I posted the below comment just now, in a thread on Ghost Story. But it made me curious to start a wider discussion. What other cues do people find particularly unsettling - and do you spot a pattern in music that makes you feel uneasy?
"Ghost Story arrived in the UK yesterday, along with Rough Cut. I've loving both albums but a quick word about one of the tracks on Ghost Story....
I'm not sure what it is exactly, but one of the cues on the Ghost Story CD really creeps me out. I can't work out what is so scary about it...perhaps there's some pattern in the music that hits some subconcious button of mine, but I was curious to know if anybody else find's it unsettling.
The track in question is 'Cemetery', and the part I get particularly spooked is from 10seconds. Then, when the chord that hits between about 35 to 36 seconds, I tend to get goosebumps"
Usually spooky, whispering voices or moans creep me out. But that's mainly if I'm home alone...or listening on headphones late at night. I remember a track on Joe LoDuca's ARMY OF DARKNESS* that creeped me out under those exact circumstances. I ended up flinging the phones off and putting the light on.
*I think it might be in the track Forest Of The Dead, but I'm not sure, it's been ages since I played it.
I've just listened to that bit you quote, pooter, and I hear a dark/liturgical style to the music. I reckon you were chased and persecuted, in a previous life, by those dreaded 'holy men' and it's resurfacing from your buried psyche, by the music.
recently rediscovered SALEM'S LOT and cannot bring myself to listen to "now it's mark's turn" after dark. something about that incessant pizzicato pulse bit drives my anxiety levels through the roof. i sort of get the same feeling whenever i listen to "the intersection scene" from williams' WAR OF THE WORLDS, but sukman's is more spare and primal and i can't help but envision that slow pan to reveal the vampire zombie boy floating in fog at the window.
When the relatively unknown composer Humphrey Searle got the opportunity to score THE HAUNTING (1963) for Robert Wise, fairly soon after Wise won the Oscar for WEST SIDE STORY, it looks like he pulled out all the stops to make this work. Particularly the quiet parts where he uses bells and a tinkling piano. It has stayed with me since my early teens and have since heard many a score that borrows sounds from it, even though he and his score remain in obscurity:
I think the part you are talking about has a sort of carnival vibe to it--reminds me a little bit of the circus parts from Something Wicked This Way Comes.
Speaking of SWTWC, I was listening to the score last night and the cue Miss Foley at the Mirror is pretty damn creepy, especially when you are familiar with the onscreen action. Horner was really good at juxtaposing beautiful/creepy.
Another one is the title cue from Temple of Doom where they are lowering that poor guy into the lava. That scene f'ed me up as a kid and that cue is still kind of an uncomfortable listen for me.
Also from JW--the opening moments of Ben Gardener's Boat from Jaws are sooooooo creepy. I love the sort of mystical feeling that creates a sort of dread at how calm everything appears, almost like he's warning you that this is too quiet and something is definitely wrong.
Deadfall gets a lot of attention for the long guitar piece but "The Last Deadfall" is very eerie with those stark horns. Also, the "Plague Pit" from The Last Valley. I agree with the poster about the main title from The Mephisto Waltz. Damn, we need a solid release of that score.
"The Hospital" from The Mephisto Waltz has the most disturbing opening sting I've ever heard. "Sleepy Alien" from Alien and "Charcot's Show" and "A Desperate Case" from Freud because of their association with Alien still creep me out.
