Halloween Playlist: The 13 Creepiest Horror Movie/TV Show Theme Songs From The Past 50 (Or So) Years
What scares us onscreen is pretty subjective. The stop-motion skeletons that got granny a-shiverin’ and a-shakin’ under her slip might not faze someone weaned in a world ruled by House-Of-Wax Plastic-Surgery-Chic like The Thing That Melted Meg Ryan.. Music, however, never loses its ability to scare us and the best, most classic horror themes can creep us all out, every time. Well, that and photographing Ariana Grande’s right side:
Do you like scary movies? Hang up that absurdly large 90s phone, crank the volume and…wait…what was that noise? You’d better go investigate…
13. “Rosemary’s Lullaby” from Rosemary’s Baby (by Mia Farrow and Krzysztof Komeda)
The plot: Satan hooks up with Mia Farrow. (He later dumps her to marry Soon-Yi.) Spooky song fact: La Farrow narrowly missed out with a placement on the Billboard Hot 100 with this eerie ditty in 1968, as “Lullaby” appeared on the Bubbling Under chart at #111.
12. Tales from the Crypt (main title by Danny Elfman)
The plot: In an early role as the skeletal, terrifyingly unhinged Cryptkeeper, Bethenny Frankel spins stories scary enough to make you drop your Skinnygirl cocktail. Spooky song fact: Before he became a film and TV composer par excellence, Danny Elfman was the driving force behind ’80s new wave art act Oingo Boingo, whose “Dead Man’s Party” shares some musical DNA with the “Tales” theme.
11. “Main Theme – Desolation” from The Thing (by Ennio Morricone)
The plot: An Arctic-bound alien attempts to achieve the dream many of us share: to get inside a young Kurt Russell. Spooky song fact: Ennio Morricone later gave a piece of music to the Pet Shop Boys, which they wrote a song around (“It Couldn’t Happen Here”) for their second album Actually.
10. “Audrey’s Dance” from Twin Peaks (by Angelo Badalamenti)
The plot: Everyone’s lives are marked by unspeakable horror after something once-loved washes up dead onshore. Think the release of ARTPOP. Spooky song fact: Badalamenti won a Grammy for his haunting Twin Peaks music.
