Speaking Volumes

This past week both of my co-workers posted blogs that capture some aspect of Halloween. Numerous other bloggers have polled their readers for votes for the scariest books, the spookiest films. So what's left for me to talk about? I've already confessed that the book that gave me the creeps was Stephen King's Pet Sematary, this is a post to Library Journal's Shelf Renewal. Yep, that Carol is me. I told Megan that the most frightening movie I ever watched was about a woman who goes undercover in an asylum and then can't prove she's not crazy. I thought Joan Crawford was in this one but it doesn't seem to be Straight Jacket , Berserk or The Caretakers. All I know is I saw it late night at a movie theater in my teens; had to walk home alone to an empty house and was scared to death. Any ideas?

Thinking about spooky stuff, the words to a song kept singing in my head, Spooky Kind of Love written by Shapiro, Mike; Buie, Buddy; Cobb, J.R; Middlebrooks; and sung by Dusty Springfield. You've got to take a leap of faith with me and see how this got me to the topic of this blog, spooky music.

Immediately what comes to mind is Bobby Boris Pickett & the Cryptkicker's classic, Monster Mash. Hey, this is my music and a mega hit in the 60's. It was released as a single and an LP called The Original Monster Mash, which contained lots of frightening diddies. Then there's Michael Jackson's 1982 Thriller, song and video with it's dancing dead. If this one doesn't ring creepy, I don't know what will? But what else? I've got soundtracks of music with creaky doors, bloody screams and things that go bump in the night. I used to play these for all the kiddies trick or treating to our door. This may explain why I haven't had a kid come calling for years. Must have scared them all away.

There's a great group called Midnight Syndicate out of Chardon, Ohio, who've got the right attitude for Halloween with their atmospheric Gothic music. Titles include Vampyre and Out of the Darkness among others.

You can't deny that music makes a horror movie a whole lot scarier. Think the themes to Jaws, Nightmare on Elm Street, Psycho, Poltergeist, Halloween, Rosemary's Baby, Phantom of the Opera and many, many more. If you do a search for horror movie composers you'll come up with certain names that connoisseurs of this genre mention over and over. Howard Shore (Twilight) Franz Reizenstein (The Mummy), Benjamin Frankel (Curse of the Werewolf, Malcolm Williamson (Brides of Dracula), Danny Elfman (Tim Burton's Nightmare before Christmas, Beetlejuice), Bernard Herrmann (Psycho), John Carpenter (Halloween). Paul Dunlap (I Was a Teenage Werewolf).

Halloween afternoon found me listening to a CBC Radio Canada presentation, Unsettling Scores, narrated by Howard Shore, composer and conductor. This was a very interesting hour exploring how music stimulates your emotions and is a catalyst for fear and terror. Bernard Herrmman tells how Hitchcock wanted no music in the movie Psycho. Herrmann showed the grand master of horror a few scenes without music and then with it. Hitchcock immediately wanted music When Herrmman pointed out Hitch's initial order for a movie without music, Hitchcock graciously admitted that he had made a poor suggestion. Imagine Psycho without that knife slashing music. In this film Herrmann used only strings to create the tension. In Journey to the Center of the Earth he used all instruments but strings.

I learned that Leon Theremin was the creator of the first electronic instrument called the Theremin. It had an unsettling, soprano sound that was described as other worldly and was first used in the movie Spellbound. Another fascinating tidbit from this broadcast was about Sally Stevens, whose ethereal voice made us shiver breathlessly in Rosemary's Baby, Clue and Dirty Harry.

This show was a testament to the dark power of disturbing music and worth a listen and may be available for download now.

Here's a few cd's on our shelves

Monsters, ghouls, goblins & demons : the essential Halloween party collection. ;

Andrew Gold's Halloween howls

Now it's your turn...know of any really great spooky music to scare us silly? Frighten us with your picks!