Berberian Sound Studio: The Sound of Horror
 

As noted in the main thread, Berberian Sound Studio is a love letter to scary music and terrifying noises, so I thought I'd kick off a soundtrack thread.

In your opinion, what's the most effective horror score?

And what film has sound that chilled you to the bone, perhaps more than the filmed action on the screen?

Although not from a movie, as a child, listening to Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath always rattled me with the use of sound effects and the slow, pagan ritual of the opening moments. Very cinematic I think.

Suspiria and The Shining are surely hard to beat when it comes to the sound of horror . . .

Philip Glass's magisterial score for Candyman is my no.1, also love Rosemary's Baby which has haunted me since i first heard it in childhood. Honorable mentions to Cannibal Ferox and Zombie Flesheaters for their weird pounding synth refrains and Phantom of the Paradise for out and out songsmanship.

Thanks for the Rosemary's Baby reminder, I'm always looking for creepy women going la la la for sampling purposes. I feel a remix coming on...

Love those blaring horns at the end, like some grotesque fanfare to announce the birth of the devil's spawn :eek: . . .

The worst use is surely Paranormal Activity. I think I know what they were trying to do - an infrasound drone to raise unease before any of the occurrences happened on screen...fine in theory...

...but a clearly audible bass tone that just signals the viewers that something is about to happen is a massive failure that works completely against the very idea.

Wrong frequencies, guys! Sack the sound techs.

Reminds me of a joke in ancient video rental parody The Scum Busters.

The film froze while a clip of the 'gore gong' sounding was played before any violence.