How much does a soundtrack matter to you?

[tsmooth31]

the song topic piggsy made just made me think of this.. if done right i think the soundtrack can be very important

death sentence comes to mind **slight spoilers**

the scene where bacon is in the hospital talking to his son about how he loves them and hes sorry he couldnt protect his family.. and the music starts to kick in and then he looks up with that "you coming to kill you fuckers" face and then the music really kicks in as hes walking in the rain.. i thought that music was great and really helped make that a great scene

also the ending music in saw.. it just seemed so perfect

[vincentprice]

Music can make a movie.

I'm a sucker for cool violent montages set against a classic rock song, shit like the end of The Devil's Rejects or the torture scene in Reservoir Dogs with Stuck In The Middle With You playing.

[piggsy]

Like vincent said, the soundtrack can make a movie. Take, for example, the happy country song in the opening credits of "The Hills Have Eyes" remake, set to horrific images of nuclear explosions and deformed babies.

And I agree about "Death Sentence", tsmooth. That was a great scene, one of many in the movie. I also loved the part where he and the gang leader were sitting next to eachother on the bench at the end. They ended up exactly the same; all their friends and family dead, gravely injured, bald, and filled with rage. It was very poetic, if you ask me.

[malbowski13]

A great soundtrack is the cornerstone of any horror masterpiece.Part of the original Halloween's success,IMO, is due to its score.Phantasm,Friday the 13th,Hellraiser,etc. all owe tons to its score in terms of its own longevity. Pan's Labyrinth is one of my favorite soundtracks. TCM had no real music, though...

[tsmooth31]

And I agree about "Death Sentence", tsmooth. That was a great scene, one of many in the movie. I also loved the part where he and the gang leader were sitting next to eachother on the bench at the end. They ended up exactly the same; all their friends and family dead, gravely injured, bald, and filled with rage. It was very poetic, if you ask me.


yea that ending scene was also good.. although i will admit i did wanna see him get his head blown off ;D

there were alot of pretty good emotional scenes tho involving bacon.. when his son died, and a few other times when he broke down, all very realistic and had goo fitting music

[lazario]

malbowski13 said:

A great soundtrack is the cornerstone of any horror masterpiece. Part of the original Halloween's success, IMO, is due to its score. Phantasm, Friday the 13th, Hellraiser, etc. all owe tons to its score in terms of its own longevity.

Thank God someone here actually mentioned a somewhat classic horror movie. I was really starting to worry that people here were saying movies like Death Sentence and The Hills Have Eyes remake are our best examples of soundtracks in horror. Because that would be disturbing, to severly understate the situation.


How much does a soundtrack matter? Someone here already said - It Can Make or Break Your Movie. Most of the greatest horror movies don't need amazing scores, but have them anyway. Some decent horror movies have great and legendary scores. And sometimes, we just remember the score and forget everything else about the movie.

But anyway, best examples of a horror soundtrack...

Pino Donaggio will always be KING of the Horror Score (Soundtrack) in my opinion. His work for Piranha, Carrie, and The Howling is beyond extraordinary. It is key to the effectiveness of each film and These are the pinnacle examples of music that illustrate where Suspense and Horror meet. Historically, where Bernard Herrmann's mysterious suspense leaves off and the true "screaming" terror of modern horror began. Donaggio would start with music that reflects on the emotions of a character and it would end with the peak of the horror they were experiencing in their scene. He would turn orchestral scores into emotional atmosphere. Using the cliches of excitement and sorrow to start a piece of music. But finishing it off in a way that devastates the scene and makes the music have a physical effect on the characters themselves.


Then, naturally, there's Claudio Simonetti / Goblin. And their / his amazing and now justifiably legendary work for Suspiria, Dawn of the Dead, Deep Red, Tenebre, Opera, and Phenomena.


John Carpenter, and his collaborator, Alan Howarth, did amazing scores for Halloween, The Fog, and the sequels Halloween 2 and Season of the Witch.


And of course, if John Harrison's score for Creepshow isn't the stuff of legends already- it should be. But, Fred Myrow and Malcolm Seagrave's score for Phantasm is at least 50% of what makes that film successful.


Then, I think Harry Manfredini and Fred Mollin's scores for Friday the 13th parts 1 through 8 are amazing. Also- Jerry Goldsmith's scores for the two Gremlins movies, Gene Moore's incredible organ score for Carnival of Souls, John Massari's score for Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Giorgio Moroder's score for Cat People, Joe LoDuca's for The Evil Dead, and Tangerine Dream's for Firestarter. But I'm also a big fan of Laurie Johnson's music for It's Alive III: Island of the Alive.


And who could forget Bernard Herrmann's scores for Psycho, Sisters, and It's Alive.

[tsmooth31]

Thank God someone here actually mentioned a somewhat classic horror movie. I was really starting to worry that people here were saying movies like Death Sentence and The Hills Have Eyes remake are our best examples of soundtracks in horror. Because that would be disturbing, to severly understate the situation.

what would be disturbing about that?? im not saying movies like halloween dont have good soundtracks.. but death sentence is easily in my top 5 for soundtracks.. without the music the movie wouldnt have been as good as it was.. i cant say that about too many movies

[lazario]

admin said:

death sentence is easily in my top 5 for soundtracks.. without the music the movie wouldnt have been as good as it was..

That's better.

[malbowski13]

One day I am going to break down and watch It's Alive, along with Troma's Dumpster Baby!