Why Were Not Afraid to Love Scary Music (Plus 13 of the Best Horror Film Scores) Faculty composer Ryan Page discusses the appeal of scary movies and what makes the scores to films like John Carpenters Halloween and Dario Argentos Suspiria so compelling.
By
Bryan Parys
October 30, 2024
Image illustration by Pamela Hersch
Acclaimed Goosebumps author R.L. Stine recently said on the Chicago Humanities Tapes podcast that scaring kids was never his goal. In fact, he was surprised when his young readers told him that they actually enjoyed being freaked out by his stories. [Kids] like to be scared when they know they're safe at the same time, Stine realized. When they know they're in their room reading, they're out there fighting these monsters, but they know they're home safe.
Children aren't the only ones looking to be scared as a form of entertainment, as is evident by the countless horror films that plumb the depths of our fears and darkest imaginations. As central to the most iconic scary movies as figures like Jason, Freddie Krueger, and Hannibal Lecter, are the film scores that heighten the fear factor.
The shrieking strings in Psycho, the pulse-quickening bass line from Jaws-these scores function like any film soundtrack in that they add to the emotional experience of the visuals. But horror film scores also have the critical job of reminding us of the most important part: that what we're seeing isn't real.
Ryan Page, Assistant Professor, EPD
Ryan Page (he/they), assistant professor of electronic production and design (EPD), says that horror media allows us to explore the darker side of humanity, but from a safe distance. So thats something that I would never want to see in real life, right? I would never want to be trapped in a house with zombies, you know, pounding at the door, Page says. Music, they continue, is one of those things that allows [the horror] to be a thought, to be unreal, and I think that that can be a very kind of exciting place to be in. In fact, as he points out, the viewer has signed up for this experience. They bought the ticket, theyre ready to take their ride, they want to be sort of toyed with a little bit, he says.
As an electronic music composer, Page often works on sound design for digital media, including audio work on The Sims 4: Get Famous expansion pack, and has collaborated with artists such as Laetitia Sonami, Pauline Oliveros, Anna Friz, Rhys Chatham, and Ikue Mori. Under their current artist name Repairer of Reputations, Page frequently works on horror-related media, with this October being particularly prolific for them in this area. They released part one of The Path of Veins, an interactive visual horror novel that they wrote, programmed, and scored. They also released the latest installment of an annual project titled October Country, where they cover a selection of their favorite horror film scores and releases them as a free download on Bandcamp-but only available during the month of October.
Listen to a piece from Ryan Pages score for The Path of Veins, Part 1:
<a href=https://repairerofreputations.bandcamp.com/album/the-path-of-veins-part >The Path of Veins Part 1 by Repairer of Reputations</a>
The Best Scary Music Is Also a Little PrettyPage's interest in horror film scores began as a teenager after he picked up a DVD copy of Dario Argentos 1977 horror film Suspiria (incidentally, he was attending Berklee's Five-Week summer program at the time). Even as he realized the film was one of the scariest he'd ever seen, he couldn't stop thinking about the soundtrack and how anyone could write music like this.
To make music sound scary and interesting is a unique challenge, as it's not just about picking the most atonal textures or dissonant notes and slapping them together. Ironically, to make something memorably ugly, it has to have an air of pleasantness.
Take the theme from John Carpenter's Halloween.
On its own, the theme is pretty in its simple, minor-key melody, which isn't surprising given that Carpenter scored the film himself despite not having any formal musical training. What makes the piece so haunting is this simplicity plus a metronomic thumping set within an odd time signature (in this case, 10/8 or complex 5/4 time). You have this pattern thats repeating in a way that feels slippery. . . . It creates a kind of tension, Page says.
Jungmin Lee, assistant professor in the Screen Scoring Department, explains that Simple meters like 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4 would give [a film] scene a stable feeling. But in a horror film, odd meters such as 5/8, 7/8, and 7/4 have a shifting quality. They're a little unpredictable and make us feel uncomfortable, she says.
Watch Jungmin Lee give tips on how to score a scene from a horror film:
Haunted By the PastThe overall effect on the listener/viewer is that your grip on reality starts to slip just a little bit, and things start to feel surreal or uncanny-that is, things feel both real and unreal at the same time. The term uncanny is a concept that comes from the German word unheimlich, which translates to not from the home, but, according to how psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud discussed the term, it can also mean something hidden within the home (or within the familiar).
Combine the uncanny with the idea of nostalgia, and you start to get closer to why things like ghosts and zombies can be so scary. If you think about the semantic origins of [nostalgia], it also means homesickness, Page says.
Nostalgia and homesickness are about longing for something familiar that has been lost. We typically think of nostalgia as a pleasant feeling, reminiscing about the bygone, wistful days of youth. But people also talk about being haunted by the past, and as Page says,
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...
07/05/2026
From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production
In the ...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...
07/05/2026
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...
07/05/2026
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...
07/05/2026
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...
07/05/2026
Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...
07/05/2026
Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...
07/05/2026
The Atlanta Dream has partnered with Victory to stream all locally broadcast Dream games for free, expanding the team's digital distribution strategy and g...
07/05/2026
Riedel Communications has announced the appointment of Marc Engroff as Chief Fin...
07/05/2026
SES and ARD, Germany's largest public broadcasting network, have announced a long-term extension of their satellite distribution partnership through 2039. U...
07/05/2026
UpLight Technologies delivers a flexible video and lighting system for a new televised sportLaunching the Pro Cheer League required more than creating a compell...
07/05/2026
Full Day Productions and GSE Worldwide have announced Spikes Under the Lights, a...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
Why Were Not Afraid to Love Scary Music (Plus 13 of the Best Horror Film Scores) Faculty composer Ryan Page discusses the appeal of scary movies and what makes the scores to films like John Carpenters Halloween and Dario Argentos Suspiria so compelling.
