My love affair with horror films started at the tender age of eleven, when my siblings and I convinced our parents to rent Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist on VHS. To this day, clowns give me nightmares! Although Poltergeist has an orchestral score, it wasn’t long before I was drawn deeper into the genre and discovered the synth-heavy scores of composers such as John Carpenter, Charles Bernstein and John Harrison. With Halloween just a couple of weeks away, now is the perfect time to revisit those synth horror classics, along with some new favourites.
Goblin “Profondo Rosso” (1975)
The soundtrack for Profondo Rosso was the first of several collaborations between progressive rock band Goblin and director Dario Argento, a central figure of the Italian giallo genre. The title track is a perfect blend of the group’s prog sensibilities and horror aesthetics, its gothic Mellotron choir and spine-tingling arpeggio accompanied by propulsive drumming and electric bass. The enduring influence of Goblin’s soundtracks can be heard today on labels such as Spun Out of Control and Giallo Disco, and in the music of Steve Moore and Anthony Paterra’s Zombi, who take their name from Argento’s re-edit of Day of the Dead, which was scored by Goblin.
Fred Myrow and Malcolm Seagrave “Phantasm“ (1979)
Fred Myrow and Malcolm Seagrave’s prog-synth score for 1979’s Phantasm is very reminiscent of Goblin and Frizzi’s giallo soundtracks, all organs and Mellotron choirs, with an ARP Odyssey and Minimoog on synth duties. The arpeggiated leitmotif surely ranks as one of the genre’s most memorable, right up there with Mike Oldenfield’s “Tubular Bells” (as heard in The Exorcist) and John Carpenter’s Halloween theme.
Fabio Frizzi “City of the Living Dead” (1980)
Fabio Frizzi is one of the horror genre’s most significant composers, having collaborated extensively with Italian director Lucio Fulci, the so-called “Godfather of Gore”. His score for City of the Living Dead has something in common with Goblin’s proggy giallo soundtracks, but Frizzi’s compositions are more keyboard-heavy. The drum arrangements are superb, there is is some excellent slap bass, and of course Frizzi’s trademark pitched-down Mellotron choir features prominently, an effect that he has described as the ‘sound of the dead.’
John Carpenter “The Fog” (1980)
John Carpenter’s influence on the sound of horror cinema cannot be overstated. From the moment that he composed the piano motif for 1978’s Halloween, horror movies would never sound the same again. Carpenter is known for his sparse compositions, and for The Fog he pared things right back, creating a vast, slowly evolving soundscape that echoes the film’s fog-enveloped landscape. Deep analog drones (courtesy of a Moog Modular IIIP programmed by Dan Wyman) are punctuated by a haunting piano and percussive synthesizer pulses, to produce a score that Carpenter considers to be one of his best.
Jay Chattaway “Maniac“ (1980)
Undoubtedly one of horror’s most unsettling and brilliant scores. Insect-like synthesiser rhythms, dissonant strings, atonal screeches and swirling drones take the listener deep inside the mind of a madman. But the true genius of Chattaway’s score lies in how he finds beauty amidst the chaos. “Cry for Mother“ is a highlight, with its delicate flute melody, tremolo keys, fretless bass and bell-like arpeggio.
Tim Krog and Synthe-Sound-Trax “The Boogey Man” (1980)
Its tinkling motif may not be as memorable as the themes from Halloween or Phantasm, but the synthesizer work and arrangements on Tim Krog and Synthe’s score for The Boogey Man are uniformly good. Synthe cooked up plenty of off-the-wall electronic sound effects, and the score also features an early example of the “hoover” synth sound!
John Carpenter and Alan Howarth “Halloween III” (1982)
I could have included any of Carpenter and Howarth’s collaborative scores on this list, but for my money Halloween III is the pick of the bunch. The film may have divided Halloween fans, but its score is beyond reproach. It contains some of Carpenter’s most menacing drones and tension-building synthesiser sequences. “Chariot of Pumpkins” is a standout, with its relentless sequence, irregular time signature, and brilliant noodling lead. And let’s not forget the Silver Shamrock TV commercial jingle! Hear it once and you will be humming it from now until Halloween.
John Harrison “Creepshow” (1982)
Director George Romero originally intended to score Creepshow with 1950s library music. Thankfully for us he instead enlisted John Harrison, who had an acting credit on Romero’s Knightrider from the previous year. At times playful, at other times gothic, Harrison’s score has a B-movie vibe that harks back to the 1950s, layering spooky theramin-like tones and eerie music-box melodies with synthesised strings and reverberant piano.
Charles Bernstein “A Nightmare On Elm Street“ (1984)
By the mid 1980s the crisp digital timbres of FM synthesis were creeping into horror movie scores, such as the Yamaha DX7 that features prominently in Charles Bernstein’s score for A Nightmare On Elm Street. Those glassy bell tones would not have been possible a couple of years earlier. The massive, reverb drenched percussion that propels the music forwards is also very much of the period. But Bernstein’s score remains timeless thanks to its brilliantly simple cue, which recalls the nursery rhyme a group of girls chant while they jump rope in one of the film’s iconic scenes: “One, two, Freddy’s coming for you…”
John Harrison “Day of the Dead” (1985)
Somehow John Harrison manages to squeeze the entire of the 1980s into his score for George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead. FM bass, sentimental electric piano, Simmons tom drums, synth brass, epic electric guitar solos: it’s all there. Eminently listenable.
ROB “Maniac” (2012)
By the 2010s the synth sounds that dominated horror in the 1980s were coming back in a big way. Franck Khalfoun directed a remake of Maniac in 2012, and commissioned French musician Robin Coudert aka ROB to compose a new score. ROB’s arrangements have the queasy, unhinged quality of Jay Chattaway’s original score, but the sound is more accessible, juxtaposing gritty synthscapes and greasy resonant sweeps with haunting acoustic and electronic keys. This one will appeal to fans of the darker shades of synthwave, as well as ‘80s horror music aficionados.
Disasterpeace “It Follows” (2014)
On its release in 2014 It Follows signalled a fresh direction for horror cinema. Its score, by composer Richard Vreeland aka Disasterpeace, was equally impactful. Vreeland incorporates some of the same chip tune instrumentation as on his soundtrack for the video game Fez, but “It Follows” is closer to John Carpenter than Super Mario. Distorted synthesiser foghorns, creepy pizzicato strings, and ‘80s style arpeggios, tied together by a thumping heartbeat, make this one of the standout horror scores of recent years.
Steve Moore “Cub” (2015)
In addition to being the synthesiser wizard in the prog-synth group Zombi, Steve Moore has also composed several film scores, including for Cub, a Belgian horror film about a scout group who fall foul of a feral poacher. Moore’s intense score nods to giallo and Italian horror, with a healthy sprinkle of John Carpenter. The rising motif that runs through “The Treehouse”, “The Truck” and “Finale” builds tension extremely effectively.
Wojciech Golczewski “Tonight She Comes” (2016)
Wojciech Golczewski’s score for the 2016 slasher flick Tonight She Comes is mesmerising and melancholy, evoking a range of emotions aside from raw fear. Golczewski’s sound design is impeccable, and the musicality of his arrangements make this score very enjoyable as a standalone listen.
Digging deeper
If you want to dip into the minds of some of horror’s greatest composers then I can highly recommend Scored to Death by L. Blake Fichera. The book features conversations with 14 renowned film composers, including John Carpenter, Alan Howarth, Caludio Simonetti, Jay Chattaway, Fabio Frizzi and more.