The History of Horror Movie Music: How Strings and Synth Scores Scare Us to Death

It's October, which for many is all justification required to fire up the Betamax and cozy up into a month-long horror movie marathon. But whether you gravitate towards '80s slasher flicks, classic Universal monster movies, or utterly unnerving Japanese explorations of the paranormal, there's one thing that runs true for virtually every example of classic horror cinema: creative use of sound and music.

From the reassembled scores of the silent era to the retro synth-scapes of shows like Stranger Things, the styles of music used to score horror films are as diverse and spell-binding as the movies themselves.

Watch our video above to see Joe explore how the horror music craft has evolved over the past century of movie-making.

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