Film Research - Horror Film Music

The music and sound in horror films appears to come in many forms, each intended to create a different effect in the film.

One type of music is very calm and low level, often incorporating slow strings or low level pipe music (as found in the opening of 'Halloween'). This music is used to create an air of suspense and mystery, key to creating a false sense of calm in a horror film, and often followed by a sudden scary moment which is designed to make you jump.

As in the thriller film 'Psycho', music can have a memorable affect when it is associated with a piece of action. In 'Psycho', the shower murder scene is always remembered with the screeching violin strings this music adds intensity to the scene and the scene probably wouldn't be as memorable without it.

I have discovered that diegetic and non-diegetic sound have very different effects on a scene, and only very rarely does a scene contain no sound at all. Even if there isn't any non-diegetic sound, there is often the sound of breathing, footsteps or possibly an animal or car sound if outside in the open. The non-diegetic sound is only used as another atmosphere creator, and is often used with the diegetic sound and written especially to fit with a character's movements or actions.

Music is often a very good indicator of when the character is going to fun into danger, and so the audience gets a sense that something is going to happen. However, because of this, directors like to use music to create a false sense of danger, building up the music, and then nothing bad happening to the characters. This is followed by an unexpected moment of danger, and the audience get more of a thrill. This is a technique used in films such as 'Dawn Of the Dead', '28 Days Later' and '28 Weeks Later', where the anchors of the stories are that danger is lurking everywhere, and the stories are about fight for survival.