Not Your Typical Horror Music

When I think about classical horror movie music the Halloween (1978) film immediately pops into my head. Other words to describe the music i'm talking about include creepy, ambient, and apprehensive; songs that give you the goosebumps. A pop cover song, or a catchy 80s song wouldn't come to mind at first. But that's the reason why I love horror; behind the blood, guts, and gore there is also comedy, romance, mystery, and of course thriller. These are not only some of my favorite songs, but they also come from some of best horror films/games that I've seen.

Sung by Kate Irving, this song along with "Born to Have It All" are the only lyrical songs on the Carrie (1976) soundtrack. If you have just heard this song without realizing then you would have probably guess it came out of some musical, because it gives off the same vibes as "Hopelessly Devoted to You" from Grease (1978). Carrie: The Musical debuted in Broadway in 1988, and recently the teen-series Riverdale has brought it back to life. The greatest tragedy of this film is that Billy was starting to fall in love with Carrie. Although this is one of the most heartwarming scenes in the movie, you can't help feel uneasy, because you know what's going to come up next.

"Freddy's Greatest Hits" is a novelty album from a group called The Elm Street Group, featuring no other than Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). This album included other tracks such as "Do the Freddy," "In the Midnight Hour," and "Don't Sleep." Although, he only has a few lines in each song, you can't help but smile whenever he comes on. Sadly, I did not grow up in the 80s, but Matt from Dinosaur Dracula has, and that's where I first heard this song from. On his Purple Stuff Podcast he talks about nostalgic stuff and has done an A Nightmare on Elm Street! episode all about Freddy Krueger. Through the years Freddy has been parodied; he went from a scary figure that haunts your nightmares to a cool dude that you just want to hang out with.

I LOVE spiders, so this film holds a special place in my heart. Sung by Jimmy Buffett, or the guy who sang "Margaritaville;" "Don't Bug Me" is sang in the perspective of a spider, which the lyrics are pretty silly, but along with the catchy and nostalgic tune, it's awesome at the same time. Surprisingly released by The Walt Disney Company in 1990 "the film's story centers on a newly discovered Venezuelan spider being transported to a small American town that produces a new species of deadly spiders, which begin killing the town's residents one by one." If you are trying to get over your fear of spiders, I wouldn't watch this movie first; maybe start off with Charlotte's Web (1973).

I recently watched The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016), and it is truly a terrifying film, especially one of the last scenes of the film which featured this song. Originally published in 1954, this song has been covered many times. The most notable version is from The Flintstones sung by Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, which I've first heard on my prized Saturday Morning cartoon's greatest hits CD. This song was pretty innocent to me despite mentioning constant references to the devil. Along with the "You Are My Sunshine" from the Annabelle soundtrack; these films have succeeded in turning these "happy" songs into something more dark and sinister.

Devotion (2019) is a Taiwanese first-person psychological horror video game brought to you by the same people who created Detention (2017) (Red Candlelight Games). My favorite types of games are role-playing games, because they rely less on skills, and focus more on the story. On the surface "Lady on the Pier" is a love song, but to me it is a plea of a mother and daughter for things to go back to what they were, and waiting for their husband/father to come back into reality. I won't give away any spoilers, but just know I cried at the end when this song played. Although this game is no longer on Steam, you can watch the full game play with no commentary on YouTube.

I hope you enjoyed this list I put together. If you enjoyed any of these songs, let me know by leaving a tip. I’ll really appreciate it, and it will help me decide which type of content I should stick with in the future. Thank you so much for reading!