Horror Film Musical Scores

[TheHallow31]

Which Horror movie do you think has the best musical score and why?

[Murfreesboro]

I don't know if it's the best, but I really like the music from Halloween, also the music from The Exorcist. Both of them have a delicate, eerie feel to them. The melodies remind me of fingers lightly tapping up and down my spine. I think in the case of Halloween, the music actually has a five-beat measure, which throws you off-balance a bit.

[NeverMore]

The music from Candyman always gave me the heebies. Goblin's music from Susperia and Zombi is also pretty creepy. The "La La La" song from Rosemary's Baby?

[tantraman]

Go to Spotiy and look for the In the Halloween Mood playlist then make it a radio station there is a whole bunch of soundtracks from horror movies Its pretty darn good.

[Kolchak]

I like tubular Bells from the Exorcist too.

Pretty much all the themes composed by John Carpenter for his movies. Of course Halloween stands out, but the movie Vampires and They Live with the late great Roddy Piper had some good mood music!

[MauEvig]

I think I like the soundtrack from the Nightmare on Elm Street series to be honest.

I'm going to have to watch the movie Halloween with Michael Myers.

I kind of like Danny Elfman's musical scores to be honest (Danny Elfman is the guy who usually composes for the Tim Burton movies). Not all of the Tim Burton movies are scary per say, but they are freaky and have an eerie mood to them.

[Murfreesboro]

Danny Elfman and John Carpenter are both good. The Rosemary's Baby lullaby is also pretty creepy.

[MauEvig]

I haven't seen Rosemary's baby; but I think after watching Warlock II I'm not sure I'd want to. For some reason I get really creeped out seeing movies about a woman being forced to give birth to the devil's child.

Not only is Danny Elfman a good composer for the eerie sort of ambiance; but he composed what I think is essentially a theme song for our favorite Halloween holiday itself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15ylxkhRB6c

Why the song "This is Halloween!" of course! Not a horror track per say, but I doubt any haunter would be unfamiliar with this one.

Are there other movies perhaps that John Carpenter has composed that I might have seen? I'm sure I have. I've seen a lot of horror films.

[Murfreesboro]

Well, I did a quick Google search on John Carpenter. He directs as well as writing music, so I have trouble knowing for sure which he did for what. I think he wrote music for Big Trouble in Little China, The Fog, and Vampires, as well as others. His father was a university professor of music, so that was in his blood.

He is known mainly for sci-fy and horror, but he did win an Oscar years ago for a short subject, maybe when he was just out of film school. Otherwise his awards all seem to come from the sci-fi/horror aficionados.

RE Rosemary's Baby, that is such an iconic film that my kids wanted to see it just so they would understand the pop culture references. It might not be your cuppa, but it is definitely better made than many horror films. Ruth Gordon even won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in it. Her performance is a comic gem.

Have to love Nightmare Before Christmas!