One more day until Halloween

[yendi]

It's amazing that one of the worst horror movies (and the worst sequel) of the last twenty years has one of the best damned jingles associated with it.

But that still doesn't make Halloween III a watchable movie.

What makes it bearable is that it has a great score (swiped from the first movie), and a good opening scene.

Come to think of it, those are two essential ingredients in any horror movie.

So. what are your favorite horror scores, and what are your favorite opening scenes?

For me, no one does horror music better than John Carpenter. And Halloween is certainly one of the creepiest scores ever. But I think he actually topped himself with his scores for Assault on Precinct 13 and Prince of Darkness, both of which still creep me out.

Other great scores include Jack Nitzsche's great music for The Exorcist, and the superb job that John Williams did on Jaws. Yeah, nothing from the last fifteen years on that list. I'm sure there have been some scary scores, but nothing sticks out that much.

As for opening scenes, no movie, ever, will have a better hook than the original Halloween. That's a given. The entire scene, shot through the eyes (and mask) of a little boy, is just horrifying, in the truest sense.

My second favorite opening scene is in Deep Blue Sea, one of my favorite flicks of the last few years. The entire movie is a blast, but the opening scene sets things up perfectly, basically telling the entire audience, "hey, just because this movie is about sharks, don't think this is a Jaws rip-off." It's fucking brilliant.

And bad as the movie is on so many levels, the opening scene of Friday the 13th Part V is one that's still capable of making me shudder at how brutal it is.

Okay, your turn.

Comments

[sistermaryeris.livejournal.com]

Deep Blue Sea was awesome. I loved the part where the shark jumps up and eats Samuel Jackson (I think it was him...). That rocked.

I may be being blasphemous here, but I loved the music to the House on Haunted Hill remake. Especially the opening scene with the super scary elevator ride and then the Marilyn Manson remake on Sweet Dreams. That movie totally rocked until it cheesed out at the end. But otherwise, it was great.

[yendi]

That scene in DBS was the moment when it shifted from "fun" to "bloody brilliant."

I adored the remake of HoHH, although I could have done without the Manson song. But the music was great, and it also had a great opening scene (that one clip of a patient stabbing a doctor with a handful of pencils still sticks with me).

[pinballsorceror.livejournal.com]

I just ordered the John Carpenter collection a few days ago(and yes, reading your journal was the catalyst), I have never seen "The Prince of Darkness" but reading the premise sounded fan-fucking-tastic. Is it as good as it sounds?

[yendi]

Is it as good as it sounds?

Well, I certainly think so. It's not as intense as The Thing, but it's a great idea, and Carpenter has a lot of fun with it.

[lovingboth]

Lots of psuedo-scientific babble in a long build up, twenty or so minutes of good climax, with the best bits of the score too.

I've got the last 20ish minutes on tape, and the soundtrack LP, but I wouldn't buy the whole film unless it was really cheap.

[unwilly.livejournal.com]

I think Deep Blue Sea was Deeply, Boringly Stupid.

That said the animatronic sharks were very well rendered. Did Rick Baker do them?

Un

[amokk]

Oh good, I'm not the only one who thought Deep Blue Sea was bad. Yay.

[dangerdean.livejournal.com]

I thought it was chompalicious.

[unwilly.livejournal.com]

It was really bad, but not so bad that it was good.

[pinballsorceror.livejournal.com]

And on the music topic, two words: "Donnie Darko".

Both a brilliant film and a kickass soundtrack, composed by the writer/director of the film to boot. I think he is definetely a new talent to watch.

[felisdemens.livejournal.com]

One more day till Halloween, SILLLLVER SHAMROCK!

I like Carpenter's scores.

[amokk]

What the hell was the point of Halloween 3, anyway? It had nothing to do with the rest of the series. I hate movies like that (like Highlander 2...).

[skylion.livejournal.com]

Jarre did wonderful work on the Jacob's Ladder score. I wish I still had that CD, if only to hear Jolson's "Sonny Boy".

[hookncrook.livejournal.com]

Oh weird Prince of Darkness story:

I had just seen the movie and the part with the insects crawling over the homeless people really got to me, or when the guy breaks down into cockroaches…

I went to the electric company to pay a bill and was in line behind this little old lady in curlers and a hairnet…she even had on slippers and one of those old-fashioned housecoats… It was funny. But I found myself freaked out by her on a subconscious level and I kept backing up in line. I forced myself to stop acting weird about this funny little old lady and step closer….

That is when I noticed red ants crawling all over her! All in her curlers and little gray hair, under the handcraft she had around the curlers… the ants were skittering all over her and she didn’t even notice. One was crawling over the collar of the housecoat and down her neck under her dress… AND SHE DIDN’T NOTICE!

I freaked completely out and backed up having Prince of Darkness flash backs and No one else noticed the ants all over her… I started counting and I got to twenty before she made it to the teller and then left… I was freaked all day.

Horror scores

[pharminatrix.livejournal.com]

Jerry Goldsmith's in The Omen.

[lovingboth]

Oh, H III is better than that. And I don't think the score is particularly pinched from the original, except in using some of the same synth presets.

H II's main appeal was the reworking of the theme tune. Have any of H IV to H whatever even begun to approach 'good'?

My favourite JC scores, for not just repeating the main theme over and over, are Escape From New York and Big Trouble in Little China.

[not-hothead-yet.livejournal.com]

favorite score: The Hunger - alternates between freaky-scary industrial (old style; machines grinding as opposed to what kids call "industrial" today which you can dance to) music done by Rabini and Jaeger then classical pieces (first time I ever heard the "Lakme" duet)

Favorite opening scene: probably Delicatessen

I know, I'm not a true horror fan since I really only like suspense/psychological thrillers (and consequently despise most slasher flicks) but scary is scary right?

BTW if this posts I will rejoice because every time I've tried to post to your queries it has rejected my comments and I've given up.