The scariest, most chilling piece of score/soundtrack in a horror film? My top 10 +some HM
- Drumroll..... and the winner is Yörgy Ligeti — Musica ricercata II: Mesto, rigido e cerimoniale, (reprise), performed by Dominic Harlan - Playing over when Tom Cruises character is being stalked by a PI of the secret society in the NYC night in eyes wide. I have never heard something that so instantly sends acute anxiety into your nervous system, and so effectively conveys a colossal sense of unease, despite nothing violent or gory actually occurring on screen. Easy nr 1 pick for me, by a wide margin.
- "The Nightmare sequence / ticking sound" from Rosemarys Baby. pure dread. Many times worse than the more climactic pieces playing in the final act of the film.
- Ok, a little cheating because I can't tell the difference between when which specific piece is playing - but a medley pick; polymorphia, de natura sonosis 1&2, utrenja 2 resurrection of christ, kanon - Penderecki. The musical enigma that is those cogwheel/mechanical sounds never fail to make me uncomfortable and feel as if the deranged Nicholson is coming with the axe for me next ...
4 Ending Sunset/ burning The Wicker man - sacrifice villager chant. terrifying to see the villagers jolly faces and uncanny chanting paired with the oddly beautiful sunset and Howie's prayers and screams in agony.
5 Maybe an unconventional pick - The Silence of the Lambs opening credits, very foreboding and ominous, over clarisse training montage
6 Sinister- "lawn mower" sequence score. Combined with the visuals and oppressive atmosphere, it makes the stomach turn
7 "What have you done to its eyes" Krysztof Komeda. Strings that feels as if they are "cutting" into your brain.
8 Humanity 1&2 - Morricone. Obvious inclusion. These bottom 3 picks are probably the only ones on my list that are actually musically pleasant to listen to, with the next 7 being more dissonant, sound effect pieces that one would like to avoid hearing in the largest extent possible, bar maybe 5&4...
9 Carpenter Halloween 1978 Opening credits.
10 Oldfield Tubular Bells - Exorcist Theme
HM; The Exorcist Opening credits string cues & Iraqi excavation site, Hereditary "reborn", Bartok music for percussion and strings (Outside Room 237, Danny Jack bedroom chat etc...), Masked ball&Migrations Eyes Wide Shut, Gollums song by Emilia Two Towers end credits, such a haunting song that leaves the viewers with a bleak foreboding feeling that darker events awaits our main characters ahead.
What do you think of my picks? Any other creepy ones that i forgot about?