What Makes Horror Music Scary? A Brief History of Horror Movie Music | Reverb

[@AlexBallMusic]

2:16 - did a double take when I thought he said Dracula was scored by James Brown! Lol. Brilliant film guys! Hats off.

[@Reverb]

Thanks Alex! Someone really should score Dracula entirely to James Brown music.

[@jopestv1063]

On The One!

[@nathanjasper512]

​@@ReverbPapas got a brand new body bag?

[@davedger]

These history videos are my favorite. You need to bring back the weekly ones.

[@JGSHADID]

Thanks David! Definitely trying to incorporate more stuff like this :)

[@scottgilesmusic]

Yeah. But where's Alien in this video?

[@eddieru]

i need a video on the origins of horror music as a whole. when did people start to create the notes and sohnds we attribute to horror. who were the first? how did they grow up? who inspired them? what inspired them? who was inspired by them? how long ago was this? pree 1700s? don’t know much about old classical so i’m really curious

[@NathanielBarlam]

Interesting video! I'd also add a nod to David Lynch's work, where new and repurposed soundtracks create some truly terrifying moments.

[@Reverb]

Too true! Diegetic, familiar music is super effective in horror, and David Lynch is a prime example. In the meantime, check out our examination of the synth sounds of Twin Peaks: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2TMqqKVrc6kZsk&vl=en

[@profd65]

Yea, he permanently ruined Roy Orbison's "Candy Covered Clown" in Blue Velvet.

[@Jasonweckard]

David Lynch's soundtrack work is awesome.

[@scottgilesmusic]

Three words: Jerry! Goldsmith! ALIEN The most complex, frightening score ever. If you never even saw the film this music would still get you. It's the ne plus ultra of all spooky scores and it's insane it isn't mentioned here. Insane.

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

Thank you so much for including The Omen, by Jerry Goldsmith. Everybody forgets to include it when it invented the horror choir addition to movies which is still being re-used.

[@darkwoods7]

Oh another one is the score to Cold Creek Manor with those chilling moans/howls.

[@noman6041]

What about Lalo Schifrin's score for the 1979 Amityville Horror? Utilizing a children's choir to represent playful innocence in contrast to the evil in the house. And the music also served as a character itself. It also won an Academy Award for best original motion picture score. This should have gotten at least an honorable mention-it is a far superior score than some of the others you mentioned and deserves its place as a truly scary masterpiece.

[@trevordeke]

Really nicely done, folks. Don't be afraid to go even more in-depth. I'd love a lesson or two on this.

[@LordWyatt]

I was writing a Prequel for the Thing and this video helped me understand why these scores were so effective. Thank you 🙏

[@joshhanson9321]

loved to see this. It is a bit rushed, we don't even hear a sample of the Disasterpiece score from It Follows, but still great to see. I suppose in a KZbin world where now every video is WAY longer than it should be, I should be okay with a video being a little too short. Part 2 perhaps?

[@scottgilesmusic]

Alien? Where's Alien???

[@williamerickson520]

Pretty good for a brief overview and the theatrical production is a good touch. Good work. I would have liked to have heard more about what made these styles scary. I will echo other commenters by saying that this would be great as a full length documentary.

[@shoebirdmusic]

Whoever is responsible for those Reverb-Videos: you‘re (all) doing a great job. Just saying. Amazing work that gets better and better.

[@TheAccursedEntity]

Horror movies got the best soundtracks in the film industry in my opinion.

[@darkwoods7]

Great video. I'm definitely way more creeped out by the slow subtle stuff - those crawling strings like a thousand black widows running up your arms and the ambiance inducing atmospheric sounds. The Grudge had some good tracks and one even bought the whole album from was The Apparition.

[@Boujonzu]

This was awesome! Good work reverb. More like this please

[@adammays7178]

I wish that “This is Going to Hurt” and “She Never Sleeps” by Hans Zimmer would have made the list. Even “The Winter Soldier” by Henry Jackman is pretty creepy.

[@scottgilesmusic]

Alien, Jerry Goldsmith

[@MusicMastaJones]

Absolutely fantastic video. Maybe you guys could do one on the creation of movie sound effects? I would love to hear how the sound from the grudge was made.

[@lordvlygar2963]

Really good video. Of course, Horror soundtracks are a major subject to cover, so some things had to be glossed over. One can't forget about thr Theramin, which started use in the 1950's. Also, classical compositions such as House By The Cemetery and Candyman.

[@RicCrouch]

One horror movie that used the soundtrack to great effect was John Carpenter's "Prince of Darkness." As things eerier and more threatening, a slow bass pulse built and built. It was low and slow enough that you barely heard it--but you FELT it, and subconsciously it made you feel progressively more uneasy. When I first saw that movie, I couldn't figure out what made it feel so freaky (the movie itself really wasn't all THAT scary) and it wasn't until I paid closer attention to the music that I figured it out.

[@jaredmeit6127]

Yo! What about Tubular Bells?!?

[@Reverb]

Some things are just too scary to revisit.

[@Bill_Woo]

Want to see something "really" scary? Mike Oldfield performing Tubular B (with help). My level of appreciation for that work exploded after watching this - and I already considered it a great work of art. Mike Oldfield 'Tubular Bells' Live at the BBC 1973 (high quality / remastered) kzbin.info/www/bejne/omiwipKZmbp_Z6c

[@jaredmeit6127]

@@Reverb loved the video either way!

[@CaalamusTube]

What Horror Flick was "Tubular Bells" used for Jared Meit?

[@Reverb]

Tubular Bells is from the soundtrack of The Exorcist. Excellent sounds that are still giving us nightmares.

[@MrCornWolf]

This video was getting to be about halfway over and there was no mention of Goblin at all and I couldn't believe it. Even though it was small glad they were there. Any soundtrack by them is great

[@andresfernandopatino1154]

amazing job !!! i need something for explain to my college class about music in the horror films ! congratulations

[@peanutismint]

I love this guys. Great idea for a video!!

[@redokadaster4638]

I have to say that the most frightening music I heard was not in the horror film, but in the screening of the novel "The Master and margarita". It was Woland Soundtrack.

[@johnwalliss]

For me, The Omen is still the peak of horror soundtracks

[@Reverb]

It's all for you, Damien.

[@Napoleonwilson1973]

Excellent, recently seen John Carpenter live.

[@theHumanBryno]

I envy you. I love his music. Lost Themes I and II are great.

[@Napoleonwilson1973]

bryan macneil agreed always liked his music and I am grateful he came to the Uk.

[@Pulsar77]

Although they're not horror movies, Mulholland Drive and Under The Skin have very unsettling scores.

[@jillharpenden9544]

You've missed the iconic score to The Amityville Horror. That is by far, one of the scariest scores ever written!!

[@theethanatorem]

I still have the Rosemary’s Baby soundtrack saved to my phone. Really chilling stuff.

[@strikingtwice]

Hey man great work. I'm gonna play this in class on Thursday.

[@JGSHADID]

awesome! thanks for watching

[@Reverb]

Where do we enroll? :)

[@strikingtwice]

@@Reverb In NJ at Rowan University! But i think you will all mostly be past the content!

[@imck37]

In TV, Dominic Frontiere made great scores for Outer Limits and The Invaders

[@TheLatinking3]

Awesome upload! I'm a producer and engineer and this video makes the creativity go off in my head!

[@FlixHorror]

Great work. Really well done.

[@henrique88t]

On Shining's "repurposed music", I thought Dies Irae would be mentioned.

[@AMatterofFilm]

This video is fantastic.

[@felipealvarez3291]

Please please keep making videos like these!

[@WallyBrando]

Should've talked about the soundtrack for Hereditary!! Colin Stetson's work is genius

[@undetected8882]

true

[@h0pesfall]

and the only good thing in the movie lmao

[@gregorkrause]

4:40 Jaws 2 uses the same motif however Jaws 3 and Jaws The Revenge are alittle different in music style as there isn't as much of the John Williams famous 2-note theme.

[@HaikalHanafiah]

this one hell of a quality video

[@jaykirgis]

You need to add the original King Kong, it’s score was the first movie score composed to reflect the action and expand the story. All of these would not exist without King Kong

[@charlesli2951]

I feel like whenever there’s drum set involved in these scores it brings a totally different vibe and I cannot get the creepy and scary feeling. I don’t know if it’s just me

[@arryharry]

I think the destructive drum smashes in Stranger Things, when the Demargorgon is around, are far more horror-like than the synth intro. The dread is compounded by this overtly loud and impatient drumming - which has been taken further and to great effect by horror franchises like The Conjuring. Subtlety has been overwrought by thunderous obviousness in sound in moments where there is almost nothing to see visually. I personally love that in modern horror music.

[@sourceaudioeffects]

Well done! That was a lot of fun.

[@JGSHADID]

Thanks Source audio! Love your pedals! (of course).. thanks for watching :)

[@robertfowler1256]

That was awesome. Friggin sweet.

[@fearfulcat]

I think LFE stands for "Low Frequency Emitter", referring to the boom/bass channel in a surround mix. I've never heard of it referring to "low frequency effects".

[@jolandbornemanm4610]

I love this channel

[@ugamichele]

This is a good summary. It's also very, very similar to Peter Hutchings chapter on sound in horror in his book, "The Horror Film." Similar enough to require a source citation in the video, imo.

[@FRRR2023]

Michele Ramsey relax Michelle

[@sean-fw7zi]

man i loved the first two insidious movies

[@PatFlanigan]

Is there a good samaritan out there who's made a Spotify or Apple Music playlist for all the titles mentioned in this vid by any chance?

[@MsRoshniAli]

Thanks. Awesome video.

[@tommywilson4806]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the Dies Irae. It was used in both the clips of The Omen and The Shining!

[@christinegengaro8931]

I was going to jump in to say that the opening of the Shining is the Dies Irae, which was used by Berlioz in Symphonie Fantastique. I wouldn't call this use a synthesized version of Berlioz, but rather a synthesized version of the original 13th century chant.

[@bobneptune]

Nice work! Very interesting

[@JGSHADID]

Thanks for watching!

[@vicenteortegarubilar9418]

Quality work as always.

[@MansaThaGreat]

This has to be one of the best things ive seen on KZbin.

[@middarklight]

Glaring omission of Tubular Bells. The Excorcist is the Beatles of Horror, immensely profound and influential. Was it a copyright issue?

[@krukerproductions]

Really good video!

[@delivrance3961]

The Omen numero Uno, special mention to the exorcist and shining😈

[@normapadro420]

I became a movie music composer, because I love creating cinematic music. There is nothing like it.

[@SamRiesgo]

This was awesome content!!!

[@johnfollis2357]

Time: 1:50. Is that a music representing a villain? And maybe I missed it. But what movie is that from?

[@mantunes339]

Zodiac makes some interesting use of psychedelic songs of the 60s

[@WyattBrown377]

Awesome video!

[@robertbruner7429]

No mention of the Theremin? Really??

[@jimsim3]

Tubular Bells was not written for the Exorcist. William Friedkin just went through a bunch of records.originally commissioned Lalo Schifrin to do the score but didn't like the results. and they only used 2 minutes of Tubular Bells, but the rely scenery thing is mike was only 14 when he first starting writing it, but he Alien film got a great score

[@carlosgandolfolopez7086]

He forgot this one.

[@monkeyxx]

Oh man I love JOE

[@Reverb]

Ditto.

[@TheFirefly_Official]

Child’s play score is underrated. Should be here as well

[@christianfriisjensen2055]

We NEEEED some "Synth Sounds Of..." for the John Carpenter scores. We neeeeed it!

[@SewerTapes]

How did you guys get Pauley Shore to host this?

[@andrewpappas9311]

Tubular Bells from _The Exorcist?_

[@Bill_Woo]

Note, already commented on.

[@ken.waters]

Yep, sorry I didn’t scroll down before I let vent! ;)

[@ademirregis]

Where are the animations? Coraline's soundtrack for me is also extremely distinguish. It feels charismatic, angelic and at the same time weird with a sense of anxiety that is suffocating... It's marvelous!

[@innocentoctave]

I don't think I've ever been scared by the music in a horror film. In many, it's a tiresome distraction at best. I don't need to be told 'this is scary!' by shrieking violins. I can only think of two instances in which the score enhanced the film: John Carpenter's 'The Thing', and Ridley Scott's 'Alien'. In both films, the music worked almost subliminally by setting a mood, rather than by double-underlining particular moments.

[@uphillracer]

Great video

[@DainDenham]

The Inventation soundtrack is so underrated

[@youtubeii434]

Awesome ! Two of my favourite things : horror and music !

[@jinglebell7100]

What about the killer clowns from outer space theme Which goes so very hard for so little reason

[@profd65]

Damn, I wish this had been four times as long.

[@dq405]

Jump scares -- "Hitchcock's were early examples." Actually, no. Much earlier examples exist. One of my favourite films, Thorold Dickinson's THE QUEEN OF SPADES, from 1949, has three of the most unsettling jump scares I've seen, all of them legitimate (unlike Jones the cat from ALIEN), all unforgettable. And what about the unmasking of the Phantom of the Opera, from the Lon Chaney film, in 1925?

[@PrinzessinLiris]

Speaking of Joseph Bishara, The Conjuring deserved a mention in my opinion

[@seesharpminor7996]

Check out Black Angels from George Crumb,it was used in The Exorcist.Also Anton Webern's Five pieces for orchestra.It will scare you 😈

[@Daphney0310]

Cool to see phantasm as well as the goblins in there but where's the reanimator!?!?

[@ge.borges]

amazing video but how could you forget tubular bells???

[@F1emingo]

Ey why is Cavs from King GIzzard telling us about film score? Rad video BTW

[@xthexadvantagex]

Damn this is as good as polyphonic

[@rozza1903]

4:12 lol what, you added that sound effect to it to make it seem scary, watch the original clip and it has no sting like that

[@sarahaprincesa]

Wow 🤩

[@Cam-yp7cn]

Awesome content!

[@whatabouttheearth]

Horror films are usually not spooky because they're over the top, spookiness requires subtle ambiguity, the reason ghost stories are usually spooky is because you hardly ever see the ghost, it's a slow onset suspense. Like how the Exorcist theme 'Tubular Bells' is spooky and the movie is until the girl is possessed and than it's almost comedic. The slow drawn out pitch bends in the original Unsolved Mysteries theme is another good example of actually spooky music. "Horror", especially modern jump scare, is usually unsophisticated trash and not spooky. The jump scare has become overdone and cheap. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r17Hfpyjftdkprs kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZbdd3h6jNmbY8U kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5XKmpaNZs6ihpI kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYnWo3tpmNp3g6M

[@ThuggishParker]

Another great video regarding the origin of horror movies. Since you're interested in horror,I've stumbled upon a project: An upcoming zombie apocalypse movie by the name of H2Outbreak. Unlike the rest zombie films, this one will focus on actual facts and human psychology. You can visit their Kickstarter page and if you like it there is an opportunity to become a part of the team.

[@ИванДимитров-г2б]

Hey, I believe I saw their Facebook page yesterday. They also have somewhat of a contest with prizes, I even participated, lol. It seems like an interesting project, hopefully, they'll manage. Even Nick Sullo is onboard, which is "Wow!"

[@althealligator1467]

So you mentioned It Follows (I love that movie, but it's nowhere near on the same level as the others, at least in terms of how iconic it is), but you're just gonna skip over The Exorcist and IT (2017)?

[@ken.waters]

What? No mention of the Exorcist?! John Carpenter’s Halloween theme is, if not a blatant rip-off, at the very least a homage to Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells! C’mon guys, seriously?!

[@Usernameisavailabe]

Yo, has anyone seen Sleepstalker? The movie is terribly cheesy but the soundtrack, a haunting lullaby in particular, is amazing!

[@petermuller7079]

'Warning! Some things may happen! You've been warned!!" ;-) ;-) (What's a spoiler warning good for if it doesn't mention the movies that are spoiled?)

[@scottgilesmusic]

Oh, The Thing (1982).

[@joemca7917]

Tubular Bells?

[@ErikWoodsCinSoundRadio]

Jaws... not TWO notes but THREE!

[@JGSHADID]

Ha right! starts with two though, then three.. then all 12 are used in the score! but those first two... damn

[@wholemilk9696]

Personally thing think that movies would have a much more intimidating vibe if they used alot of dissonance or make music that doesn't sound like music at all to give that easy and disturbing effect

[@ButterCookie1984]

John Carpenter's Halloween is the BEST horror movie soundtrack

[@islandboy4445]

Did I miss it or did you not talk about the exorcist? 👀

[@temporoboto]

💙