![]() Bernard Hermann wrote the eponymous score for Psycho, and Hitchcock himself stated that “33% of the effect of Psycho was due to the music.” Not only did Hitchcock’s masterpiece employ never-before-seen directing techniques, he also changed the way horror movies were scored. The landscape of horror films took a hard turn in 1960, when the iconic Psycho was released. But that was about to change, thanks to the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. These now-classic movies all featured bombastic, operatic orchestral scores, and not much in the area of sound design or effects. They all had grand, impressive scores to go with the big scenes happening on the screen. Think of movies like Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Dracula (1931), or Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). When it comes to horror films, we could refer to this golden age as the age of ‘obvious’ horror. Everything was grand, majestic, loud, and in-your-face. You know how people refer to the stretch of time between 19 as Hollywood’s ‘Golden Age?’ These were the most glamorous decades of Hollywood cinema, and the horror genre was no exception. ![]() 1930’s to 1950’s: The golden era of horror movies It was also the first movie score ever to be recorded on three separate tracks: music, sound effects, and dialogue. Luckily, the folks at RKO loved the end result, and so King Kong became the first feature-length musical score written for an American movie. He paid Steiner to compose and record original music for the film, which he did – in just six weeks and with the help of a 46-piece orchestra. Cooper disagreed, thinking that such an epic movie deserved an original soundtrack. Initially, film studio RKO instructed composer Max Steiner to stick to repurposing existing music for budgetary reasons. King Kong (1933) was the first to break out of that mold. Instead, directors and composers repurposed existing pieces of classical music to get their desired effect. In the early days, horror films didn’t really have a proper soundtrack composed by scratch. Unfortunately, the original score has been lost, replaced in 1997 with new music by James Bernard. That all changed when sound was introduced to movies, and the first horror movie to have a soundtrack was 1922’s Nosferatu, directed by F. Obviously, during the silent film era, there were no soundtracks to begin with, and film directors had only the visual aspect to rely on for horrific effect. The horror genre has been around since the very beginning of cinema. ![]() In the beginning, there was (mostly) silence So, in the spirit of ‘sharing is caring,’ we wanted to present you with a brief history of horror film scores, as well as some techniques that composers use to elicit (much enjoyable) fear in their audiences. We’re big fans of horror movies at Cutting Room Music, and we’ve even scored a few of them. Imagine films like Halloween, Jaws, or Suspiria with different music – it’s virtually impossible, that’s how iconic these soundtracks are by now. Composers certainly don’t have it easy, as the right score can make or break such a movie. More often than not, what horror movies present us with are not pleasant images or situations, eliciting tension, fear, suspense, anxiety, and even revulsion or terror. When it comes to horror films, things are very different. Comedies are usually accompanied by upbeat music, adventure or action movies use dramatic effects and loud, powerful scoring to keep viewers engaged, while dramas play on our emotions with scores and harmonies that make us feel uplifted. Did you know that Alfred Hitchcock originally intended for the shower scene in Psycho to have no music? Try to imagine your favorite scary movies without their eerie-yet-delicious soundtracks and think whether they would still have the same effect on you.Įach genre of film employs specific techniques when it comes to scoring. ![]()
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