10 Awesome Original Songs Written for Horror Movies
John Squires
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Music has proven itself to be an integral part of our favorite horror films, to the point that iconic scores like Halloween and Psycho are as important to the enduring popularity of those classics as the stories and characters themselves. But it’s not exactly scores we’re here to talk about today.
It’s not something that often happens nowadays, but back in the 80s and 90s, it wasn’t all that uncommon for studios to task musicians with writing and performing original songs for their horror movies – which would typically play over the opening or ending credits of the film.
To show you what we mean, here are 10 of our favorite horror movie songs, all of which would’ve been given awards at the Oscars if we were in charge!
This first one actually WAS nominated for Best Original Song at the 1973 Academy Awards. Believe it or not, it was 1972’s Ben, a sequel to Willard, that this song was written for, and Michael Jackson’s beautiful rendition of the loving ode made it a bona fide chart-topping hit. The song, which was originally written for Donny Osmond, was performed by Jackson over the ending credits of the film. Yep. A young Michael Jackson singing a love song about a rat. Gotta love it!
Something you might not know about the late David Hess, who played Krug in the original Last House on the Left, is that he was a singer/songwriter before he ever became an actor. In fact, it was Hess who performed the original recording of “All Shook Up,” which Elvis Presley went on to turn into a #1 hit. Because of his flair for music, Hess composed the soundtrack for The Last House on the Left, in addition to starring in it. “Wait for the Rain” is the most noteworthy song from the soundtrack, which played over the opening credits sequence. Eli Roth was such a fan that he used the song in his debut feature, Cabin Fever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaif8iFEWv8
Horror movie songs don’t get much more iconic than this one, written and performed by Alice Cooper. “He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask)” was a perfect companion piece to the fun and self-referential Friday the 13th sequel Jason Lives, celebrating the return of the real Jason Voorhees. Ensuring its future as an awesome export of the 1980s, the end credits song was given its very own music video (above), which saw Alice Cooper being attacked by Jason and featured several clips from the film. The personification of everything we love about the 80s, right here.
