But what about the flipside? Have you ever noticed how certain horror flicks actually take the opposite approach and, instead of employing a terrifying musical theme, a softer, lighter, seemingly safer arrangement is used. And the result is often the same. A false sense of security is conveyed with such gentle themes, and the juxtaposition between the pleasurable sounds and the brutally graphic imagery creates whole new sense of menace. Don’t believe us? You shall once you scope our Top 10 Gentle Horror Theme Songs above!
The sound of innocence lost has never been more palpable than in Brian de Palma’s CARRIE, as he wisely turned to famed Italian maestro Pino Donnagio to create such a weepy and wistful theme. The opening scene establishes this perfectly, tricking us into thinking the movie will be a gentle coming of age tale. Of course, moments later we witness some of the most heinous bullying ever seen onscreen, and the soft, seductive sounds take on a whole new context.
document.write("
");
postscribe('#'+dynslot, 'cmnUNT("inline'", tile_num++, 0, "'+dynslot+'");'+'ipt>');
Jerry Goldsmith is one of the all time great film composers, a man who’s contributed to every genre under the sun, and even in the horror realm, has demonstrated stark diversity. His THE OMEN score is one of the most frightening pieces of sound ever assembled, yes, but then think about how anodyne his work on POLTERGEIST comes across as. Idyllic, hopeful, family-oriented, the theme lulls you into a false sense of safety, only to turn the tables entirely by the final reel.
Not only is the ending of the original WICKER MAN one of the all time wind-knocking gut-punches, the artsy acoustic folk songs peppered throughout the film are wildly original for a horror film. The opening track in particular, which serves as the main refrain, has a haunting quality despite being a rather gentle ditty. The movie sets you up to think you’re about to watch a down-to-earth, heartfelt drama, but what unfolds is a jarring cinematic sleight of hand that uses music as its key weapons.
document.write("
");
postscribe('#'+dynslot, 'cmnUNT("inline'", tile_num++, 0, "'+dynslot+'");'+'ipt>');
The great Philip Glass did quite the number on what, at the time, must have been considered a low-budget exploitation B-movie. Seriously, he outdid himself with the theme music to CANDYMAN, which honestly sounds like a classical composition right off the sheets of Bach or Beethoven. It’s that good, that soothing, that elegant. Of course, when counter-weighed by the horrific imagery on display throughout the flick, the music takes on a more sinister quality altogether.
We all know what legendary status Bernard Herman’s score to Hitchcock’s original continues to be, but when was the last time you listened to what the great Jerry Goldsmith did with the PSYCHO II? Well, we urge you to do so above, as it’s quite the lulling dirge. It’s a great choice by Goldsmith to take the sound in a wildly different direction than the OG. Here uses conjures a sense of the familial, the friendly, before subverting the same music toward abject evil.
Granted, ARACHNOPHOBIA is a PG-13 horror-comedy, and therefore by proxy has a lighter sensibility, but damn is that opening theme song softer than Cottonelle! It’s almost like a parody of something like Green Acres or some other wholesome, bygone TV program. Composer Trevor Jones echos the quaint sounds of easy country-living, a theme that plays out in the film itself as the Jennings family moves from the city to the rural countryside.
document.write("
");
postscribe('#'+dynslot, 'cmnUNT("inline'", tile_num++, 0, "'+dynslot+'");'+'ipt>');
Lalo Schifrin is one of the most accomplished composers who ever lived, in movies and out. Yet the tonal balance he was able to strike on the original AMITYVILLE HORROR is really one of the strengths of the movie overall. The theme he constructs manages to evoke a sense of promise, of starting a new, escaping the past and looking forward to the future…all the themes that are reinforced by the story itself. Yet in the back of your mind, you can’t help but think something untoward is on the horizon. And as we learn, boy is it ever!
Loading…
var ready_add_content = true;
function getNextTopTen(type,id) { var dynamicData = {};
dynamicData["type"] = type; dynamicData["id"] = id;
return jQuery.ajax({ url: "https://www.joblo.com/top-ten.json.1.0.0.php", type: "get", data: dynamicData, dataType: 'json', beforeSend: function() { jQuery('#loading').show(); }, success: function(data) { jQuery('#loading').hide(); jQuery("form#pagination > input[name$='ajxp_joblo']").val(data.ajxp_joblo); jQuery("form#pagination > input[name$='ajxp_arrow']").val(data.ajxp_arrow); jQuery("form#pagination > input[name$='ajxp_hotties']").val(data.ajxp_hotties); jQuery("form#pagination > input[name$='ajxp_video']").val(data.ajxp_video); } }); }
// Detect if div is in page function inView(el) { var width = jQuery(el).width(), height = jQuery(el).height(), offset = jQuery(el).offset(),
vp_dimensions = { height: jQuery(window).height(), width: jQuery(window).width() },
y_offset = (document.documentElement.scrollTop ? document.documentElement.scrollTop : document.body.scrollTop), x_offset = (document.documentElement.scrollLeft ? document.documentElement.scrollLeft : document.body.scrollLeft);
return ( offset.top y_offset && (offset.left + width) > x_offset ); }
function send_to_google(urlTitle,rank) { if( jQuery.inArray(rank, window.page_view) == -1) { if(typeof rank != 'undefined') { ga('send', 'pageview', { 'page': '/horror-movies/news/lists-'+urlTitle+'/item#'+rank }); console.log('send pageview https://www.joblo.com/movie-news/lists-'+urlTitle+'/item#'+rank); } else { rank = 0; ga('send', 'pageview', { 'page': '/horror-movies/news/lists-'+urlTitle}); console.log('send pageview https://www.joblo.com/movie-news/lists-'+urlTitle); } } window.page_view[rank] = rank; }
jQuery(window).ready(function($){ // get currect title window.current_seo = document.title; window.lastScrollTop = 0;
$(window).scroll(function(event){ // check the direction of scroll var st = $(this).scrollTop(); var dirct = ''; if ( st > lastScrollTop ){ dirct = 'down'; } else { dirct = 'up'; }
lastScrollTop = st;
// start changing the title $('.hash').removeClass('selector_current'); $('.hash').each(function(){ var self = $(this); if ( inView( self ) ) { self.addClass('selector_current'); $('.selector_current').removeClass('select'); // TODO : bug don't add correct class if(dirct=="up") { $('.selector_current:first').addClass('select'); } else { $('.selector_current:last').addClass('select'); } } });
if( jQuery("div.hash.selector_current.select").length > 0 ) { var metaTitle = jQuery("div.hash.selector_current.select").attr('data-metaTitle'), rank = jQuery("div.hash.selector_current.select").attr('data-rank'), urlTitle = jQuery("div.hash.selector_current.select").attr('data-urlTitle');
// if the title is not the same change if( window.current_seo !== metaTitle ) { document.title = metaTitle; window.current_seo = document.title; if(typeof rank !== "undefined" && rank != "" ) { window.history.pushState( {} , metaTitle, '/horror-movies/news/lists-'+urlTitle+'/item#'+rank ); send_to_google(urlTitle,rank); } else { metaTitle = jQuery("div.hash.default").attr('data-metaTitle'); window.history.pushState( {} , metaTitle, '/horror-movies/news/lists-'+urlTitle ); send_to_google(urlTitle,rank); } } } }).scroll(); });
.sidebar-dvd-releases .order-it { margin: 0; width: 100%; padding: 6px 10px 2px 6px; line-height: 16px; font-size: 12px; } .sidebar-dvd-releases ul.main-releases li div.orderLinks {
position: initial; width: 100%; height: 57px; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4); } .sidebar-dvd-releases ul.main-releases li div.orderLinks {
bottom: 2px; height: 20px; line-height: 25px; width: 100%; text-align: left; line-height: 25px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Oswald, Arial, sans-serif; } .sidebar-dvd-releases ul.slideshow li a img.cover { width: 100%; } .sidebar-dvd-releases ul.new-releases li.continue { float: none; display: block ; width: calc(100% - 10px) ; height: 35px ; margin: 0; background:none; } .sidebar-dvd-releases ul.new-releases li.continue a { float: none; padding: 12px 12px 8px; background-image: none; background-color: rgba(220,9,11,.9); color: #fff; text-decoration: none; text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 15px; display: block; width: calc(100% - 24px); margin: 0 ; line-height: 15px; text-align: center; } .sidebar-dvd-releases .limited { display: block; position: absolute; right: 10px; top: 10px; color: #fff; background-color: rgba(220,9,11,.9); padding: 4px 7px 1px; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px; } .left { float: left; }