Boards of Canada's Gyroscope as the credits track was the most perfect fit I've ever witnessed after the incredible video tape sounds/tracks, made the entire movie for me, sound is what I remember from this one. It's burned into my memory.
Despite a corny-ass monster and an awful ending, this movie ranks in my all-time favorites and the entire reason is the sound design and tracks.
The song from the BBQ scene is an excerpt from a dark-ambient/experimental EP by norwegian band Ulver titled "Silence Teaches You How To Sing". The whole EP is a 24-minute song, I highly recommend listening to the entire thing. And while you're there, you can check out their other stuff, they've done everything from black metal to synth pop lol
Dreamkiller (made by the same creative team as Sinister) from this year’s VHS also has horrifying audio for its tapes. The use of Hamburger Lady on one of them actually unsettled me
Just came out of a screening of The Zone of Interest, from the same director Jonathan Glazer and composer Mica Levi. It's not strictly a horror, but the music and sound design are TERRIFYING.
The red bathroom scene with the dialogue so clear, but the party audible underneath always freaks me out. It just reminds viewers of both the enormity or space, but also how tight it is; how the past is gone, but also entirely present.
Yes. Plus the score is so haunting, and so perfect when layered with all the rain and water sounds. I’ve fallen asleep (on purpose) to The Ring many times, lol.
My ex used to come to bed from the bottom, crawling up under the duvet, making that sound, knowing that it freaked me out. Funny looking back, but terrifying at the time.
Im so glad you said this - the music that plays in the tape, the music that plays when the phone rings, or whenever she visits that property.. even though I’ve seen the movie enough times to not be scared, the music ALWAYS spooks me. I remember sneaking the VHS when I was a kid and watching it alone and I could not hearing that screechy “ooooEEEoooo”
I'm way late to this thread but I had to add this. I got the ring dvd with my girlfriend like 15 years ago, and we discovered an Easter egg. There was a hidden menu item that when selected just played "the video" in it's entirety. We got chills from that - how well done to give the viewer the opportunity to "discover" the video themselves.
But here's the kicker - after the video plays and you return to the menu, while you're still shaking your chills off, the damn dvd plays the sound of a phone ringing
Annihilation has to be up there. The human sounding bear, that weird synth music with the doppelgänger alien. Also, not technically a horror, but the original Jurassic Park had some great sound effects-the T-Rex roar, the clicking of the raptor claws.
The Mark - Interlude by Moderat!
https://open.spotify.com/track/1BTsKDkV55KaMKBp92ldno?si=Qul46NuuR-C83vWgZU4fnQ
I love them so much. It’s Modeselektor and Apparat as a duo, hence Mode+Rat.
The raptor noises when they communicated with each other were classic too. That movie still looks and sounds so good. Blew my 7 year old mind seeing that in the theater when it first opened. I grew up reading all about dinosaurs. Hell, we still have the placemats with dinos from specific periods with size scales next to humans. I remember pointing out all reasons why it shouldn't be called "Jurassic" Park like a little nerd troll before they existed on the internet.
After seeing the movie I was crazy enough to get onto a ferry to go into Seattle I looked over the railing into the water and thought what the fuck am I doing I just saw war of the world
The garage door spring snapped at my house making a loud whipping noise not unlike the tentacles in the film while I was watching this movie. It was surreal and terrifying. We couldn't identify where the noise came from at the time. It only became apparent the next day
I haven't thought about that in ages, but it was a profound spook on my teenage mind.
I really hope Disasterpeace scores the sequel. It’s what drew me to the original pre release after watching the trailer well over 50 times. Still holds up for sure 👌🏽
If Disasterpeace is not on the sequel they will lose so much of the atmosphere. That guy is so insanely talented. Under the Silver Lake was an even better score. Cannot believe he was a chiptune artist before It Follows really.
Irreversible uses infrasound, sound that isn’t or barely audible to humans. It causes a sense of unknown danger, and can cause vibrations in your skull, making you nauseous; which is why some people walked out of the premier about to throw up. It was one of the first movies to ever experiment with infrasound.
It’s a really cool and effective (mostly) horror sound design choice
Yeah I agree. Lynch does sound prep before shooting scenes. Sometimes even bringing the soundtrack on set so the actors can respond to it better. His audio is probably what makes his films so terrifying.
The scene in Nope where the audience got abducted almost made me walk out of the theatre for a break. We saw it in IMAX and it was just so loud and consuming, it started giving me anxiety
Yessss! I came here to say this. I learned that Jordan Peele used the sounds of people screaming on a simulated rollercoaster and warped it to achieve the sound. Just brilliant.
I actually *did* walk out of the theater as a break after that. And right after the Gordy scene! The one and only time I've ever done that for a movie.
I like the sound design of Evil Dead. All of them.
The POV shot going through the woods with whatever the hell that sound is.
Also, all the crazy shit the deadites say.
*"Your sister's being raped in hell"*
Like holy fuck, that is EVIL.
The Necronomicon recording in *Rise* is one of the few things that’s gotten my modest sound bar positively Rumbling. Very evil sounding but incredibly pleasing sound design.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe had some very creepy scenes that relied on sound. I'm thinking of the bell scene mainly. As someone else said, The Entity as well.
The Witch, I think they made some kind of instrument called the Apprehension Engine, that they could make some really weird unnatural sounds on. They used it to maximum effect!
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me has some of Lynch’s scariest and most earnestly horror driven sound design. The Jumping Man’s dolphin-like sounds, the crescendo of sound in the “you stole the corn” scene, and the way music and dialogue are mixed in an overbearing way in The Pink Room are all horrifying examples and the operatic nature of the climax’s soundtrack is haunting.
I will nominate twin peaks :the return (18 hour movie broken up into 18 episodes) the sound is really Important to the horror you feel the whole way through
I love Lynch, but I’ve never seen Fire Walk With Me. I know it has a great reputation, but I’ve never watched Twin Peaks and I don’t plan to. Will I be missing too much without watching the show?
Twin Peaks as a whole pretty much requires watching every bit of it in release order. I highly recommend it, but to each their own. I can’t stop you from watching FWWM on its own but it really needs the context. Twin Peaks season 3 is one of my favorite pieces of media/art ever made, but strangely FWWM is towards the bottom of my ranking of Lynch’s 10 feature films even though it’s still great. That’s not saying that much though since he’s one of the all time greats - I just feel that lots of compromises were made in FWWM’s final cut to get it down to an acceptable run time but I wish it was over an hour longer.
But above all, it does have some of his most effective horror sound design moments.
The phone voice in the Mothman Prophecies always got me. Not necessarily a scary movie, but that voice was always creepy.
Shoot just reminded me of an old creepy movie called Pin(1988). Again, it's a very creepy voice.
The Exorcist
Paranormal Activity
THE ENTITY might be the scariest "sounding" movie other than the Exorcist ever.
I'll throw Poltergeist out there because if you crank the hell out of it there's stuff low in the mix that's like holy shit Steven screaming finally when he realizes what the F is going on right in Teague's face is SCARY
Man I’m glad I’m not the only one that had a compete adrenal response to that music from the Entity. As soon is it cued I felt like I was on the front lines of some ancient war
Right ?
It's so much more brutal when it's mixed with what you're seeing happen.
Whenever i think about the The Entity the two top things that come to mind are what a complete douche canoe her traveling boyfriend was and What an absolute slimeball piece of shit that doctor she had was
>Paranormal Activity
I don't know if it's the scariest sounding, but it's one of those movies that's a fundamentally different experience with a full theater system vs. watching it through TV speakers. The subwoofer bass rumble is so vital to that film, I'm betting because of [low frequency vibrations link to fear and paranoia in people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound).
I remember seeing it for the first time on a normal TV and was like "Eh, I don't know what everyone is freaking out about" (audience reaction shots were a core part of the marketing). I rewatched it later with a full sound system with friends and it was a totally different vibe. I credit the sound because all the other factors (I'd seen it before, I wasn't alone) should have made it less spooky.
Poltergeist has what I can only describe as "womb tones" dotted throughout the film, where these ethereal, descending notes are played over quiet spots leading up to or immediately after something happening. [You can hear what I mean at 26s and 1m4s in this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJkgIs_NzYw). It's unnerving as fuck, boosted by the nursery rhyme-esque music and tense high strings being played over the spooky shenanigans, emphasising a false sense of security and an underlying threat to the children. The entire soundtrack is phenomenal and really makes the film.
You mentioned this in the original post but I had to mute Sinister during the car scene the first time I watched it and refuse to watch it again for the soundtrack alone. Fuck that shit.
I really enjoyed it, and another by the same director called Flux Gourmet is also a very sound-fueled wild ride that I'd recommend if you watch this one & like it.
Might not quite fit with sound specifically, but I always thought the music in Annihilation was super creepy.
Especially [this](https://youtu.be/NCuBalItZA8?si=Ch8sOhIiSqw_efGF). Still gives me chills.
There was the original Jeepers Creepers that had the tune on the radio that was really creepy.
Also in the grudge, the sound they make with their mouths wide open. Scared my brother for years.
I know it already gets enough praise on here but the alien monsters from The Thing always creeped me out not just by the look of them but the noises they make too.
Very deep cut but yeah, this movie was creepy as fuck due to the sound design. I really hope it gets remade at some point as there was a great movie in there, but it did not quite make it out fully.
Absolutely my pick. *Skinamarink* is almost 100% atmosphere and let me tell you, this movie sounds exactly like 3 AM in 1995.
Also I just read the OP’s edit and good god I’d rather have bamboo jammed under my nails than fall asleep to *Skinamarink.*
I would throw that one on as my sleep soundtrack every night if my girlfriend would let me, so I have to settle with the industrial landscape of Eraserhead usually.
You're Next isn't really a scary movie, in fact it's almost a comedy at times. But the score for it is just so insane that whenever you get slow mo shots of the intruders you're just on the edge of your seat. The score and sound design really elevate this movie.
The Changeling . He acoustics in the movie are phenomenal along both the score. The recording of the actors.. and has that amazing scene post seance of the recording of it..
One of the most spine tingling audio recording ever..
Love it or hate it, The Blair Witch project had terrifying audio. Not being able to see what is going on while horrifying sounds are coming from the woods really set tone for the entire found footage genre moving forward.
Sinister. I can’t listen to the background noise. It makes my heart rate go up and my shoulder are at my ears. I didn’t even notice that was happening until I muted it and started breathing again.
Jurassic Park. The rex's roaring and low frequency growling, the thump of its footsteps, the raptors killing the cow offscreen and their claws on the floor, the storm - great sound design all round.
No Country For Old Men. It’s not horror but a Crime/Thriller and the lack of soundtrack music gives the film this overall eerie and empty tone.
Checking Wikipedia there are only 16 minutes of soundtrack in the 2hr film, damn.
Original texas chainsaw when the hammer hits his head and leatherface slams the metal door. Nightmare put to film right there thanks in part to how it sounds
I’ll recommend:
Stir of Echoes(1999)(I only remember a few specific scenes having sound design which scared the hell out of me, but there’s one bit in particular that got me good and I remember that when I rewatched that scene it was still really effective to me out of context)
Videdodrome(1983)(I remember loving the score for this one, and thinking the performances fit with said score brilliantly)
Isolation(2005)(Can’t remember many specifics but I recall the sound and score both adding to the movie’s unique and cold tone)
Texas chainsaw massacre set tbe bar,bizarre noises intermixed with fear induced panicked running and lastly silence. Just another way this movie made the bar,not set it,made it!
I was on the tail end of a methbomb trip once. We get back home, I get on the couch and face the wall to go to sleep, and my friend turns the T.V. on and it's V for Vendetta. Hearing talk about the revolution and me wondering if society, or me for that matter, is ready for it.
I thought my brain would shatter and I'd be stuck in paranoia for the rest of my life.
Not a movie but I saw a video of what a trex might have actually sounded like. I don’t even have to verify that it is scientifically accurate. don’t care if it is or not. It’s terrifying. Trying listening in the dark and imagine you’re hiding from it.
https://youtube.com/shorts/4mBqj7eYU2E?si=Z25-m1KtroCTXuUF
Skinamarink for me. The lo-fi crackle punctuated by hardly audible human voices. The toy phone. The entity's voice. The fact that the sound mixing isn't great, and can be shrill at times actually adds to the creepiness.
Not really horror but Arrival is scored beautifully. The deep bass and guttural vocalizations of the heptapods really stirs discomfort even though they aren’t a threat. The movie does a great job of inciting the dread I think humanity would feel if visited by another civilization.
Hostel. I saw it in theaters and remember being very disturbed/unsettled by the sounds of the torture chamber part of the movie. The foley artist really nailed it
When I got my first really nice pair of studio headphones I decided to test them out on a movie, and picked the original The Grudge. Made an already scary movie ten times scarier hearing every sound in detail.
Eraserhead. It's not even close. If I did have a number 2, it would be irreversible. Gaspar Noe purposefully put a very low brown note in the first bit of the movie because it's a sound that's known to make humans uneasy when heard. Spoiler alert: it worked.
Scariest sounds imo:
* **Horror in the High Desert** \- Both the music and the weird chanting noises.
* **The Poughkeepsie Tapes** \- Music.
* **War of the Worlds (2005)** \- Music and Tripod horn.
* **The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)** \- Sounds, music & when he closes the basement shutter.
* **The Ring (2002)** \- Music and sound effects. (Samara's singing is nice and peaceful though, lol).
* **Saw** \- The killer's tape voice & screechy pig noises.
* **Jeepers Creepers** \- Music, The Creepers sniffing sound & the old music that plays on the radio.
* **Signs** \- Music, sounds and the aliens voices on the walkie-talkie always creep me out.
* **Creep (2004)** \- The horrible music and the killer's screeching.
* **Silent Hill (2006)** \- Metallic machine noises clanking in the background when the world shifts, the Grey Children's screeching and Colin's tongue noises when his monster version comes out of the toilet stall .\_.
The last 20 minutes of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (‘74) are grueling. It’s screaming, yelling, general sfx, and a chainsaw constantly coming at you. The imagery is obviously disturbing, but the sound really puts you in that space. By the time it ends, the quiet hits you.
Sinister’s soundtrack is one of the most unnerving I’ve ever heard. The song in the BBQ scene still sends chills up my spine.
Boards of Canada's Gyroscope as the credits track was the most perfect fit I've ever witnessed after the incredible video tape sounds/tracks, made the entire movie for me, sound is what I remember from this one. It's burned into my memory. Despite a corny-ass monster and an awful ending, this movie ranks in my all-time favorites and the entire reason is the sound design and tracks.
There’s a section in the new vhs made my the same director if you haven’t seen it yet. Major sinister vibes to it too
As a huge BOC fan I need to see this movie solely for that!
Still think about how chilling those songs are, 10/10 movie though. The end of Hereditary is up there too for eerie songs imo
The song from the BBQ scene is an excerpt from a dark-ambient/experimental EP by norwegian band Ulver titled "Silence Teaches You How To Sing". The whole EP is a 24-minute song, I highly recommend listening to the entire thing. And while you're there, you can check out their other stuff, they've done everything from black metal to synth pop lol
Dreamkiller (made by the same creative team as Sinister) from this year’s VHS also has horrifying audio for its tapes. The use of Hamburger Lady on one of them actually unsettled me
Hamburger Lady is a genuinely unnerving recording man
I'm really surprised no one has mentioned Under The Skin. The sound design and soundtrack were excellent.
The underwater scene, where it goes from complete silence to... Like a balloon popping? that sound stuck with me
Just came out of a screening of The Zone of Interest, from the same director Jonathan Glazer and composer Mica Levi. It's not strictly a horror, but the music and sound design are TERRIFYING.
I'm soooo keen for that movie, fuck
Such a good recommendation for this. I've never heard a soundtrack quite like it, and never seen a movie quite like it for that matter!
Mica Levi's score for this movie is phenomenal
[удалено]
The sound of Danny's big wheel going from hardwood to rug is so effective.
Was looking for this comment :)
And the tennis ball hitting the wall in the Colorado Lounge
The red bathroom scene with the dialogue so clear, but the party audible underneath always freaks me out. It just reminds viewers of both the enormity or space, but also how tight it is; how the past is gone, but also entirely present.
Also the music is really dread inducing. I think the Room 237 scene wouldn't be nearly as scary if it weren't for that music.
Vocalizations towards the end while Wendy is running up the stairs toward the bear room :0 Unearthly
The Ring does a good job training you to fear certain sounds you hear on the videotape.
Yes. Plus the score is so haunting, and so perfect when layered with all the rain and water sounds. I’ve fallen asleep (on purpose) to The Ring many times, lol.
I have a friend whose comfort movie was _Jurassic Park_ and she fell asleep watching it every night through her doctorate program.
Clever girl.
Now I’m ruminating on this movie and how everything in it is so uncomfortable. Such a good one.
The grudge is another solid option from that time period. That gurgling noise uhhhhghhhh
My ex used to come to bed from the bottom, crawling up under the duvet, making that sound, knowing that it freaked me out. Funny looking back, but terrifying at the time.
Im so glad you said this - the music that plays in the tape, the music that plays when the phone rings, or whenever she visits that property.. even though I’ve seen the movie enough times to not be scared, the music ALWAYS spooks me. I remember sneaking the VHS when I was a kid and watching it alone and I could not hearing that screechy “ooooEEEoooo”
I'm way late to this thread but I had to add this. I got the ring dvd with my girlfriend like 15 years ago, and we discovered an Easter egg. There was a hidden menu item that when selected just played "the video" in it's entirety. We got chills from that - how well done to give the viewer the opportunity to "discover" the video themselves. But here's the kicker - after the video plays and you return to the menu, while you're still shaking your chills off, the damn dvd plays the sound of a phone ringing
Annihilation has to be up there. The human sounding bear, that weird synth music with the doppelgänger alien. Also, not technically a horror, but the original Jurassic Park had some great sound effects-the T-Rex roar, the clicking of the raptor claws.
The synth music in Annihilation was so wild!! I saw it in theaters and I'm glad I did-- the audio felt so physically oppressive and alien.
The Mark - Interlude by Moderat! https://open.spotify.com/track/1BTsKDkV55KaMKBp92ldno?si=Qul46NuuR-C83vWgZU4fnQ I love them so much. It’s Modeselektor and Apparat as a duo, hence Mode+Rat.
Fun fact: apparently I listen to this song so much, I’m in the .0005% of moderat listeners in the world (according to spotify)
I came here to comment Annhilation, not thinking I’d see it mentioned so quickly. Love it
Doppelganger mirror person gave me legit fight or flight reaction
The raptor noises when they communicated with each other were classic too. That movie still looks and sounds so good. Blew my 7 year old mind seeing that in the theater when it first opened. I grew up reading all about dinosaurs. Hell, we still have the placemats with dinos from specific periods with size scales next to humans. I remember pointing out all reasons why it shouldn't be called "Jurassic" Park like a little nerd troll before they existed on the internet.
I agree. The bear made my face fall.
The score during the humanoid doppelgänger scene was so unsettling and perfect
War Of The Worlds (2005)
That foghorn
I couldn’t watch SpongeBob SquarePants for a couple weeks after the foghorn! SpongeBobs alarm would scare me :(
Yep was going to say this too. Seeing it in the cinema was genuinely chilling. The tripod noise or the plane coming down both gave me goosebumps.
After seeing the movie I was crazy enough to get onto a ferry to go into Seattle I looked over the railing into the water and thought what the fuck am I doing I just saw war of the world
Yes this was my answer, those groans freaked me the hell out as a kid and still give me the creeps. Love it
The garage door spring snapped at my house making a loud whipping noise not unlike the tentacles in the film while I was watching this movie. It was surreal and terrifying. We couldn't identify where the noise came from at the time. It only became apparent the next day I haven't thought about that in ages, but it was a profound spook on my teenage mind.
It Follows
The soundtrack is just a masterpiece by disasterpiece
I really hope Disasterpeace scores the sequel. It’s what drew me to the original pre release after watching the trailer well over 50 times. Still holds up for sure 👌🏽
If Disasterpeace is not on the sequel they will lose so much of the atmosphere. That guy is so insanely talented. Under the Silver Lake was an even better score. Cannot believe he was a chiptune artist before It Follows really.
Spaghett!
I’m here for the spooks 👻🍝
I came here to say this. The sounds and soundtrack amplified the terror for me.
Alien Exorcist Exorcist 3
That demonic moaning in Exorcist gives me the willies just thinking about it.
Pontypoole has some of the best sound design I've seen in a horror movie, haunting and disturbing.
Saw this was added to Shudder and I recently added it to my watchlist
The baby voice is horrifying.
Such an amazing movie. Stephen McHattie put in a masterpiece performance. The movie lived or died by his voice, and he killed it.
Recently listened to this one while sleeping off a migraine. Pretty good audio-only choice.
Irreversible has the tone for the entire film. The tone to cause you discomfort. Barely noticeable but it is there.
And it is nauseating and horrifying, a very interesting sound design I don't want to experience again.
Irreversible uses infrasound, sound that isn’t or barely audible to humans. It causes a sense of unknown danger, and can cause vibrations in your skull, making you nauseous; which is why some people walked out of the premier about to throw up. It was one of the first movies to ever experiment with infrasound. It’s a really cool and effective (mostly) horror sound design choice
Or super loud droning noise they use. Makes me so uneasy...
Suspiria ‘77 Inland Empire The Wolf House
Yes, Suspiria. Listen to that soundtrack by itself and it's chilling.
Anything from David Lynch's filmography. But especially Lost Highway, I watched it with headphones in and it scared the shit out of me
I've got great news, that gum you like is coming back into style
Yeah I agree. Lynch does sound prep before shooting scenes. Sometimes even bringing the soundtrack on set so the actors can respond to it better. His audio is probably what makes his films so terrifying.
The scene in Nope where the audience got abducted almost made me walk out of the theatre for a break. We saw it in IMAX and it was just so loud and consuming, it started giving me anxiety
Yessss! I came here to say this. I learned that Jordan Peele used the sounds of people screaming on a simulated rollercoaster and warped it to achieve the sound. Just brilliant.
I'd like to add the sounds of wet flesh being hit as Gordy attacks the girl on the show ☹️
Yeah, those thuds are sickening
I actually *did* walk out of the theater as a break after that. And right after the Gordy scene! The one and only time I've ever done that for a movie.
Gordy is genuinely terrifying. It's so well shot
The end of the scene, with the fist bump... chilling cinematic perfection
I feel like all of Jordan peele’s movies have amazing sound design and it always creeps me tf out
I like the sound design of Evil Dead. All of them. The POV shot going through the woods with whatever the hell that sound is. Also, all the crazy shit the deadites say. *"Your sister's being raped in hell"* Like holy fuck, that is EVIL.
The Necronomicon recording in *Rise* is one of the few things that’s gotten my modest sound bar positively Rumbling. Very evil sounding but incredibly pleasing sound design.
Insidious
The Autopsy of Jane Doe had some very creepy scenes that relied on sound. I'm thinking of the bell scene mainly. As someone else said, The Entity as well.
Hereditary comes to mind. You know the parts.
*clicks tongue*
Not ashamed to admit that I did the noise after reading your comment lol
Bonk
Thud
Womp Womp
*shee shee shee shee*
Was so impressed with that improvised piano solo she did off the top of her head
The Witch, I think they made some kind of instrument called the Apprehension Engine, that they could make some really weird unnatural sounds on. They used it to maximum effect!
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me has some of Lynch’s scariest and most earnestly horror driven sound design. The Jumping Man’s dolphin-like sounds, the crescendo of sound in the “you stole the corn” scene, and the way music and dialogue are mixed in an overbearing way in The Pink Room are all horrifying examples and the operatic nature of the climax’s soundtrack is haunting.
I will nominate twin peaks :the return (18 hour movie broken up into 18 episodes) the sound is really Important to the horror you feel the whole way through
I love Lynch, but I’ve never seen Fire Walk With Me. I know it has a great reputation, but I’ve never watched Twin Peaks and I don’t plan to. Will I be missing too much without watching the show?
Twin Peaks as a whole pretty much requires watching every bit of it in release order. I highly recommend it, but to each their own. I can’t stop you from watching FWWM on its own but it really needs the context. Twin Peaks season 3 is one of my favorite pieces of media/art ever made, but strangely FWWM is towards the bottom of my ranking of Lynch’s 10 feature films even though it’s still great. That’s not saying that much though since he’s one of the all time greats - I just feel that lots of compromises were made in FWWM’s final cut to get it down to an acceptable run time but I wish it was over an hour longer. But above all, it does have some of his most effective horror sound design moments.
The whispering in "The Empty Man" That fucking creeps me out every time
Not a movie but the German series ‘Dark’ has a very unsettling and tense soundtrack that has stuck with me ever since watching that show.
The phone voice in the Mothman Prophecies always got me. Not necessarily a scary movie, but that voice was always creepy. Shoot just reminded me of an old creepy movie called Pin(1988). Again, it's a very creepy voice.
To this day, my sister and I will occasionally hiss "chapstick" to each other at unexpected moments.
Silent Hill works that way for my wife. Movie or game.
The Exorcist Paranormal Activity THE ENTITY might be the scariest "sounding" movie other than the Exorcist ever. I'll throw Poltergeist out there because if you crank the hell out of it there's stuff low in the mix that's like holy shit Steven screaming finally when he realizes what the F is going on right in Teague's face is SCARY
Man I’m glad I’m not the only one that had a compete adrenal response to that music from the Entity. As soon is it cued I felt like I was on the front lines of some ancient war
Right ? It's so much more brutal when it's mixed with what you're seeing happen. Whenever i think about the The Entity the two top things that come to mind are what a complete douche canoe her traveling boyfriend was and What an absolute slimeball piece of shit that doctor she had was
>Paranormal Activity I don't know if it's the scariest sounding, but it's one of those movies that's a fundamentally different experience with a full theater system vs. watching it through TV speakers. The subwoofer bass rumble is so vital to that film, I'm betting because of [low frequency vibrations link to fear and paranoia in people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound). I remember seeing it for the first time on a normal TV and was like "Eh, I don't know what everyone is freaking out about" (audience reaction shots were a core part of the marketing). I rewatched it later with a full sound system with friends and it was a totally different vibe. I credit the sound because all the other factors (I'd seen it before, I wasn't alone) should have made it less spooky.
Poltergeist has what I can only describe as "womb tones" dotted throughout the film, where these ethereal, descending notes are played over quiet spots leading up to or immediately after something happening. [You can hear what I mean at 26s and 1m4s in this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJkgIs_NzYw). It's unnerving as fuck, boosted by the nursery rhyme-esque music and tense high strings being played over the spooky shenanigans, emphasising a false sense of security and an underlying threat to the children. The entire soundtrack is phenomenal and really makes the film.
You mentioned this in the original post but I had to mute Sinister during the car scene the first time I watched it and refuse to watch it again for the soundtrack alone. Fuck that shit.
Beberian Sound Studio
Was really hoping to see this here. The thread was made for this one.
Dang that looks crazy. I’ve never heard of this movie before!
I really enjoyed it, and another by the same director called Flux Gourmet is also a very sound-fueled wild ride that I'd recommend if you watch this one & like it.
Cool, I can stop scrolling now
Might not quite fit with sound specifically, but I always thought the music in Annihilation was super creepy. Especially [this](https://youtu.be/NCuBalItZA8?si=Ch8sOhIiSqw_efGF). Still gives me chills.
There was the original Jeepers Creepers that had the tune on the radio that was really creepy. Also in the grudge, the sound they make with their mouths wide open. Scared my brother for years.
I know it already gets enough praise on here but the alien monsters from The Thing always creeped me out not just by the look of them but the noises they make too.
Yellowbrickroad
Very deep cut but yeah, this movie was creepy as fuck due to the sound design. I really hope it gets remade at some point as there was a great movie in there, but it did not quite make it out fully.
Session 9
It’s not a movie….or horror per se, but the theme song for Unsolved Mysteries launches me into fight or flight mode
It's highly divisive, but "Skinamarink" may fit the bill.
Absolutely my pick. *Skinamarink* is almost 100% atmosphere and let me tell you, this movie sounds exactly like 3 AM in 1995. Also I just read the OP’s edit and good god I’d rather have bamboo jammed under my nails than fall asleep to *Skinamarink.*
I would throw that one on as my sleep soundtrack every night if my girlfriend would let me, so I have to settle with the industrial landscape of Eraserhead usually.
I mean it fits this brief perfectly. It’s basically horror ASMR. Could have been a podcast.
Divisive indeed, but I find it to be one of my favorite horror films of the 21st century thus far.
Mine too. It really tapped into my childhood fears. I found it genuinely terrifying
You're Next isn't really a scary movie, in fact it's almost a comedy at times. But the score for it is just so insane that whenever you get slow mo shots of the intruders you're just on the edge of your seat. The score and sound design really elevate this movie.
Thr original Suspiria
Any David Lynch movie (except Straight Story,)
Glad to see this in a sea of recency bias based comments. Like seriously, nothing can top something like Eraserhead sound wise.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre has the creepiest sound design I've ever heard.
The Changeling . He acoustics in the movie are phenomenal along both the score. The recording of the actors.. and has that amazing scene post seance of the recording of it.. One of the most spine tingling audio recording ever..
A quiet place is all about the sound design.
[удалено]
War of the Worlds!
All films about sounding are scary to me
Can't believe Silent Hill hasn't been mentioned. The sirens, the nurses bodies, the scraping metal, the use of silence. All horror sound gold.
Original Candyman. I think the sound crew actually recorded the ripping of pig carcasses for some of the rippier scenes.
For just straight up a creepy noise/voice The Grudge has always stuck with me, and recently Vivarium had the same effect.
Love it or hate it, The Blair Witch project had terrifying audio. Not being able to see what is going on while horrifying sounds are coming from the woods really set tone for the entire found footage genre moving forward.
Sinister. I can’t listen to the background noise. It makes my heart rate go up and my shoulder are at my ears. I didn’t even notice that was happening until I muted it and started breathing again.
Insidious has got that unnerving violin music
I remember specifically thinking Krampus had great sound design. It was the scenes out in the blizzard and Krampus is hopping roofs.
Bennings in the Thing, it is just like what the hell.
Jurassic Park. The rex's roaring and low frequency growling, the thump of its footsteps, the raptors killing the cow offscreen and their claws on the floor, the storm - great sound design all round.
Ringu for sure. Half the horror is in the nightmarish, eerie ambience
Color Out of Space
No Country For Old Men. It’s not horror but a Crime/Thriller and the lack of soundtrack music gives the film this overall eerie and empty tone. Checking Wikipedia there are only 16 minutes of soundtrack in the 2hr film, damn.
Personally, I think Smile has the best horror soundtrack of all time. Insane vibe producing.
A Dark Song. The music is just... unsettling.
Original texas chainsaw when the hammer hits his head and leatherface slams the metal door. Nightmare put to film right there thanks in part to how it sounds
I’ll recommend: Stir of Echoes(1999)(I only remember a few specific scenes having sound design which scared the hell out of me, but there’s one bit in particular that got me good and I remember that when I rewatched that scene it was still really effective to me out of context) Videdodrome(1983)(I remember loving the score for this one, and thinking the performances fit with said score brilliantly) Isolation(2005)(Can’t remember many specifics but I recall the sound and score both adding to the movie’s unique and cold tone)
Original Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The soundtrack to Sinister is dread inducing.
The nun. I think the music is terrifying
Texas chainsaw massacre set tbe bar,bizarre noises intermixed with fear induced panicked running and lastly silence. Just another way this movie made the bar,not set it,made it!
Original Candyman
I was on the tail end of a methbomb trip once. We get back home, I get on the couch and face the wall to go to sleep, and my friend turns the T.V. on and it's V for Vendetta. Hearing talk about the revolution and me wondering if society, or me for that matter, is ready for it. I thought my brain would shatter and I'd be stuck in paranoia for the rest of my life.
Methbomb trip? Methbomb as in ecstasy pills that you consume not know they are mostly meth rather than mdma?
Thanks for preemptively answering my Q about WTF a meth bomb is.
Triggered a long lost memory hahaha , had to figure it out in my brain
Yes.
Although it was ruined by the presence of Tom Cruise, the Sound design in the Steven Spielberg War of the Worlds is chilling.
Not a movie but I saw a video of what a trex might have actually sounded like. I don’t even have to verify that it is scientifically accurate. don’t care if it is or not. It’s terrifying. Trying listening in the dark and imagine you’re hiding from it. https://youtube.com/shorts/4mBqj7eYU2E?si=Z25-m1KtroCTXuUF
Skinamarink for me. The lo-fi crackle punctuated by hardly audible human voices. The toy phone. The entity's voice. The fact that the sound mixing isn't great, and can be shrill at times actually adds to the creepiness.
if you are okay with found footage, We Are the Missing has some sounds in it tht kept me up at night forsure.
i'm a sucker for approaching, accelerating footsteps
Dune soundtrack was creepy for me
I thought The Dark and the Wicked had great sound design.
I love the music in Midsommar but damn if those violin sounds don’t sound like they’re scraping on your own heart strings…
Heredity had a really low vibration base sort of background noise practically through the whole film. I could really hear it.
Jaws
I think a strong argument can be made for Hereditary.
The Exorcist. Hard to top Mercedes McCambridge’s demon voice.
I thought the sound design in Smile was surprisingly brilliant.
Not really horror but Arrival is scored beautifully. The deep bass and guttural vocalizations of the heptapods really stirs discomfort even though they aren’t a threat. The movie does a great job of inciting the dread I think humanity would feel if visited by another civilization.
I remember watching Cloverfield in theaters and the sound of everything, even the \*silence\* before shit hit the fan was \*terrifying\*.
The Entity
smile was pretty creepy
Hostel. I saw it in theaters and remember being very disturbed/unsettled by the sounds of the torture chamber part of the movie. The foley artist really nailed it
Black Swan
The Nun + movie theater surround sound= me scared SHITLESS.
No One Will Save You. Just saw it. There’s not a lot of dialogue, so much of the film features unsettling music and eerie sounds from the antagonists
Smile 2022. Creeped me out when I was watching in the cinema.
When I got my first really nice pair of studio headphones I decided to test them out on a movie, and picked the original The Grudge. Made an already scary movie ten times scarier hearing every sound in detail.
Lake Mungo, holy shit! The slow zoom in with the simple yet creepy sound effects and then they don't show any sort of jumpscare is what's truly scary
The trailer for [The Block Island Sound](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8747160/) drew me in just from listening
Sinister.
Eraserhead. It's not even close. If I did have a number 2, it would be irreversible. Gaspar Noe purposefully put a very low brown note in the first bit of the movie because it's a sound that's known to make humans uneasy when heard. Spoiler alert: it worked.
Sinister
Psycho has some crazy music when he’s about murder. The noise in Scanners is very unnerving as well just makes you uncomfortable fr
Mark Korvan’s soundtrack in the VVitch was A+
Babadook. They used the T-Rex sound effects form The Land Before Time and that movie scared the shit out of me when I was a kid
A quiet place, the first one. I've never been to a quieter movie theater
Scariest sounds imo: * **Horror in the High Desert** \- Both the music and the weird chanting noises. * **The Poughkeepsie Tapes** \- Music. * **War of the Worlds (2005)** \- Music and Tripod horn. * **The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)** \- Sounds, music & when he closes the basement shutter. * **The Ring (2002)** \- Music and sound effects. (Samara's singing is nice and peaceful though, lol). * **Saw** \- The killer's tape voice & screechy pig noises. * **Jeepers Creepers** \- Music, The Creepers sniffing sound & the old music that plays on the radio. * **Signs** \- Music, sounds and the aliens voices on the walkie-talkie always creep me out. * **Creep (2004)** \- The horrible music and the killer's screeching. * **Silent Hill (2006)** \- Metallic machine noises clanking in the background when the world shifts, the Grey Children's screeching and Colin's tongue noises when his monster version comes out of the toilet stall .\_.
Sinister hands down was creepy imo
The Haunting (1963)
I think the Insidious title card deserves a mention
Babadook's sound design was fantastic, but for me the scariest sound in the history of film is the "bear" from Annihilation.
Try annihilation?
The last 20 minutes of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (‘74) are grueling. It’s screaming, yelling, general sfx, and a chainsaw constantly coming at you. The imagery is obviously disturbing, but the sound really puts you in that space. By the time it ends, the quiet hits you.