Horror movies. Often people tear them down. Making snide remarks about how they’re all the same. Or, they ridicule how the dumb blonde should have run out the front door, instead of upstairs where she would inevitably be trapped. Most of what I just mentioned is true. However, there are many other elements that make the movies come together. Elements that people often over look. For example, the music.
You see, horror movies have been a large part of my life since I was about 8 years old. This is when I got my first taste of horror. I watched “A Nightmare on Elm Street“. Although the movie scared the daylights out of me, I had an uncontrollable urge for more. But it was only recently I came to appreciate the absolute brilliance behind the music in these movies. Many movies such as Halloween, Hellraiser and others that I’ll talk about later have masterfully written theme songs behind them. Spine-chilling piano, screeching violins, arrays of eerie sounding brass and wood-wind instruments. In case you haven’t already detected it, I’m kind of a closet case classical music lover.
All right, before I get into my track by track I’ll do an overall for those of you out there who don’t like to read through TBT’s. Now bear with me here. Describing the overall sound of this album is not an easy task. As this album is a collection of songs from different composers. There’s plenty of violin throughout. Ranging from high-pitched squeaks to low, soft, soft suspenseful notes that will make your skin crawl. A fair share of piano as well. Usually starting off slow and soft and then building up as the songs goes on. The brass and wood-wind instruments don’t have too many major rolls on the album. They’re mostly used when the violin, piano or both is playing something soft and then BAM out of nowhere a ridiculously loud buzzy kind of noise. Usually in the movie this when everything seems to be calming down and then out of the blue the killer pops out from behind of some random object (shower curtain, actual curtain, tree, couch etc.)
Halloween (John Carpenter/ Greg Sims) 5/5: Stupendous track. It starts out with the piano playing a simple little riff. Soon accompanied by violin. Shortly after enters the brass. The piano riff goes through several variations from being slow and melodic to fast short notes. There are several little violin fills and things to keep the song from getting boring. If I here this song late at night it still has the power to make jump around in a paranoid fashion, much like that of a little school girl. Laugh if you will.
Nightmare On Elm Street (John Carpenter/ Arthur Baker/ Greg Sims) 2.5/5: This track has a strange riff. It’s not scary in any sense at all. It almost sounds the like something you would here at the beginning of a movie about World War II. The riff just repeats throughout as the underlying music occasionally changes to give the simulation that’s it’s not just the same thing over and over again. This track is terribly repetitive and does do much of anything until the last 30 or 40 seconds. Nothing special here. Although, I’m a big fan of NOES movies.
Wolf (E. Morricone/ G. Sims) 4/5: Beautiful violin to start this song off. This is arguably the most well-written song on the album. The main thing that kept it from getting a 5 was it was in no way, shape or form scary. It was just sad. I don’t mean sad as in bad, I mean sad as in boo-hoo. Nothing much else to say about this track. It’s pretty much just violin all the way through, occasionally accompanied by some brass to keep things from getting too repetitive.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula: The Beginning (W. Kilar/ G. Sims) 3/5: This track starts off very simple. Two notes going back and forth. The strings section of the orchestra is thrown in shortly after. The strings play the same riff over and over, putting it into higher pitch every few times they play it. Eventually the brass kicks in. Then soon after everything goes quiet and the violin and piano finish the song off.
Jaws (J. Williams) 4.5/5: When I listen to this, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t just 7 minutes and 14 seconds of “duh-nah”. While the song did contain the very well known “duh-nah”. There was much more to it. In the early going there’s some lovely flute, and I think I heard some piccolo in there too. The song progresses well from there. Every instrument in the orchestra gets a word or two in. What kept this track from getting a 5 was parts of it were just too damn happy.
The Omen (J. Goldsmith) 4/5: This track starts out with some powerful chords to grab your attention. Then slows it self down. This track is eerie throughout. It uses instruments like gongs and bells to give that effect. At some points it kind of sounds like there’s a choir singing underneath, but I could be wrong. The brass has a larger part on this track. There’s some soft melodic violin in there too. Overall this track scares the crap out of me.
Frankenstein (B. Kaun/ G. Sims) 4/5: Solid track. Through most of it, it maintains a level of intensity unparalleled by any other track on the album. It also has a few softer parts to it. They don’t last very long though. Overall there’s nothing overly special about this track, but it’s still a worthy addition to the album.
Hellraiser: Resurrection Waltz (C. Young) 5/5: Starts off with a gong just being hit every few seconds. Then the woodwind section kicks in with some soft yet terrifying riffs. The brass and piano get more involved later. This is a relatively soft track. Although, it has some more powerful moments. This is one of my favourites from the album.
The Shadow (J. Goldsmith) 3.5/5: This track was very well written. Everything was perfectly harmonized. Each section of the orchestra had it’s definitive moments. What kept this track from getting a higher rating was the fact that most of it sounded like something out of a James Bond movie. Other than that, I loved it.
Friday The 13th (H. Manfredini/ G Sims) 4.5/5: This was perhaps the most enjoyable track on the album. It’s starts off strong with some roaring violin. I liked this track mostly because at many points one instrument would play something then the other would play it back. It almost sounding like they were conversing. The song also featured Jason’s trademark “ki-ki-ki ha-ha-ha. Overall a very creepy track, indeed.
The Shining (W. Carlos/ R. Elkind/ G. Sims) 3.5/5: This track unlike most others on the album starts out with some nice brass. Actually the brass dominated this track. There were very little strings or wood wind to be heard anywhere. There was however, some sort of creepy interlude where it sounds like some one is trying to talk but there being muffled out. Overall, I didn’t really like this track too much. But it was nice to see the brass finally do something.
Psycho: Prelude 3.5/5: This track was almost identical to Friday The 13th. Well at the beginning it is. It changes things up a little more as it gets further into the track. This track is pretty violin dominated. As, are most others on the album. This is a good track, but it gets tiresome after a while.
Psycho: The City 2.5/5: This track was mostly just I violin going up and down a scale. Pointless track really. Nothing more I can say about that one.
Psycho: The Murder 3/5: This is arguably the most well known horror song ever. Starts with the screeching violin, and then gets into some low brass. There’s nothing to really rave about here. For those of you who aren’t sure which track this is. Or why I said it so well known. It’s the classic girls in the shower and you see the shadow of the killer’s knife through the translucent shower curtain.
Psycho: The Cellar 3.5/5: Very busy track. Lots of different instruments doing lots of different things. To the untrained ear this track may sound disorganized. But the orchestra is actually playing in very good harmony. Nothing much else to say about this track. Nothing to special
Pros: Most songs were very well written
There were many different instruments, which was fun
If you ever want to scare someone (which I often do). All you need is this album and a dark room.
Cons: Some instruments dominated too many songs
Some tracks, although by different composers sounded the same
Did Psycho really have to have four different songs?
Recommended Tracks: Halloween, Hellraiser, Jaws, Wolf
Overall rating: 3.5/5
Well there you have it. Hope you all enjoyed the review. I just thought it would be nice for music from horror flicks to get some recognition. This album probably isn’t worth picking up, unless you’re really into horror. But I strongly recommend that you at least download one or two tracks. This is well worth a listen.
