It’s that time of the year again. The spookiest day on the calendar has come about, and nobody’s more excited than the nightmarish Melbourne four piece Horace Bones. As much as they enjoy ripping out ghoulish psychedelia, the blokes from the band dig a killer horror movie, but only one with a soundtrack to match. From a wealth of experience, they’ve managed to pull together their top 10 OSTs.
Celebrate Halloween this year with the right musical accompaniment, as Horace Bones pick their 10 favourite horror soundtracks.
28 Days Later
Whilst featuring songs from many established musicians, the main soundtrack to 28 Days Later was created by John Murphy. In the House – In a Heartbeat is a standout track that features over the climactic confrontation towards the end of the film. The track takes the tension of this final chilling climax and multiplies it ten-fold.
Daughters of Darkness
A sexy and hauntingly atmospheric vampire movie from 1971. The soundtrack is quintessential early 70s with a blend between psychedelic, orchestral and synth style music. This particular track goes from moody movie score to an incredible Portishead-style instrumental breakdown.
The Excorcist
Before becoming synonymous with the movie, the infamous score to the Excorcist actually started out as the beginning to a 25 min track, called Tubular Bells Part 1, by English musician Mike Oldfield.
Interestingly, this album was the first album that Virgin Records ever released and played a big part in the company’s initial success.
Alien
The Ridley Scott classic from 1979 was revolutionary for it’s time. The slow-building, terrifying atmosphere created in this film could not have been fully achieved without the haunting score by Jerry Goldsmith.
City of the Living Dead
After a priest commits suicide by hanging himself in a cemetery, the gates of hell open and the dead begin to rise. Where the premise of the movie wasn’t anything terribly new, what really stood out as unique was the score by composer Fabio Frizzi.
While many composers of this era (1980) were turning to synth scores, Frizzi went with a more quintessential 70s sound – almost as if he was composing the theme to a 70s exploitation horror movie.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Wes Craven’s classic comes with arguably the spookiest score in this list. Released in the early eighties, it’s a creepy synth wonder and perfectly encapsulates the essence of the era.
Suspiria
Prog-rock outfit Goblin brings us this hauntingly cool score from Dario Argento’s masterpiece Suspiria. If Pink Floyd were to all die and somehow be raised from the dead to play one last show together, this is probably what it would sound like.
The Thing
One of the very few John Carpenter films not scored by the director himself, The Thing was his first big studio film. With the bigger budget, they were able to lock in the legendary Ennio Morricone – famed for his twangy guitar theme to The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Comprised of a haunting, pulsating synth, the music fits in perfectly with the incredible tension created throughout this film.
The Return of the Living Dead
Potentially the best horror movie of all time, The Return of the Living Dead has one of the greatest opening sequences of any horror movie in existence. When the opening scene ends and that eighties synth kicks in, you immediately get chills running down your spine.
It Follows
Arguably one of the best horror movies of the last decade, It Follows came with an incredible score by Richard Vreeland – better known by his stage name Disasterpeace. The synth compostions are a cleverly executed, modern homage to the classic horror movie scores from the 80s.
