10 Awesome Original Songs Written for Horror Movies
John Squires
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The third installment in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, Dream Warriors, was released just one year after Jason Lives, and it too featured a totally badass song of its own. It was heavy metal band Dokken that was tasked with coming up with a song that tied into the film, and boy did they deliver. “Dream Warriors,” which played over the end credits of the fan-favorite Elm Street sequel, was also brought to life with a particularly awesome music video, featuring clips and even some brand new original footage. A true anthem for Freddy fans, and yet another reminder that life will never be as awesome as it was in the 80s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxCaIomwBsU
Not to be outdone, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise got in on the heavy metal fun in 1990, when Leatherface enlisted the help of his good friends Laaz Rockit to spice up his third outing. I’ve always been of the mind that Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 is one of the true unsung gems of the franchise, and this head-banging ode to the big guy is further confirmation of that belief. I mean, come on… how often do you get to see guitars cut up by chainsaws?!
If you’ve ever seen Maniac Cop 2, you were no doubt surprised by the end credits song, which is equal parts bizarre and absolutely delightful. Though it was legendary composer Jay Chattaway who composed the score for the 1990 sequel, rappers Josh Barnes and Brian “B.Dub” Woods were brought in to end the film on a fun note, which is precisely what they did. No idea how this came about, or why, but I do know that the world is a much better place with the “Maniac Cop Rap” in it!
For me personally, a large part of the appeal of Return of the Living Dead is the music, which infused a whole lot of fun into a movie that already was a whole lot of fun. And no song from the film’s soundtrack is more memorable than “Tonight (We’ll Make Love Until We Die),” which of course played over the highly memorable scene of Linnea “Trash” Quigley performing her iconic nude cemetery dance. The song was written and performed for the movie by the band SSQ, which was headed by lead singer Stacey Swain. No music video necessary for this one, since the scene is pretty much already the world’s greatest music video!
