I love film scores. Ever since I was a kid, when I would crank the volume up on our television set and point the mic of my Fisher-Price tape recorder at its speaker, I’ve been obsessed with the music from my favorite movies.
Today, I have one for just about any occasion under the sun. Is it my wife and my anniversary? In the Mood for Love will do nicely. Running errands around town? Kiki’s Delivery Service turns even the most mundane task magical. Looking to get back at those party-hardy neighbors for causing yet another sleepless night? Let the dulcet tones of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge be the soundtrack to their attempts at slumber.
I also have a whole bevy of scores to help drum up some Christmas spirit when I’m not feeling particularly holiday inclined. Since it’s the season of giving, I’d like to share with you some of the spookier discs that I like to spin (this is a horror site, after all). Maybe they’ll get you in the mood to trim the tree, chug some nog, or do unspeakable things to that smug Elf on the Shelf you were gifted last year. Or perhaps they’ll just help you get through this crazy (sometimes hellish) time of year.
Either way, I hope you enjoy it and have a lovely holiday!
Dial Code Santa Claus (1989)
If you’ve never seen Home Alone’s cooler, scarier, and significantly more depressing European cousin, please do yourself a favor and pop it on. Dial Code Santa Claus, in the great tradition of French cinema, manages to both touch your heart and send you down an existential spiral, making it (in my estimation, at least) a perfect Christmas movie. Its score is no different. In the liner notes of the album, composer Jean-Félix Lalanne speaks of the six months he spent locked in his garage with his assistant, playing all the instruments featured in the score himself and sampling everything he could record. “Anything worked for me,” he writes. “As long as the colors of the sound took me on undiscovered paths.”
The result is an eclectic set of tracks that run the gamut from festive (“Le Grand Père et L’Enfant”) to funky (“La Danse Du Malin”) to freaky (“La Mor du Rêve”). Then there’s the album’s single, “Merry Christmas.“ Sung by Bonnie Tyler (belter of such iconic songs as “Total Eclipse of the Heart“ and “Holding Out for a Hero”), the ballad both captures the nostalgia of the Christmas season and sums up wonderfully the darker themes of the film itself. “Kids, don’t grow up like us/Who could change the plan,“ Tyler sings with her legendary rasp. “Here comes the darkness/Time to be sad.“ For those who find this a melancholy time of year, there’s kinship to be found on this disc.
Krampus (2015)
Most Christmas fright-flicks seem to fall into two categories. The first features horrors of the human variety, usually in the form of a deranged killer stalking and dispatching their victims during the holiday season. Figuratively, and oftentimes literally, these are slasher films dressed in a Santa Claus costume. The second variety takes the supernatural approach, sprinkling some otherworldly magic into the terrors it presents. One of the best to come out of this school is Michael Dougherty‘s Krampus, a film that, while not the first to utilize the German folktale, is probably most responsible for the barrage of “Demonic Santa“ movies we received in the mid-to-late 2010s.
Douglas Pipes, who composed the music for Dougherty’s other holiday horror love letter, Trick ‘r Treat, crafts probably the most festive-sounding score featured on this list. “It’s a good mixture,“ he described it in an interview with writer Michelle McCue in 2015. “Part mischievous, part playful, but it’s horrific.“ That balance he strikes results in much of the film’s sonic charm. Tracks like “Bells, Bones, and Chains“ and “Creatures Are Stirring“ highlight the movie’s darker comedic elements while also chilling you to the bone, while “The Wish“ injects some heart into its quieter moments. For folks who enjoy some fun with their frights, this album is for you.
Black Christmas (1974)
If you’re hoping to feel all sorts of messed up this holiday season, look no further than this Carl Zittrer classic. A horror veteran and frequent Bob Clark collaborator, Zittrer’s work on Black Christmas is legitimately terrifying and hauntingly abstract (the composer has cited Tōru Takemitsu’s work on Kwaidan as a big influence). For years, it was thought to be lost until the original masters were miraculously located by Zittrer and Waxwork Records. Not long after, the music label gave the score its first-ever release, complete with a gorgeous cover by artist Gary Pullin.
Divided into two sections (“Silent Night“ and “Evil Night”), the album is more of a dramatic soundscape than your standard collection of tracks. In his liner notes, Zittrer describes it as “a re-imagined, re-composed, and re-mixed interpretation from Billy’s perspective.“ Using musical cues, choral arrangements of various traditional Christmas carols, and dialogue from the film (expect to hear a lot of Billy’s horrific ramblings), the composer gives us a deeply unsettling view into the mind of the film’s killer. It’s a fascinating listen, but certainly not for the faint of heart.
Gremlins (1984)
Jerry Goldsmith and Joe Dante worked together four times before the legendary composer’s death in 2004. All of these efforts were solid, but the music made for Gremlins might be their most iconic. “Dante’s manic style and love of comedy, horror, and science fiction was the perfect collaborator for someone like Goldsmith,“ wrote one reviewer years later, and it’s true that Joe appeared to bring out the quirky side of the composer’s personality (if you want proof, look no further than the dog barks he slipped into The’Burbs).
Like the film itself, the music for Gremlins is a deft balance of light and dark tones, exemplified by the instantly recognizable tracks “The Gift“ and “The Gremlins Rag,“ the former serving as Gizmo’s theme and the latter the gremlins’. Beyond those obvious highlights, the score has other nicely contrasting moments, such as the cookie cutter Americana of “Late for Work“ and the maniacal goofiness of “Kitchen Fight.“ Gremlins has always struck a chord with those who have a complicated relationship with Christmas, and its score is no different.
Batman Returns (1992)
I know what you’re thinking: “You’ve put Batman Returns on this list? How gauche!” To which I say, go back and watch the infamous nose-biting scene or the moment where Batman discovers Max Shreck’s charred corpse and tell me the film doesn’t have some spookiness coursing through its veins. What’s not debatable, though, is the fact that the music Danny Elfman composed for Tim Burton‘s second Bat-outing was some of the best of his career. After some initial frustrations during the creation of his score for 1989’s Batman (apparently the producers of the film had their minds set on John Williams), Elfman had more room to play and more confidence in his abilities this second time around.
“The first one was like holding on to a freight train that was out of control, “he would relate years later in an interview with writer Owen Williams. “The second one was my territory, and I just had fun with it.“ That relaxed atmosphere led to a smorgasbord of killer tracks. The “Batman Theme“ returns, this time with new variations that give the famous march some added spice. Danny DeVito’s Penguin gets a tear-jerker of a theme that goes a long way in helping to humanize the grotesquely visaged villain. But the film’s standout motif has to be “Selina’s Transformation,“ which manages to be equal parts tragic and terrifying, much like the character it personifies.
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