Songs from horror(ish) movies that are not, themselves, 'spooky'?

October 2, 2017 9:25 AM

Do you have recommendations for songs famously featured in horror movies, but not themselves spooky/horror-y/Halloweeny/etc.? Think more Day-O/Jump in the Line from Beetlejuice or Hip to be Square from American Psycho, but not the Ghostbusters theme or Mozart's Requiem Mass (Dies Irae).
posted by flibbertigibbet to Media & Arts (25 answers total)

Tubular Bells in The Exorcist.
posted by rd45 at 9:28 AM on October 2, 2017

Goodbye Horses, as used in Silence of the Lambs?
posted by theatro at 9:33 AM on October 2, 2017

Blue Moon in An American Werewolf in London.
posted by cazoo at 9:41 AM on October 2, 2017

Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" in Shaun of the Dead.
posted by Ufez Jones at 9:47 AM on October 2, 2017

Touch Me (All Night Long) in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge is my personal favorite!
posted by cakelite at 9:52 AM on October 2, 2017

Bad to the Bone or Not Fade away in Christine
posted by andrewzipp at 9:53 AM on October 2, 2017

Also from An American Werewolf in London, "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Tubular Bells isn't spooky? You're braver than I am.
posted by holborne at 9:55 AM on October 2, 2017

Ray Noble/Al Bowlly's recording of Midnight, The Stars and You as featured in The Shining.
posted by Funeral march of an old jawbone at 9:55 AM on October 2, 2017

The Wicker Man is kind of a horror movie, but it's also kind of a musical with some killer folk ditties written for the movie.
posted by cakelite at 9:58 AM on October 2, 2017

Cry Little Sister from The Lost Boys
posted by fshgrl at 10:24 AM on October 2, 2017

In the movie 1408, "We've Only Just Begun" is used (repeatedly, I think). To be honest, I always thought that song had a sinister tone to it before the movie came out -- but I think I'm an outlier.
posted by mean square error at 10:46 AM on October 2, 2017

Time is On My Side by the Rolling Stones (Fallen)
Rocky Mountain High by John Denver (Final Destination)
Sympathy for the Devil by Guns N Roses (Yes, this specific version; Interview with the Vampire)
Moondance by Van Morrison (An American Werewolf in London)
The End of the World by Skeeter Davis (Not really any specific horror movie I can think of, but they tend to play this song when they are setting up a suicide or mercy killing in movies and TV shows. See: Girl, Interrupted; Cold Case)
When the Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash (Dawn of the Dead reboot)
posted by helloimjennsco at 10:47 AM on October 2, 2017

The main title from Cannibal Holocaust.
posted by dilaudid at 10:51 AM on October 2, 2017

Superstition by Stevie Wonder in The Thing.
posted by otolith at 11:22 AM on October 2, 2017

Ben by Michael Jackson, from the film Ben.
posted by cazoo at 11:25 AM on October 2, 2017

Enthusiastic "seconds" for Time Is On My Side, We've Only Just Begun and Don't Stop Me Now.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:49 AM on October 2, 2017

I don't know if it's famous enough, but I thought of One Thing Leads to Another from House of the Devil.
posted by pepper bird at 11:54 AM on October 2, 2017

My favorite of all time is Let's All Chant, from the batshit disco murder fashion shoot in The Eyes of Laura Mars.
"Hi, Laura."
"Hi, Jim."
"You're in the pool, dead."
(Shrug) "For a hundred bucks an hour..."
posted by lieber hair at 1:55 PM on October 2, 2017

For me it's "American Girl" by Tom Petty from Silence of the Lambs.
posted by ApathyGirl at 2:05 PM on October 2, 2017

"Paint It Black" in "Stir of Echoes."
posted by DrAstroZoom at 2:18 PM on October 2, 2017

Is "Jeepers Creepers" too on the nose?
posted by Drosera at 4:11 PM on October 2, 2017

Angel of Love from Perfect Blue. So catchy!
posted by en forme de poire at 10:09 PM on October 2, 2017

96 Tears was featured in a segment of the movie Cats Eye ca. 1985
posted by davidmsc at 11:57 PM on October 2, 2017

Singin' In The Rain in Clockwork Orange.
posted by rhizome at 12:07 AM on October 3, 2017

Anyone who saw You're Next will remember Dwight Twilley's Looking for the Magic.

Manhunter had In a Gadda da Vida.
posted by heatvision at 4:04 AM on October 3, 2017