The SCARIEST music you've ever heard!

[CYPHER 1]

Okay, so this might appear more than a little unoriginal in light of the recent rush of similar topics e.g. 'saddest piece of music' etc. But I still think it's worth exploring (just like those other topics were too). Let me set out the parameters of what I'm looking for here. By scary music I am referring broadly to any piece of music (preferably classical) that freaks you out in some way, shape or form. Whether it sends a shiver down your spine, raises the hackles on your neck or is something you just really don't feel comfortable listening to when you're alone at night in a dark room, I want to know. In regards to film music, I don't mind if you select music that you find scary because of its attachment to a movie that terrified you. In these cases, it would be preferable if the music played some role in contributing to the scariness.

CYPHER

[Marian Schedenig 8,239]

This!

[Gamecube 0]

I would say John Carpenters music is pretty scary.

I have trouble thinking of any. I don't think I ever got scared while listening to Williams music. Has he done any horror films?

I hope someone else can say more.

[Hitch 57]

Herrmann's PSYCHO still ranks at the top of my list. Though for freakiness, the sound effects from THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE did put some fear into chin 4 at the time of its release. He's never been the same since. It just so happens that I now have a Leatherface.

Hitch, catching up on old times on the MB.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

This!  

8O :wow: :cry2: eek2

The Horror...

Sounds like the Springfield Elementary Orchestra.

Fast Streets of Shanghai -- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

[Rogue_Leader 2]

Scariest?? What the hell! I'm going with Jaws for this one. That music started a WAVE of terror in theatres everywhere.

[Ollie 1,064]

I don't know about the rest of you but Barry's Abduction from CE3K scared the censored out of me as an 9-10 year old when I used to listen to my old LP and still gives me the chills to this day.

eek2

[Steven Awalt 0]

Goldsmith's The Omen (Ava Santani, I think it's called). I used to play that for people in the dark--tears in the eyes.

[Wickenstein 0]

-The Omen Trilogy (perhaps not scary, but evil)

-ALIEN

Goldsmith is king when it comes to scary music

-ALIEN3

Goldenthal's post-modern style is pretty scary much of the time

-Predator

Silvestri's action opus contains some pretty scary parts. Unfortunately it's never seen a release banghead

[UCFKevin 0]

Honestly, the Ark theme from Raiders. It always scared the crap out of me when I was a child and always had to fastforward thru the tracks that it was in.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Try listening to the soundtrack of the T-Rex sequence from Jurassic Park in the dark. Scary.

Escape/Chase/Saying Goodbye -- E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: The 20th Anniversary

[Trumpeteer 302]

Well, the opening music from Jaws........duh.

Then there's Ave Satani. My freshman year in college they played that music during my initiation (some would call it hazing).

And also, the Imperial March just before Han Solo gets tortured.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I don't know about the rest of you but Barry's Abduction from CE3K scared the  censored  out of me as an 9-10 year old when I used to listen to my old LP and still gives me the chills to this day.  

eek2

For the second time today I must agree with Mark. It is one scary piece of music, and one very scary sequence.

[Justin 2]

JNH's The Sixth Sense

Parts of The Fury.

Justin

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Oh, and Mark, when you said I don't know about the rest of you?

You have to understand that only about 6 or 7 people on this board, like

or appreciate Close Encounters for the masterpiece it is.

Lets see, theres you, me, figo, Ricard, Five Tones, Indysolo, and maybe a couple of others.

It is a totally underappreciated score here. The way its treated here you'd think James Horner had scored it, with its lack of respect.

[Uni 306]

You have to understand that only about 6 or 7 people on this board, like  

or appreciate Close Encounters for the masterpiece it is.  

Lets see, theres you, me, figo, Ricard, Five Tones, Indysolo, and maybe a couple of others.  

It is a totally underappreciated score here. The way its treated here you'd think James Horner had scored it, with its lack of respect.

And who might you be forgetting on that list...? I recall at some point having a discussion with you about our equal passion for the score.

And I do agree with Mark here....The Abduction is one of the most harrowing pieces I've ever encountered in my life. It was quite some time before I could listen to it in the dark, and even to this day it's something I won't do all that often (although, now that I know the piece better, that's a more giddy and fun activity than it used to be, like a good haunted house experience).

- Uni

[ChrisAfonso 188]

I must confess I didn't pay that much attention to the score when I watched Close Encounters. I'll have to rewatch it sometime and then decide if I should buy the score.

...and I'll have to watch Superman somewhen, and then decide if I sould buy that score, too.

-Chris

[David Coscina 4]

Ligeti's "Requiem". Totally terrifying in the use of micropolyphony in the mixed chorus. It's a wave of sound you;ll never forget.

Wendy Carlos' opening music for The Shining gets close (an electronic re-working of the ancient Dies Irae chant).

[Marian Schedenig 8,239]

You have to understand that only about 6 or 7 people on this board, like or appreciate Close Encounters for the masterpiece it is.

Lets see, theres you, me, figo, Ricard, Five Tones, Indysolo, and maybe a couple of others.

CE3K is without a doubt one of Williams' great masterpieces.

Marian - and clearly better than Superman.

[Romão 2,274]

Dracula-The Beginning, from Bram Stoker's Dracula

Ave Satani

The Ark theme

Sleepy Hollow, specially the track "The Story" (I love this score )

[Lurker 5]

This is the scariest music I'ver heard.

Actually I think Goldsmith's Alien as written for the film is a truly terrifying score.

Neil

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Silvestri's What Lies Beneath comes to mind.

Ray Barnsbury

[Rogue_Leader 2]

I still need my damn Fury CD!!!

[Morn 8]

Alex North's Journey Into Fear

Morn - Who finds Williams and Goldsmith not very scary

[Beowulf 4]

Chalk me up as a CEOTTK soundtrack fan. I like the fact that in the collector's edition of the CD, the beginning starts out all dissonant and chaotic, and then gradually gets more and more harmonic and consonant, until a great release is reached near the end of the score in a climax of music! Brilliant.

As for scary music...I don't know if it's because I just saw the movie, but the score to "Signs" is pretty damn freaky!

[Guest]

CEO3K definately. Never listen to it alone in the dark (unless on the toilet)

Since someone mentioned Alien before - has anyone noticed that the music at the start of Aliens is the same as the music in Clear and Present Danger when they are investigating the bomb crater and the secret missile. Horner cutting corners again, methinks. He's no John Williams

[Akipk 0]

Add me to the list for CE3K

And Nacht from Pierrot Lunaire, Schoenberg. Good stuff.

[Morn 8]

Weirdist opera I've heard

[JoeinAR 1,949]

You have to understand that only about 6 or 7 people on this board, like  

or appreciate Close Encounters for the masterpiece it is.  

Lets see, theres you, me, figo, Ricard, Five Tones, Indysolo, and maybe a couple of others.  

It is a totally underappreciated score here. The way its treated here you'd think James Horner had scored it, with its lack of respect.

And who might you be forgetting on that list...? I recall at some point having a discussion with you about our equal passion for the score.

And I do agree with Mark here....The Abduction is one of the most harrowing pieces I've ever encountered in my life. It was quite some time before I could listen to it in the dark, and even to this day it's something I won't do all that often (although, now that I know the piece better, that's a more giddy and fun activity than it used to be, like a good haunted house experience).

- Uni

I am sorry Uni, I forgot, but I see my point has started to hit home a little here, nothing works like shaming people sometimes.

Joe,

[Lurker 5]

Since someone mentioned Alien before - has anyone noticed that the music at the start of Aliens is the same as the music in Clear and Present Danger when they are investigating the bomb crater and the secret missile. Horner cutting corners again, methinks. He's no John Williams

Did you also notice that the music you are referring to first appeared in the Gayne ballet by Khatchaturian?

Neil

[Justin 2]

Oh, and Mark, when you said I don't know about the rest of you?

You have to understand that only about 6 or 7 people on this board, like  

or appreciate Close Encounters for the masterpiece it is.

Lets see, theres you, me, figo, Ricard, Five Tones, Indysolo, and maybe a couple of others.

It is a totally underappreciated score here.  The way its treated here you'd think James Horner had scored it, with its lack of respect.

I love Close Encounters!!!

Justin -Who should buy the score some time.

[ymenard 54]

CEot3K.

Best...Williams score... ever.... <Comic book guy voice>

[Figo 2]

George Crumb's Black Angels, for electric string quartet. To my knowledge, the only string quartet about the Vietnam War. Makes Pierrot Lunaire sound like Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. It wasn't for nothin' that William Friedkin used some of Crumb's music in The Exorcist.

Figo, who's actually met Crumb and was surprised to find out he looks like Gene Hackman in The Conversation.

[Rogue_Leader 2]

6 days and still no The Fury.

-Rogue Leader who is starting to feel the maining of the words!

[Chris ChrusherComix 46]

Images.

bawling

eek2

Don't listen to that one for the 1st time in a dark room. You'll dirty yourself. :wow: LOL

The Fury is a lil' scary too. Maybe one of the reasons why I love those two so much. But that one I LOVE to listen to in the dark! CE3K has some spooky stuff on it too.

And R_Leader, Varese supplied me with a UPS tracking number. Go to the UPS website and track that baby down to your front door if you can! That's what I did!

[Chris ChrusherComix 46]

BTW, CYPHER, is your avatar an Art Adams drawing?

[Miz 139]

Far from home/E.T. Alone - E.T.

Oooh, that organ. A dark room. Great.

The Magic Tree - The Empire Strikes Back

Spooky, leading on to scary. Very fitting and very good.

[CYPHER 1]

Thanks for the feedback people! And if you've got any more suggestions, then keep 'em coming. I'm a bit of a horror fan (though lapsed of late) and find the issue of horror in music quite intriguing. Beause I've watched so many horror films, I'm afraid to say it takes a bit to scare me these days especially when it comes to music. Is it really a format that is conducive to the generation of fear? I guess a lot of it relies in the realm of the imagination and the impressions and emotional character of the individual listener.

As for my opinions:

- Some of Hans Zimmer's piano cues in Hannibal are a little creepy.

- Ditto the main theme to The Ninth Gate by Woljech Kilar.

- There are certainly eerie moments in Jaws, though the effectiveness of the main theme has diminished for me over the years, a victim of the law of diminishing returns.

- Bernard Herrmann's Psycho is great.

- Dominic Ligeti's menacing piano solo in Eyes Wide Shut, as well as Jocelyn Pook's Masked Ball are very effective in this regard.

- Some goes for John Carpenter's music for Halloween.

- The one piece of music that wigs me out more than others is the main title of Suspiria by Goblin. I've never seen the movie, but it sounds like a corker.

CYPHER

PS - Yes, Chris, my avator is taken from a drawing of the New Mutants by Arthur Adams.

[Morn 8]

Is it really a format that is conducive to the generation of fear?

Yes, of course. Achieveing fear is not that hard either, any one could compose scary music. All you need is a long statement of a weird chord

Though Williams uses much more advanced methods.

[Chris ChrusherComix 46]

PS - Yes, Chris, my avator is taken from a drawing of the New Mutants by Arthur Adams.  

Aha! Exactly as I thought! I got an eye for that stuff. Art Adams was one of my faves. His New Mutants and X-Men work in the late 80's is classic.

[PBL 0]

Images. Don't listen to that one for the 1st time in a dark room. You'll dirty yourself.

Well, I have to agree, since I've first listened to it in my bedroom before going to sleep (I swear its true!). The thing is I didn't know then what was the subject of the film and what the music sounded like... I was first surprised, then shocked, then terrified... :evil:

(ps: I didn't dirty myself though )

[Chris ChrusherComix 46]

(ps: I didn't dirty myself though     )

LOL

I didn't either, but it could do that under the right circumstances... :wow:

[David Coscina 4]

George Crumb's Black Angels, for electric string quartet.  To my knowledge, the only string quartet about the Vietnam War.  Makes Pierrot Lunaire sound like Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.  It wasn't for nothin' that William Friedkin used some of Crumb's music in The Exorcist..

Cool. I forgot about that piece.

Any Brittney Spears song is pretty scary too in its own right...

[Gamecube 0]

George Crumb's Black Angels, for electric string quartet.  To my knowledge, the only string quartet about the Vietnam War.  Makes Pierrot Lunaire sound like Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.  It wasn't for nothin' that William Friedkin used some of Crumb's music in The Exorcist..

Cool. I forgot about that piece.

Any Brittney Spears song is pretty scary too in its own right...

her hairdoo is scarier.

[Ren 75]

all of the scenes that come to mind that i remember as being REALLY scary, were the ones WITHOUT music and all you heard was breathing and stuff. Like Silence of the Lambs and stuff.