Hello fiends!   Miss me?   Awww…stop it now.   I’m back this week to talk about film scores in the genre I love.   They are iconic.   This is a known fact.   Even people that aren’t familiar with the genre as much as film geeks are know when they are hearing the music that was designed to creep them out.   I recall a couple of years back on my normal weekly visits to Best Buy, I would go to the keyboard section and play Carpenter’s simplistic, but effective, theme from ‘Halloween’.   Most people knew what film it was from and would comment on how it creeped them out.   Hell, sometimes I would get a story out of it from a random stranger.   With the horror genre, the score and themes of a film are a character.     It can set the mood or just have a catchy melody or just put you in an eerie state.   Think about it.   Everyone knows the ‘Friday the 13th’ theme.   Well, at least the CHIC CHIC CHIC…KA KA KA part.

In the horror genre, the musical accompaniment is broken down into simple devices that I have coined the following:
“The Stinger” (a.k.a. The Cat out of Nowhere)
“The Mood Establisher”
“The ‘Oh Shit, something’s about to happen!’ Buildup”

All of these are in every slasher film and, since Carpenter’s ‘Halloween’, have laid the blueprint for any horror film score.   I’m not saying that ‘Halloween’ was the origin, but it’s best example I can give to explain this to you, loyal reader.

“The Stinger” is usually used more as a sound effect to accompany an action on screen.   It is devised to be a discordant sound to give you a jolt and is usually a different noise in tone than the non-main score – also known as “The Mood Establisher”. “The Stinger” stands out.   In Carpenter’s ‘Halloween’, we hear it when Michael Myers walks  into frame  without the characters knowing or when he attacks. In other films, it could be  notes we hear after a  lead up to an actual threat to the character on the screen – “The ‘Oh Shit, something’s about to happen!’ Buildup”.   Lately, it leads up to a “Jump Scare” or a “Fake Scare” – Hence the a.k.a. “Cat out of Nowhere” subtitle (Horror Fans know what I mean).

“The Mood Establisher”is the theme that may or may not harken back to the melody or notes of the main theme.   Obviously, this is created to establish mood.   Visuals alone can do this, but it is very rare.   To take you out of the ‘Halloween’ environment, let me hit you with a different film that is very reliant on it’s score.    ‘Jaws’ probably wouldn’t be as scary if it didn’t have the Shark Theme – DUH, DUM.   DUH, DUM.   When you hear that, if you are in the water…you will probably jump out.   You know that shit is about to go down.   When you feel that way, I think the Mood is established.

“The ‘Oh Shit, something’s about to happen!’ Buildup” – this is one that can be a crescendo of notes that build up to an action with no musical accompaniment or, one that leads up to “The Stinger”. I have seen this used a couple of ways.   It can either lead you down a dangerous path to only have the “Fake Scare” or it can be used to put your senses in check and make you feel unsafe.   If the film establishes this theme early on and sticks to the conventional method of delivering a genuine scare or kill at the end of this buildup, when the audiences hears it again, it will bring them back to that previous mindset.

In this new generation of horror, the groundwork that was laid by composers like Manfredini (‘Friday the 13th’), Carpenter, and others is being turned upside down.   Some horror films are keeping the score back and pushing the sound design forward.   Granted, this isn’t anything new either.   Sound Design is also a character and some might say it deserves the same character grouping as the musical themes.   With Sound Design, you are creating a virtual environment.   One of the best examples I have seen – or heard – would be Neil Marshall’s ‘The Descent’.   It even got to a point where I wouldn’t let anyone borrow my R2 DVD to see it in advance prior to it’s US release unless they had 5.1.   Why?   Imagine the score of ‘Halloween’ not being in the film, that is how ‘The Descent’ would feel.   It is set in a dark environment and when our brains cannot process anything visual, our hearing sense is heightened.   5.1 creates a three dimensional environment and with a film like ‘The Descent’, it is essential.

Some composers have experimented with infrasound to actually cause a physical feeling to the audience.   Probably the most publicized example of this is not neccessarily a textbook horror film, but one that many horror genre fans know of.   That film is Gasper Noé’s ‘Irréversible’.   Thomas Bangalter, one half of the group Daft Punk, created tones to accompany the buildup to one  the film’s controversial scenes.   With Noé’s dizzying visuals of what can simply be called a “out of control floating camera”, Bangalter had a tone lying secretly under a synth melody throughout this sequence.   The tone was reported to be 28Hz.   The frequency has  been reported to cause nausea, sickness and vertigo.   To me, it just kept me uneasy.   When you watch the film, the visuals don’t help either.   Your eyes are trying to adapt to an dark environment that we keep getting glimpses of red.   It is a sensory assault and that is why it works so well.

Music and Sound Design is a character.   In the horror genre, it is as important, if not more important, than the antagonist of any horror film you are watching.   Now, buy a 5.1 system, you are missing out!

Horror News:

• Before you see the remake, 1987’s ‘The Stepfather’ will be hitting the DVD shelves via Shout Factory! on October 13th!   The original stars Terry O’ Quinn (Locke from ‘Lost’) in the title role.
• Speaking of 1987, ‘The Gate’ is being remade by Alex Winter – Director of ‘Freaked’ and Bill from the ‘Bill and Ted’ films.   Production is set to start later this Summer.

Horror DVD & Blu-Ray Releases for Next Week:

”[REC] is the film that floored Spanish Audiences and spawn the remake, not inspiration in my opinion,  of ‘Quarantine’.   It is obvious that Sony bought the rights for it and held it back from being released until they made full bank on their regurgatation.   Oh, did I say that…   A film that needs 5.1 as well, it was one of the most  tense films since ‘Inside’.   Highly Recommended – preferably before you see ‘Quarantine’.

The Haunting In Connecticut (Lionsgate) – imdb | Single-Disc , Unrated , Blu-Ray
Horsemen (Lionsgate) – imdb|amazon
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer Blu-ray (Sony) – imdb|amazon

Adiós!

[Andy Triefenbach is the host of the horror & cult movie podcast – DESTROY THE BRAIN! – which is available online at http://www.destroythebrainonline.com]