Thursday, October 6, 2011

Top Ten Best Horror Movie Soundtracks


Different kind of music listeners have their own favorite musical genres and music lists. If you are a horror fan, you probably enjoy music that evokes creepiness,weirdness and terror. You can find these pieces on some of the best horror movie soundtracks. Below are the top 10 horror movie soundtracks that you should have in your collection if you love horror movies and the music that enhances their mood. Needless to say, these albums are best experienced in the dark.

1. Halloween: 20th Anniversary Edition

The soundtrack contains the staccato rhythmic devices of Mike Oldfield's classic Tubular Bells, combines them with dissonant The Exorcist-sounding score, and overlaid them with a few simple Grand Guignol-esque synth chords. The results are tracks that unsettle you as it gives you musical pleasure.

2. Jaws: Anniversary Collector's Edition Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

The theme music is so well known, that it automatically elicits a flight or fight reaction. Some say the movie will not nearly be as effective without that theme (a hallmark of a great soundtrack), and won composer John Williams his first Original Score Oscar. So much of Williams’ score depends on the nearly silent tension buttressed by deep, probing notes. It is what empathic movie scoring is all about.


3. The Exorcist: Music Excerpts From (1973 Film)

The soundtrack contains unsettling music and strange sounds from Penderecki and various other artists(including Jack Nitzsche). The classic tinkling of the Tubular Bells haunts you with its insistent sinister rhythm. 'Five Pieces For Orchestra' is absolutely beautiful with an eeriness hard to forget. 'Night Of The Electric Insects' is so full of emotion and thought that one can often become lost in the notes that pour out of the speakers. On 'Polymorphia' the stringed instruments are used to their utmost in the many different sections of the piece. But it is the perfect chord that seizes the finale of the whole piece that will blow you completely away.

4. Psycho: The Complete Original Motion Picture Score

The soundtrack composed by Bernard Herrmann is known Much for the razor-sharp, slashing strings that accompanies the iconic shower scene. Herrmann evokes dread and tension with just a few notes, or captures Janet Leigh's flighty panic in pizzicato as she hits the fateful road to the Bates Motel after impulsively stealing a large sum of money from her employer.

5. Friday the 13th

Harry Manfredini's score is built around eerie whispers that foreshadow the killer's identity and make use of Manfredini's own voice. The soundtrack features music from Night Ranger, The Hives, The Kills and the classic "Friday the 13th theme" by composer Steve Jablonsky. The theme evokes the bloody slashings of the movie.

6. The Omen: Original Motion Picture Score (Deluxe Edition)

With help from orchestrator Arthur Morton, Goldsmith uses splashes of sound to great effect, bending pitches and inserting bursts of atonality until even the cheerful sections (very few) sound spooky. This soundtrack, which won Goldsmith an Oscar for Best Original Score in 1976, plays an enormous role in setting the tone for the classic horror film about an ordinary couple who unwittingly adopt the Antichrist. Composer Jerry Goldsmith won the only Oscar of his long career for this score, whose highlight is the chant "Ave Satani," or "Hail Satan."

7. A Nightmare On Elm Street I & II

Charles Bernstein's score eschews traditional orchestral approaches while employing state-of-the-art synthesizers and sound effects to convey the horror of Craven's suburban dreamscapes. The inorganic, dehumanized tones produced by the composer's synthesizers underscore the narrative's detachment from waking reality. In A Nightmare on Elm Street II, the composer is Christopher Young. The children's song will haunt your thoughts long after you see the movie. The slow, simple chant of jump roping young girls on the street is fantastically horrifying.

8. Suspiria: Complete Version

You get everything in this amazing soundtrack - creepiness, horror, laughter, gaiety, and death. It all blends together in this tremendous music by Goblin. The music also mixes genres, rap-lovers as well as Bach fans have something to enjoy here. Goblin really succeeded more than ever in creating a dark and sinister atmosphere that's perfect for horror movies.

9. Sleepy Hollow: Music from the Motion Picture

Danny Elfman’s frightful score contains dramatic string passages, crashing percussion, and a children's choir . They all contribute to an eerie movie score that never settles on a singular theme. "Into the Woods" is the disc's creepiest moment, where the sounds of strings, brass, and a choir create a web of suspense. There are no dull moments here; whether driving and powerful ("Introduction") or mysterious and ethereal ("Sweet Dreams"), Elfman's score is--as usual--superb.

10. Bram Stoker's Dracula: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Wojciech Killar's score for Bram Stoker's Dracula contains music that is suspenseful, silly, scary, sensual, soft, and spiritual. Furthermore, the music possesses an uncanny subtlety. Even when it rises in intensity, there is still an underlying gentleness that is unmistakable. A whisper on your skin that belies the gravity of the score as it lives and breathes life into the very essence of the film.

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