Horror film score
Encyclopedia
A horror film score is music
used and often specially written for films in the horror genre
.
and Frankenstein
used little or no music apart from for title sequences, Franz Waxman
's score for The Bride of Frankenstein is often cited as one of the first modern film scores. In particular, the long and elaborate piece that accompanies the Bride's creation is a triumph of orchestral film scoring, enhancing greatly the excitement, eeriness and wit of the film.
The late 1930s and 1940s saw unknown and often uncredited composers such as Hans J. Salter
and Frank Skinner
setting the tone for later horror music. Often the music was darkly and lushly romantic, but heavily influenced by impressionism
, atonality and serialism
. A chief example is The Wolf Man (1940), to which Salter and Skinner both contributed.
Hammer horrors of the 1950s, '60s and '70s owed their musical feel to composer James Bernard, whose pacey, often frenetic, jarring scores to films such as Dracula
(1958), The Plague of the Zombies
(1966) and The Devil Rides Out (1968) are among his best-known. Bernard was fond of using the score to play along with the title of the film—his three-note signature for Dracula can be sung, and by prefiguring it with another four notes, Bernard could underscore the main title of Taste the Blood of Dracula.
In fact, Hammer employed a number of other composers, including Franz Reizenstein
(The Mummy, 1959), Malcolm Williamson
(The Brides of Dracula, 1960) and Tristram Cary
(Quatermass and the Pit
, 1967, and Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, 1971). Despite the obvious atonal influence on the earlier Universal film scores, Benjamin Frankel
's 1960 score for The Curse of the Werewolf (1960) is believed by some to contain the first film theme to be based entirely on Arnold Schoenberg
's Twelve-Tone scale
.
's string score for Hitchcock's
Psycho
that changed the sound of horror music. The stabbing rhythms of the famous shower scene have been imitated many times since.
The 1970s saw a new wave of slasher film
s, which tended to have more contemporary-sounding scores, often using electronic instruments. Horror director John Carpenter
was well-known for scoring his own films, such as Halloween
(1978). For The Exorcist
, William Friedkin
rejected a score by Lalo Schiffrin and used the temp track
featuring assorted pieces of music including part of Mike Oldfield
's Tubular Bells
.
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
used and often specially written for films in the horror genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
.
Beginning of the Sound Era
While the breakthrough Universal horror films of 1931, DraculaDracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
and Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
used little or no music apart from for title sequences, Franz Waxman
Franz Waxman
Franz Waxman was a German-American composer, known for his bravura Carmen Fantasie for violin and orchestra, based on musical themes from the Bizet opera Carmen, and for his musical scores for films....
's score for The Bride of Frankenstein is often cited as one of the first modern film scores. In particular, the long and elaborate piece that accompanies the Bride's creation is a triumph of orchestral film scoring, enhancing greatly the excitement, eeriness and wit of the film.
The late 1930s and 1940s saw unknown and often uncredited composers such as Hans J. Salter
Hans J. Salter
Hans J. Salter was an American film composer.Hans J. Salter gained his education from the Vienna Academy Of Music, and studied composition with Alban Berg, Franz Schreker, and others. He was Music Director of the State Opera in Berlin before being hired to compose music at UFA studios...
and Frank Skinner
Frank Skinner (composer)
Frank Skinner was an American composer and arranger.Skinner was born in Meredosia, Illinois. A graduate of the Chicago Musical College , 16-year-old Frank found employment in vaudeville and began playing in local areas with his brother Carl on drums...
setting the tone for later horror music. Often the music was darkly and lushly romantic, but heavily influenced by impressionism
Impressionist music
Impressionism in music was a tendency in European classical music, mainly in France, which appeared in the late nineteenth century and continued into the middle of the twentieth century. Similarly to its precursor in the visual arts, musical impressionism focuses on a suggestion and an atmosphere...
, atonality and serialism
Serialism
In music, serialism is a method or technique of composition that uses a series of values to manipulate different musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though his contemporaries were also working to establish serialism as one example of...
. A chief example is The Wolf Man (1940), to which Salter and Skinner both contributed.
Hammer Horror (1950s-'70s)
The BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Hammer horrors of the 1950s, '60s and '70s owed their musical feel to composer James Bernard, whose pacey, often frenetic, jarring scores to films such as Dracula
Dracula (1958 film)
Dracula, also known as Horror of Dracula in the United States, is a 1958 British horror film. It is the first in the series of Hammer Horror films inspired by the Bram Stoker novel Dracula. It was directed by Terence Fisher, and stars Peter Cushing, Michael Gough, Carol Marsh, Melissa Stribling and...
(1958), The Plague of the Zombies
The Plague of the Zombies
The Plague of the Zombies Hammer Horror film directed by John Gilling. It stars André Morell, John Carson, Jacqueline Pearce, Brook Williams and Michael Ripper...
(1966) and The Devil Rides Out (1968) are among his best-known. Bernard was fond of using the score to play along with the title of the film—his three-note signature for Dracula can be sung, and by prefiguring it with another four notes, Bernard could underscore the main title of Taste the Blood of Dracula.
In fact, Hammer employed a number of other composers, including Franz Reizenstein
Franz Reizenstein
Franz Theodor Reizenstein was a German-born British composer and concert pianist. He left Germany for sanctuary in Britain in 1934 and went on to have his career there, including teaching at the Royal Northern College of Music and Boston University, as well as performing.-Life and work:Franz...
(The Mummy, 1959), Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson AO , CBE was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death.-Biography:...
(The Brides of Dracula, 1960) and Tristram Cary
Tristram Cary
Tristram Ogilvie Cary, OAM was a pioneering English-Australian composer.-Early life:Cary was born in Oxford, England, and educated at the Dragon School in Oxford and Westminster School in London. He was the son of a pianist and the novelist, Joyce Cary, author of Mister Johnson...
(Quatermass and the Pit
Quatermass and the Pit (film)
Quatermass and the Pit is a 1967 British science fiction horror film. Made by Hammer Film Productions it is a sequel to the earlier Hammer films The Quatermass Xperiment and Quatermass 2. Like its predecessors it is based on a BBC Television serial – Quatermass and the Pit – written by Nigel Kneale...
, 1967, and Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, 1971). Despite the obvious atonal influence on the earlier Universal film scores, Benjamin Frankel
Benjamin Frankel
Benjamin Frankel was a British composer. Frankel's most famous pieces include a cycle of five string quartets and eight symphonies as well as a number of concertos for violin and viola; his single best-known piece is probably the First Sonata for Solo Violin, which, like his concertos, resulted...
's 1960 score for The Curse of the Werewolf (1960) is believed by some to contain the first film theme to be based entirely on Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
's Twelve-Tone scale
Serialism
In music, serialism is a method or technique of composition that uses a series of values to manipulate different musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though his contemporaries were also working to establish serialism as one example of...
.
1960s onwards
On the other side of the Atlantic, it was perhaps Bernard HerrmannBernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann was an American composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...
's string score for Hitchcock's
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
Psycho
Psycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
that changed the sound of horror music. The stabbing rhythms of the famous shower scene have been imitated many times since.
The 1970s saw a new wave of slasher film
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
s, which tended to have more contemporary-sounding scores, often using electronic instruments. Horror director John Carpenter
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...
was well-known for scoring his own films, such as Halloween
Halloween (1978 film)
Halloween is a 1978 American independent horror film directed, produced, and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut and the first installment in the Halloween franchise. The film is set in the fictional midwestern...
(1978). For The Exorcist
The Exorcist (film)
The Exorcist is a 1973 American horror film directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the 1971 novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty and based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim, dealing with the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s desperate attempts to win back her...
, William Friedkin
William Friedkin
William Friedkin is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection in 1971 and The Exorcist in 1973; for the former, he won the Academy Award for Best Director...
rejected a score by Lalo Schiffrin and used the temp track
Temp track
A temp track is an existing piece of music or audio which is used in film production during the editing phase. It serves as a guideline for the mood or atmosphere the director is looking for in a scene....
featuring assorted pieces of music including part of Mike Oldfield
Mike Oldfield
Michael Gordon Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...
's Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells is the debut record album of English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1973. It was the first album released by Virgin Records and an early cornerstone of the company's success...
.