only a scant few. It’s angry, but not brutal or animalistic; it’s a desperate and hysteric anger, born of failure to adjust or understand.
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1: It Was Always You, Helen (Philip Glass)
Given that I am synth mad, I bet you were expecting my favorite horror movie theme of all time to the most electronic and cold song imaginable right? You were way off the mark.
First, the film- Candyman. Holy shit, Candyman. That this little film from 1992 is somewhat obscure is deeply saddening, because in my opinion, it isn’t just a good horror film; it’s a god damn triumph of a horror film. It’s ugly, it’s beautiful, is depressing, it’s terrifying, it feels like a nightmare, it’s atmosphere is so well crafted it’s almost a god damn crime. Every single actor gives a good performance in this- even the kid playing Jake turns in a tolerable performance. I’ve seen this film countless times, and there are bits of it that still make me squirm, and bits of it that still make me cry. In fact, calling it ‘just’ a horror film is underselling it; if anything, Candyman is more like a grand tragedy of one having to to try and understand a culture so far removed from their own, being forced to face things that cannot possibly be rationalized, having to face up to the consequences of their hubris, and needing to ask themselves the ultimate question; is it truly better to not have to exist, but to simply be? To live forever in the minds of lovers that cling close in their rapture, to breathe through the writing on the wall, and to watch with mindful eyes over your congregation, your name uttered through hushed whispers with the kind of reverence reserved for the very gods themselves? Whether you must, for the greater good, be HIS victim?
Yes, I am fully aware I sound like such a pretentious and arse licky prick right now, but I think that can be excused of me; I’m talking about one of my top 5 films of all time here, I’m ALLOWED to be a flowery pompus shitbiscuit.
The element that really pushes this film into the realm of gothic tragedy, even above the setpieces and the fantastic acting on the part of Virginia Madsen and Tony Todd, is the score. Holy shit, this fucking filmscore guys. I gauren-fucking-tee you I intend no hyperbole when I say I consider this one of the best, if not THE best filmscore ever written. Phillip Glass is a legendary composer to begin with, but he really brought his A Game to a film where he could have phoned it in, and the film still would’ve been mostly salvageable (and marketable on the gore and slasher flick appeal alone). There is so much emotion, passion, misery and horror in the score of Candyman, that it becomes such an integral part of the franchise itself that to be without it would actually HURT the film. Hell, a small part of the reason Candyman 3 sucked so hard was because the music was so fucking dire. Even Candyman 2, for all it’s faults, kept that same spirit with it’s music- both reusing some compositions, and including new ones (again composed by Phillip), that capture that same sense of longing, that same sense of hope against hope even in the face of a horror twisted by a lust for vengeance and the whims of the modern storytellers that is constant throughout the entire score, through all it’s different variations and leitmotifs.
And it does all of that with naught but a fucking Piano, an Organ, and a wordless choir. That’s the true triumph here; Phillip managed to take the bare essentials and do a contemporary minimalistic score without sacrificing any artistic integrity or any sense of passion for the sake of being “artsy”, and it doesn’t feel like it was at all forced- Phillip damn well knew what he was doing, and he went and did it, and the result is a score that I think puts even the big boys John Williams and Hans Zimmer to shame, it’s that damned good. Especially the song above, It Was Always You, Helen, which I am not afraid to admit has made me cry buckets more then once, especially with how effectivly it's used in the finale. I only wish I could find a clip of it so I could show you how powerful it is, but you're just going to have to take my word for it.
Or, y'know. Go and buy the film. Which you should. Because it's GOOD.
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I got a bit wordy with some of these, but even the ones I didn’t are just as important and I love them just as much, because they all represent everything I love most about music. It’s ability to tune right in to your emotional state, it’s ability to CHANGE said state, and it’s ability to craft an identity for something with it’s sound, it’s choice of melody, it’s key, it’s very use within the context of a work.
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BONUS: Ghostbusters (Ray Parker Jr.)
Fuck you, comedies with the supernatural totally count, ESPECIALLY when they’re comedies with the supernatural that have theme songs this seriously kickass. I mean, come on now, if you say you’ve never sung along to this song, or that you don’t know the words off by heart, you’re a god damned dirty liar. This is the Karaoke anthem of many people’s happy drunken nights, and god I hope it continues to be for centuries to come, because there has never been a more upbeat, funky, catchy song about sending the unquiet dead straight back to hell in the existence of ever, and there is not a single thing about this song that doesn’t rock- the synth bass, the guitar licks, the brassy keyboard leads, the electric drum kit, Ray Parker Jr.’s smooth voice, just... everything. It's the goddamn 80s in song form, and I love it all the more for it.
Alright, I’m out for real this time. Enjoy the tuneage, and as this is my last article for this countdown,
~HAPPY SPOOK DAY~
~ Decon, 29/10/13