10 Horror Movie Soundtracks You Need To Listen To

Another result of the sensational collaboration between Alfred Hitchcock and composer Bernard Hermann (who also worked with the filmmaker on Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and North By Northwest), the soundscape of Psycho is arguably the best thing this partnership has spawned.

Scored entirely for strings, Hermann squeezes so much intensity and mystery into the opening bars alone of his piece "Prelude", which opens the film. Combining a spiralling and frantic motf juxtaposed with a sweeping melody that's punctuated with sharp, dissonant chords, Hermann masterfully sucks listeners into Hitchcock's chaotic world.

Likewise, the soundtrack's fame has been cemented with the legendary shower murder scene. In the piece in question, fittingly titled "The Murder", Hermann deploys shrill, piercing chords that mimic the knife stabbing Marion's (Janet Leigh) body. Unbelievably, Hitchcock originally intended this scene to have no music; thankfully Hermann convinced him otherwise.

A large part of the score's tone is down to the use of a particular chord (a Minor Major Seventh to be exact) that colours the music in an aura of mystery. In fact, this chord was used so predominately within this soundtrack that it's since been nicknamed "The Hitchcock Chord".