10 Horror Movie Soundtracks You Need To Listen To

While it wasn't the first slasher film (Black Christmas and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre were both released four years prior), John Carpenter's Halloween was nonetheless integral in shaping the genre as we've come to know it when it terrorised our screens all the way back in 1978.

Seeing unfortunate babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) hunted by a knife-wielding killer known only as The Shape, who'd later become recognised as slasher icon Michael Myers, Halloween laid the groundwork for many other slasher classics that would follow in the 80s and beyond.

Accompanying the claustrophobic setting of an everyday suburban home was a soundtrack composed by Carpenter himself. With only a meagre $300,000 budget to work with, Carpenter could't afford the luxury of hiring a composer or orchestra. Instead, he booked an LA synthesizer studio and had three days to record the music without any visual references to guide him.

Despite his limitations, the filmmaker's musical experience gave birth to an effective, minimalist, and chilling soundtrack comprised of a series of spine-tingling ostinatos layered on top of moody synth chords.

Creating a dreamlike sensation that drives the action forward with its heart-pounding rhythms, its no surprise why this soundtrack remains so iconic