The Greatest Horror Movie Music Hits?
October 15, 2014 3:18 PM

I'm looking for songs that aren't objectively scary or spooky, but due to their use in horror/slasher/whatever movies/TV, they're now associated with scary times. "Goodbye Horses" in Silence Of The Lambs would be the ideal with "Red Right Hand" in Scream just squeeking in.
posted by The Whelk to Media & Arts (29 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
"Time Is On My Side" in Fallen.
posted by McCoy Pauley at 3:24 PM on October 15, 2014


Cry Little Sister from The Lost Boys.
posted by fshgrl at 3:29 PM on October 15, 2014


Tubular Bells from the Exorcist.
posted by doctor_negative at 3:30 PM on October 15, 2014


All nursery rhymes, ever. Gregorian chants.
(My phone corrected to misery rhymes several times - spooooky!!!)
posted by Lesser Shrew at 3:32 PM on October 15, 2014


Beethoven's Ninth in Clockwork Orange -- for a meta-example of this kind of association.
posted by third rail at 3:36 PM on October 15, 2014


It's not a horror movie, but Stuck in the Middle with You will forever only make me think of bloody, ear gettin' cut off, dousing in gasoline, chillingly blasé dancing-while-you-torture.
posted by phunniemee at 3:38 PM on October 15, 2014


In Dreams from Blue Velvet?
posted by augustimagination at 3:44 PM on October 15, 2014


Stuck in the Middle with You will forever only make me think of bloody, ear gettin' cut off, dousing in gasoline, chillingly blasé dancing-while-you-torture.

Hip to be Square (from American Psycho) has the same effect on me .
posted by fshgrl at 4:06 PM on October 15, 2014


Gremlins has resulted in my SO finding "Do you hear what I hear" creepy as hell.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 4:11 PM on October 15, 2014


Maybe Mad World From Donnie Darko?
posted by no regrets, coyote at 4:21 PM on October 15, 2014


The theme song from The Shining
posted by thegoldfish at 4:33 PM on October 15, 2014


O Fortuna from Carmina Burana (largely associated with the movie The Omen even though it's not really heard in the film).
posted by fuse theorem at 4:47 PM on October 15, 2014


Also from Silence of the Lambs is American Girl. For Clockwork Orange my pick would be "Singing in the Rain". (Not linked due to graphic content.)
posted by Room 641-A at 5:02 PM on October 15, 2014


Does anyone remember that (British?) flick where a bunch of office people were out in the woods? It might have only been in the trailer, but I want to say that one had some sixties pop hit in it...
posted by mr. digits at 6:13 PM on October 15, 2014


Jeepers Creepers, obviously.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:31 PM on October 15, 2014


Probably not enough people saw The Lady in White for this song to give people the appropriate amount of heebie jeebies.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:32 PM on October 15, 2014


Johnny Cash - When the Man Comes Around. Featured memorably in the opening to the remake of Dawn of the Dead.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:34 PM on October 15, 2014




"Every Woman In The World" by Air Supply, as used in Slither.

"Mr. Sandman", as used in Halloween.

"I Want To Marry A Lighthouse Keeper", as used in both A Clockwork Orange and The Maxx.
posted by Sticherbeast at 6:50 PM on October 15, 2014


The super scary music from the movie Jaws.
posted by Aha moment at 6:51 PM on October 15, 2014


There is an X-Files episode called "Home" in Season 4, where a horrific murder occurs while a cheerfully sappy Johnny Mathis song called "Wonderful" plays. "Home" was probably one of the most gruesome and disturbing episodes in the series.

Also, the Carpenter's "We've Only Just Begun" in the fantastic film "1408" (based on the Stephen King short story) is now permanently linked to sheer, undiluted terror in my mind.
posted by partly squamous and partly rugose at 6:56 PM on October 15, 2014


"Sweet Child O' Mine", as covered by Taken By Trees, as used in the trailer to the otherwise unmemorable Last House on the Left remake.

Not a famous example, but Patti Smith's "Horses" was used very well on the TV show Millennium.

"Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree", as used in In Dreams.

The first Final Destination movie had a grimly funny running "gag" about John Denver songs.
posted by Sticherbeast at 6:58 PM on October 15, 2014


"In The Beginning", by the Statler Brothers, as used in Se7en.
posted by Sticherbeast at 7:00 PM on October 15, 2014


Daisy Bell (A Bicycle Built for Two) in 2001.
posted by oneear at 9:31 PM on October 15, 2014


The Cuckoo Song
posted by bifter at 2:40 AM on October 16, 2014


Orinoco Flow by Enya, used in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
posted by mefireader at 12:07 PM on October 16, 2014


"Looking For The Magic" features prominently in You're Next.
posted by lakemarie at 12:08 PM on October 16, 2014


Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" from Zodiac.
posted by doctornecessiter at 9:33 AM on October 17, 2014


Johnny Cash - When the Man Comes Around yt . Featured memorably in the opening to the remake of Dawn of the Dead.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:34 PM on October 15 [+] [!]

Interesting -- haven't seen DotD, but the song's also used to great effect in the first season finale of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles ("What He Beheld").
posted by McCoy Pauley at 11:10 AM on October 17, 2014


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