2. Psycho (1960) - Bernard Herrmann
Ever wonder the origins of that shrieking sound you make every time you pretend to stab someone? Well, look no further. And if youve never pretended to stab someone, what are you doing reading this horror list anyway? Theres just no getting around it, the shower scene is a mammoth moment in horror film history. Those dissonant violins screaming with every strike of the knife changed film murder forever. Its a shocking, powerful and beautifully-crafted piece of violent filmmaking. To who do we owe this debt of gratitude? Not Alfred Hitchcock entirely, in fact, Hitchcock famously wanted to play the shower murder with no music at all. The first screening of the shower scene actually caused an amused chuckle from the audience before the violins were added. It wasnt until Bernard Herrmann composed his maniacal music that the violence became tangible and uncomfortably invasive. Herrmann also composed a darkly energetic main title cue to start the film on an edgy, off-kilter note. Before you know it, the film has pulled you into a story of - what was considered at the time - extreme depravity. There was a knife-wielding maniac, rotting corpses, naked people hacked to death in showers, and perhaps - most shocking of all - a man dressed as a woman! I know, I know, they were just sick back then, werent they?