10 Iconic Horror Soundtracks That Defined a Genre

Halloween season is filled with creepy and unsettling music from horror movies. The iconic scores from franchises like Friday the 13th are famous even outside the films themselves. But great horror soundtracks do more than just scare us—they capture the challenging ideas within the movies, often being as bold and unusual as horror films are—a genre that’s always been a bit of an outsider.

I’ve always been fascinated by horror movie soundtracks. What’s cool is that a lot of them are made outside the big Hollywood system, which gives the composers a lot more creative freedom. Especially over the last 50 years, many have been created using electronic sounds – I think the smaller budgets actually forced a really inventive, DIY approach. And honestly, when you listen to those classic scores, they feel just as groundbreaking and experimental as a lot of the music being made today.

For example, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a well-known, low-budget film. Its music, created by Wayne Bell and director Tobe Hooper, doesn’t use typical orchestral instruments. Instead, it features unsettling, industrial, and atmospheric sounds that build a feeling of fear and confusion, making the on-screen horror even more intense.

The film The Exorcist famously used the song “Tubular Bells Pt 1” by Mike Bell to create a chilling and unforgettable atmosphere. Similarly, Italian horror director Dario Argento often collaborated with the band Goblin, commissioning them to compose the scores for his visually stunning and violent films like Suspiria. Goblin’s music was innovative, combining complex progressive rock with unsettling and atmospheric sounds.

Many lesser-known horror films feature atmospheric and memorable music, but a few soundtracks have become truly iconic, achieving widespread recognition despite the genre often being considered niche. This collection is a celebration of those unforgettable horror scores.

10. Hellraiser (1987)

Clive Barker made a significant impact with Hellraiser, cleverly introducing challenging ideas to a wide audience through the story of the Cenobites – terrifying, leather-clad figures from hell who believe pain can be pleasurable. Christopher Young’s score is equally impressive, a lavish orchestral work that combines beautiful, sad melodies with chilling, gothic horror.

The main theme from “Hellraiser” creates a sense of unsettling mystery with its rich string arrangements, mirroring the audience’s disturbing attraction to the Cenobites and the captivating horror of the puzzlebox. While many similar films use unconventional music, “Hellraiser” opts for a more traditional orchestral sound, giving its score a dramatic, almost operatic quality.

9. Candyman (1992)

Clive Barker, known for his creative vision, collaborated with director Bernard Rose on this now-classic cult film. They brought in renowned composer Philip Glass to create the score. Despite reports of disagreements – Glass apparently felt he’d been misled into working on a cheap horror movie – the music he composed for Candyman is far more impactful than he acknowledges.

The music for Hellraiser was rich and full, using a large orchestra. However, for Candyman, composer Philip Glass opted for a simpler, more unsettling style. He created a sense of dramatic beauty through the use of choir-like vocals and a recurring organ melody, enhancing the film’s tragic love story. The most recognizable part of the score is the “Music Box” theme, which perfectly captures the feeling of the Candyman story being an old, almost innocent tale told over and over again.

8. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Krzysztof Komeda was a famous Polish jazz composer who also wrote music for films. His jazz background gives Roman Polanski’s suspenseful and unsettling story about the supernatural and a mother’s fears a unique and memorable quality.

Mia Farrow sings the famous “Lullaby From Rosemary’s Baby,” a gentle, childlike tune that has an unsettling edge. Like the film itself, which builds suspense gradually, the soundtrack starts with upbeat jazz and then becomes darker and more ominous as Rosemary becomes increasingly paranoid.

7. Alien (1979)

The chilling science fiction horror of Alien remains impactful, and Jerry Goldsmith’s score is just as memorable. Its musical themes have been frequently used in later Alien films. Despite disagreements during production that led to much of the original score being changed or cut, director Ridley Scott considers Goldsmith’s work to be one of his all-time favorite film scores.

The opening of Alien, particularly its “Main Title,” masterfully creates a feeling of dread. It starts with ominous orchestral music accompanying a view of the vast emptiness of space. Then, as the camera moves through the spaceship Nostromo, a famous flute melody begins, hinting at the horror to come and building suspense.

6. The Shining (1980)

Stanley Kubrick was known as a demanding and meticulous director. For his film The Shining, composers Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind created a significant amount of music, including the iconic main title theme. This theme was a modern, synthesizer-based version of a piece originally written in the 1800s by Hector Berlioz, and it helped build a feeling of suspense during the opening shots of Jack’s journey to the Overlook Hotel.

Kubrick primarily collaborated with music editor Gordon Stainforth to choose existing pieces by experimental composers. They carefully matched the music to what was happening on screen, creating a powerfully unsettling effect. This technique brilliantly hints at the hidden, menacing presence that permeates the Overlook Hotel.

5. The Thing (1982)

The music for The Thing is special because it came from a partnership between two incredibly talented artists: the famous composer Ennio Morricone and the film’s director, John Carpenter, who also writes and composes music. Carpenter usually created his own electronic soundtracks, but he wanted something different for The Thing, so he traveled to Rome to ask Morricone to work on the film.

The composer of the classic film Once Upon a Time in the West moved away from traditional orchestral music for this project. Instead, he created a soundtrack featuring simple electronic sounds and unsettling, low-frequency tones, with only hints of orchestral music. John Carpenter added even more electronic effects during editing, most famously the chilling “du-dum” sound that appears throughout the movie and adds to its suspense.

4. Tenebrae (1982)

I’ve always been captivated by Goblin, the Italian prog-rock band famous for their incredibly atmospheric horror soundtracks. They really made a name for themselves working with directors like Dario Argento on iconic films like Suspiria and Deep Red. If I had to pick a favorite score of theirs, though, it would be for Tenebrae. It’s where they – under the name Simonetti-Pignatelli-Morante – really embraced a cool, electronic, and disco-influenced sound that I find so compelling.

In Tenebrae, director Dario Argento really cranks up the suspense and seems to be having fun with the typical tropes of Italian thriller films. The band Goblin provides a perfectly energetic soundtrack, using pulsing synth sounds that mirror the movie’s themes of fear and unease in the city. The title track, “Tenebrae,” was so memorable that the electronic music duo Justice sampled it in their 2007 song “Phantom.”

3. A Nightmare On Elm Street (1983)

As a huge film buff, I always say that some soundtracks just create a movie’s atmosphere, and this one is a prime example – it’s incredibly atmospheric and unsettling, really pushing boundaries with its electronic sound. It’s amazing to think that Wes Craven worked with such a tight budget on this classic horror film. The composer, Charles Bernstein, had to create the entire score himself, and he was under a serious time crunch! But honestly, it just proves what I’ve always believed: limitations can actually spark incredible creativity.

Craven’s film uses dreamlike and unusual visuals, making it hard to tell what’s real and what isn’t, and Bernstein’s music perfectly complements this feeling. A memorable tune runs throughout the film and all of its sequels, and the electronic score creates a thought-provoking atmosphere that enhances the film’s hypnotic imagery.

Bernstein’s music is instantly recognizable, but it also includes surprising and clashing sounds. He creates sound worlds full of the intense, artificial tones unique to electronic music. This is a groundbreaking example of how experimental electronics can enhance classic horror.

2. Halloween (1978)

This surprisingly successful, low-budget horror film was written and directed by John Carpenter, who also created its memorable soundtrack. The music, with its distinctive synthesizer sound, is considered one of the most famous and easily identifiable soundtracks of all time.

Let’s talk about the music in this film, because honestly, it’s iconic. Carpenter’s main theme isn’t just good, it’s become instantly recognizable even if you’ve never seen the movie. It’s built around this incredibly tense piano melody that just keeps repeating, never quite letting you off the hook. And then he layers in these dark, droning synths that completely capture the feeling of Michael Myers – that relentless, pure evil. Every time something scary happens on screen, it’s punctuated by these sharp, jarring synth hits that really get under your skin. It’s a masterclass in building suspense through sound.

The famous theme music became a recurring element in later Halloween movies, just as essential to the series as Michael Myers himself. John Carpenter was even asked to rework his original score when the franchise was successfully relaunched with the 2018 Halloween reboot.

1. Psycho (1960)

The music from the movie Psycho is arguably the most recognizable horror theme ever written. Its famous “screaming strings” – sharp, high-pitched violin chords – perfectly capture the terror of the film’s shocking shower scene, where the main character, Marion, is attacked. This scene is considered one of the most startling moments in film history.

For the film’s music, Alfred Hitchcock teamed up with the renowned composer Bernard Herrmann. They made a bold choice: using only strings – no brass, woodwinds, or percussion. The resulting score, with its sharp, unsettling string melodies, is incredibly famous and instantly signals danger to movie audiences. It’s become a classic sound of horror and has helped the film remain iconic over the years.

2025-10-27 16:21