Watched Bride Of Frankenstein last night; it had been years since I'd seen it and I had almost forgotten how good it really is, on the whole! Waxman's score is awesome! I hadn't paid it that much attention in viewings years ago, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
In particular I noticed the incessant drumbeat during the "Bride Creation" sequences. I think it went on for considerably longer than it does on the score CD from 1993. It's not really so much of a heartbeat rhythm, but similar and effective.
Just wondering if you can think of other scores with similar effects. Stevens did something similar in The War of the Worlds during the alien death scene.
Remember the scene where Gort is dissolving the material that was meant to immobilize him and he zaps (kills) the two guards watching? The steady humming sound is actually part of the music. I didn't realize this until I listened to the score CD for the first time.
The bass line in Morricone's theme for The Thing is evocative of a heartbeat.
Goldsmith used some combination of synth patches in Innerspace to create a heartbeat effect, with the tempo being faster or slower depending on the pace of the scene.
I feel like a lot of horror scores have used sampled or imitated heartbeat sounds for effect. Goldenthal used it in Interview with the Vampire along with sampled breathing.
The pounding percussion in "This Title Makes Me Jurassic" from Giacchino's Fallen Kingdom makes me think of a thundering heartbeat (probably of the guy running for his life!).
There are any number of moments where action scores mimic the whistling of an incoming bomb or the ricochet of a bullet or some other such "mickey-mousing" and moments in horror scores or dramatic scores where whispering voices mimic a ghostly presence or remembrance.
For nontraditional uses of effects in film scores, there's Baños's air raid siren repeatedly heralding the arrival of demons in 2013's Evil Dead.
