A Nightmare on elm street (Composed by charles burnstein)
The video above is the theme to my favourite horror film, Wes Craven's: A Nightmare on Elm Street. The start of the track is quite mysterious and haves you waiting for what comes next. After this "first stage" the second part kicks in. At 1:05 into the track the small high pitched tune starts to play and still is effective at making people on edge. We know from watching a lot of horror films that the truly iconic themes are usually the simple ones like this. The very simple tune is broken up by some sound effects which are hard to describe because they are quite strange. Its one of those themes that makes you on edge waiting for something terrible to happen and those in my opinion are the best kind. The ones that when you hear them take you right back to the scene that had you staring at the screen in anticipation then bam...they're not in a dream after all..
Halloween (composed and performed by john Carpenter)
Above is probably the most iconic theme music in all of horror. Its so eerie and always has us on edge. John Carpenters halloween is one of the best horror films ever made and its very rare if you don't find this on a horror top 5. Carpenter is known for being an amazing multi tasker, even doing special effects on star wars, but this is him showing his music side. Not only did he create this amazing film he even composed this very simple yet iconic theme. Whenever this music comes on in the film you are always on edge waiting for Michael Myers to show up and kill some very annoying teenagers.
Saw (composed by charlie clouser)
The Saw music is very effective at building tension. The whole base of saw is about pressure and what will people do to survive. This theme works brilliantly with this as the music gets more and more frantic over time. this makes the audience feel that time is running out for the victims on screen. This crates a lot of tension as the music gets faster and louder and you dont know wether or not the victims will survive the trap or not. The fast pace also creates an atmosphere of panic as the victim begins to feel the pressure and startes scrambling to try and escape Jigsaw's ellaborate death traps.
Jaws (composed by john williams)
The Jaws music is so iconic and for good reason. Everyone knoes this simple theme and what it means. The theme always comes in at just the right time and serves as an additional character in the scene. It builds tension rapidly as the audience begin counting the seconds until the shark attacks its victim. The theme cleverly keeps you waiting whilst the shark is stalking and circling its victim, keeping you on the edge of your seat so that when it does attack it gets the best effect possible. The music fits the scene and atmosphere so perfectly that you start expecting the music before it even comes in.This simple but brilliantly effective composed by movie music maestro John Williams is one of the best ever.