Top image: Still, ‘Psycho’ (1960) dir. Alfred Hitchcock.

With just one ominous note, the very best horror soundtracks can cause hot sweats. In fact, many of cinema’s creepiest scores have transcended their accompanying visuals and become a source of fright in their own right, gnawing at the nerve endings.

This week sees the return of shit scary clown Pennywise (played by HERO 11 cover star Bill Skarsgård) via Andrés Muschietti’s big-screen adaptation of Stephen King’s classic novel. Having broken a record for the most views in its first 24 hours – a whopping 197 million views – it’s clear that our appetite for a frightener is more ravenous than ever.

In anticipation for the release, we’ve rounded up our favourite creepy AF soundtracks. From original scores to ingenious repurposing of existing tracks, from brooding synths to cutting gothic noir, John Carpenter to Trent Reznor. Don’t be afraid to scroll down…

Halloween by John Carpenter, 1978

Let’s begin with a clear-cut classic, John Carpenter’s 1978 freight-fest, Halloween, the story of escapee murderer Michael Myers.

Directed and co-written by the legendary Carpenter, it’s his minimal spine-chilling piano score that really makes the film. The story goes that in the early summer of 1978, months ahead of the film’s October release, Carpenter received a final cut of the film sans music or sound effects, which he screened for a young executive at 20th Century Fox. “She wasn’t scared at all,” Carpenter wrote in the soundtrack’s liner notes, adding, “I then became determined to ‘save it with the music.’”

Taking inspiration from Goblin’s Suspiria and Bernard Herrmann’s iconic Psycho score (we’ll get onto both of these later), Carpenter brought his own unique style to the genre. With its use of musical ‘stingers’ (sudden, loud chords) to emphasise moments of terror or violence and that instantly memorable main theme, played in 5/4 time, a rhythm he learned as a teenager from his music-professor dad on bongos, Carpenter created an instant classic that continues to send shivers down spines today.

And good news, folks: Carpenter has hinted that he may create more original music for the upcoming reboot of the Halloween franchise. Fingers crossed.

Suspiria by Dario Argento, 1977

Described by John Carpenter as “being inside of a painting”, Dario Argento’s stylised horror masterpiece Suspiria (1977) immediately carved its status as a cult classic.

Etched in a colour-saturated palette, the Italian filmmaker’s surrealist supernatural flick is an incredible feat of cinema, however it’s hard to imagine the film’s visuals without their swarthy music, created by Italian prog-rockers Goblin. Centered around drums and synth, the score also included witch screams, Mellotrons, Minimoogs, thick bass riffs, electric and acoustic piano as well as organs and a string machine.

Lost Highway by David Lynch, 1997

One of David Lynch’s many incredible talents is the way he creates movie scores that not only accompany but heighten his unique visual narratives. But it’s perhaps the score for the auteur’s 1997 mystery-horror film Lost Highway that sticks out as the eeriest (partially because we can’t help but picture the haunting image of the film’s Mystery Man character).

Released via Trent Reznor’s Nothing Records label, the soundtrack features music from frequent Lynch collaborator Angelo Badalamenti as well as Nine Inch Nails, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Smashing Pumpkins, Rammstein, and Marilyn Manson (who also makes a brief cameo). Using these industrial cuts to build atmosphere, Lynch sliced repeated musical cues and snippets of dialogue to provide clues to decoding the film’s fractured timeline – answers on a postcard.

Honourable mention to the buzzy discomfort of Eraserhead’s industrial anxiety.

The Shining by Stanley Kubrick, 1980

It’s impossible to discuss spine-chilling scores without mentioning Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, with a soundtrack so iconic it was labelled ‘Hauntological’. No surprise really, as Kubrick did have a reputation of being far more involved in music scores than the average director: in both The Shining and 2001: A Space Odyssey, very little of the commissioned composers’ scores ended up in the final edit. Instead, Kubrick turned to Eastern European contemporary classical music to subvert any expectations of what space (or terrifying corridor chase) music should sound like.

The Exorcist by William Friedkin, 1974

Sometimes less really is more, take The Exorcist‘s minimal score as a prime example. Anchored by Mike Oldfield’s now-iconic Tubular Bells – which went on to become such a smash hit, it essentially bank-rolled Virgin Records – the track optimised the brooding tension that underscores the entire film.

The blueprint for an infinite amount of imitations, none of which come remotely close, Friedkin’s classic remains unmatched, both in terms of the sinister urban legends shrouding its production and the terrifying account of demonic possession contained within.

When the late William Peter Blatty’s novel The Exorcist was first released, it freaked some people out so bad that they thought that the book itself was cursed, others kept it in a separate part of the house out of fear. So when the tale hit the big screen, it was a major cultural event, especially when reports began to feed through that audiences were fainting, crying and even being sick in the cinemas – rather ironic considering the film’s projectile-vomiting lead character.

Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock, 1960

Repeatedly voted the scariest movie theme tune, Bernard Hermann’s screeching violin in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho shower scene has become part of the American vernacular. Instantly recognisable, instantly hair-raising.

Played as Norman Bates stabs Marion (played by Janet Leigh) to death, leaving her blood to pour down the plughole, the music ups the ante 100 percent, adding a further layer of suspense and tension. Hitchcock actually originally stated that he wanted no music at all though the motel sequence with Marion and Norman, however Hermann’s genius cello and violin masterwork changed all that.

The Lost Boys by Joel Schumacher, 1987

OK, this one isn’t so much scary as just a killer compilation of 80s tracks. Perfectly tuned in with the film’s vampish aesthetics, the soundtrack straddled the line between 80s synth, shoegaze and hairspray-draining glam metal – reflective of the 1987 music charts – part Billy Idol snarl, part Nikki Sixx pout.

The Omen by Richard Donner, 1976

Composed by Jerry  Goldsmith (who also created scores for the likes of Planet of the Apes, Chinatown and Alien), The Omen’s theme, Ave Satani, features a strong chant-like choral segment, which includes (in Latin of course) the lines; “We drink the blood, we eat the flesh, raise the body of Satan,” intermingled with cries of “Hail, Satan!” and “Hail, Antichrist!” Now there’s a mantra you can take with you to your next bikram yoga class.