The Horror Genre - Music and Sound Effects

The non-diegetic music in horror films helps to create an unsettling feeling in the audience, and it is often the music which typically shapes the spectator's response. Music in the genre is key in creating tension and suspense.

Horror films also use sound effects incredibly effectively to provoke a response from the spectator. Jump scares are almost always accompanied by loud impact sounds, whilst sound effects are usually amplified or enhanced to shock the audience. The use of pleonastic sounds, such as doors, stairs or floorboards creaking, are used to unnerve the audience.

Typically, music is used in the following ways in the horror genre:

• A character's leitmotif - this is usually used for the  monster character to alert the audience of their presence, and is typically dark, sinister and threatening 
• To build tension - often accompanying slow camera movement or long takes, this music is used to foreshadow terrifying events and to get the audience on edge
• During an intense scene - the music her helps add to the intensity and fear of a scene, often reflecting a character's panic or shock. Often the pace or tempo of the music increases significantly after a slow build up

In the horror genre, moments of silence can be equally as effective as intense music in unsettling the audience. An absence of music (or sound altogether) is so unfamiliar to spectators (rarely happening in reality) that it draws attention to itself and signals that something terrible is about to occur.

Below is the infamous theme from the film 'Psycho', directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This film uses its music (along with many other aspects of film form) to create an intense and terrifyingly overwhelming feeling in the audience. What makes this truly horrific is the use of the sharp, violent strings and the slow and daunting build of the music. 

SirenStrings · Psycho Theme