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Composing Screams: The Sounds of the 80's Slashers

Easily one of the most important things to come out of the 1980s was the birth of MTV (Music Television) on August 1st, 1981. The advent of this cable network music video jukebox introduced a new generation to what was hip and trendy in music with packaged programming revolving around the music video. While this groundbreaking visual innovation took root so to did the slasher movie craze across America, reaching its apex in theaters with no less than a dozen stalk-and-slash titles released that very same year. These body count films elevated the level of onscreen violence, showcasing realistic FX driven death scenes while titillating viewers with naked female flesh. In the following years, these horror films became available for video rental, and viewers now had the option to pause their VCRs during the closing credits to see just who the composers and musicians behind the sounds of these morbid masterpieces (or garbage) were, as it became very clear that it was not just these talented make-up effects artists, actors, writers and directors who were delivering the scares and thrills. The composers and people responsible for the music that accompanied these titles were now a bigger factor in the equation as music was becoming more and more important with a younger generation of horror-seeking moviegoers. Filmmakers knew this and made a special effort to hire talented music makers to compose scores and compile soundtracks filled with popular bands from nearly every genre of mUsic. Of course vinyl gave way to the cassette tape, much like CDs have given way to downloadable music today. Soundtracks were hot in the '80s, and thanks to the cassette tape could now easily fit in one's back pocket to be played on a boom box or car radio as a reminder of how fun it is to be scared while driving down the road. Officially released musical scores as well as soundtracks to our favorite slasher films on vinyl and cassette have both become highly collectible in today's secondary market place paired with vinyl's amazing return to store shelves (including larger chains like Best Buy). Some soundtracks featured a compilation of musical acts that, thanks to these films, helped music fans discover their favorite bands and support them for years to come (much like Guitar Hero is doing today). Film's scores also introduced fans to composers who have not really received any kind of wide recognition for their body of work in the genre (even if some of them would rather not). Let's now stroll down memory lane and take a look back at the who, whats and what the hells of the scary scores, soundtracks and the people behind the sounds of the '80s slashers ... enjoy!

Composition of Kills:

Composer Harry Manfredini kick-started the sound of the '80s slasher boom with his brilliantly written composition for the mother of all iconic '80s slasher films - Friday the 13th. Since the picture had a minimal budget and director/producer Sean Cunningham requested he deliver a vocally driven musical score for the picture, the crafty composer was forced to explain that there was simply not enough money for players, much less a chorus to perform the requested musical piece. Manfredini began to think of a clever alternative to this problem that being inspired by the dialogue at the end of the film where Ms. Voorhees repeats in a high voice "Kill her, Mommy! Kill her!" a line that he altered himself to sound like the now iconic "Ki .... Ma .... Ki ...." as the composer wanted to convey the idea of the killer hearing voices (and also pinpointed moments of the film in which the killer was on the prowl - much like the iconic score seen in Jaws just five years prior). This simple sound performed by Manfredini has become synonymous with not just the 1980 slasher film that spearheaded (no pun intended) the entire Friday the 13th franchise, but that of the iconic slasher Jason Voorhees himself. As the stalker film franchise continued, so too did the Composer's connection to the series ending with the 2001 Jason X. Harry Manfredini also delivered an eerily similar score for the underrated Slaughter High and the entire House film series.

Jussi Award winning composer Richard Einhorn has crafted musical offerings for everything from orchestral chamber music to opera, dance numbers, film scores and soundtracks. Horror fans should know him best for his hauntingly effective layered, and down right eerie, score for horror cult classic dating back to 1977 with Ken Wiederhorn's Nazi zombie title Shock Waves, widely considered his best and most recognizable effort. He moved on to create compositions for a slew of '80 slashers that included Don't Go in the House (1980), Eyes of a Stranger (1981; also by Shock Waves director Ken Wiederhorn), The Prowler (1981), Blood Rage (1987) and Sister, Sister (1987). He also scored the deeply disturbing '80s psychological thrillers: Dead of Winter (1987) which starred Roddy McDowall and Mary Steenburgen, an Arthur Penn-directed remake of My Name is Julia Ross, as well as Closetland (1991). Einhorn's original music for Closetland, along with the creative musical supervision of Philip Glass, drives this deeply disturbing picture that only starred a cast of two: the talented Alan Rickman as the ruthless and cunning political interrogator and his accused victim, Madeleine Stowe. In 1986, Einhorn also composed additional music for two episodes ("Florence Bravo" and "Fear of Floating") of George Romero's popular Tales from the Darkside television series. His emotionally powerful music truly pushed the slasher nightmares far beyond the horror and gore seen on the screen.

Other notable composers that had both major and minor impact on the slasher subgenre of the '80s included director John Carpenter's work with Alan Howarth in collaborating on Halloween's sequel score carried over from the original '70s film, utilizing the latest synthesizer techniques, to extended and vary some of the existing themes. Charles Benistein composed and performed the memorably creepy music for A Nightmare on Elm Street, Cujo and April Fool's Day. John Beal acted as orchestrator for such films as The Funhouse, Terror in the Isles and the outlandish Killer Party. Arlon Ober delivered scores for such films as Bloody Birthday, X-Ray and the campy alien romp Nightbeast. Dan Wyman composed original music for the Linda Blair slasher Hell Night and The Dead Pit. While Ralph Jones delivered music for the feminist slasher The Slumber Party Massacre. The most interesting '80s body count composition being that of Tony Maylam's The Burning score and soundtrack both composed, produced and performed by London progressive rock band member Rick Wakeman of Yes, with Alan Brewer, as the soundtrack first was released in '81 by Charisma Records and then the score to the film was released in '82 by Varese Sarabande Records, with varying cover art the latter of which also featured the corrected spelling of Brewer's last name. The soundtrack, like many, was available internationally (as seen on the previous page) under the alternate title: Carnage. It should be very obvious to those who are fans of Yes that Wakeman is behind the composition as the carried over keyboard sound is quite recognizable in the score.

Compiling the Body Count

Original ballads were commonly created for slasher films that appeared to be pre-­existing melodies straight from the radio. These often bad, yet catchy, tunes served their purpose in accenting the gentle intro or somber closing credits in some '80s slashers. A perfect example is the ballad titled "Melissa" from the '83 film Sweet Sixteen courtesy of singer Frank Sparks. This unforgettable song was released on the Regency LP soundtrack accompanied by other tracks by several different artists. Soundtrack compilations often were comprised of similarly styled genres of music to fit the mood of the picture, with metal and punk rock becoming more prevalent in horror with each passing year. Rocker Alice Cooper (or Vincent Damon Furnier) is easily the most famous rocker to bridge this divide as he appeared in several horror films over the years as well as writing music and performing themes for this campy subgenre. Even appearing as Freddy Krueger's twisted stepfather in flashback scenes found in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991). Fans of the Friday the 13th series will never forgive or forget "He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)" performed and written by Cooper who can be seen squaring off against the masked killer in the music video. Both 7" and 12" vinyl singles were produced for this title track accompanied by a B-Side live cut of Cooper's hit song "Billion Dollar Babies." Only the shock rocker was not quite finished with the slasher subgenre yet as he lent his talents as a composer for the soundtrack to the '89 Wes Craven film Shocker, titled Wes Craven's Shocker: No More Mr. Nice Guy: The Music. This soundtrack album released by SBK/Alive Records featured metal masters Megadeth performing the title track, (a previously written hit song by Cooper) "No More Mr. Nice Guy," along with Dudes of Wrath, Dangerous Toys and even a song by punk rock legend Iggy Pop. Varese Sarabande Records also released the Shocker score to the film composed by William Goldstein. Varese Sarabande Records is a name well known to soundtrack collectors as they have released a slew of important horror movie scores on vinyl over the years such as: Dawn of the Dead, Phantasm and Maniac. In 1986, I.R.S. Records released the music for the motion picture The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 on both vinyl and cassette tape. This compilation of mostly alternative bands included songs played by DJ Vanita "Stretch" Brock (Caroline Williams) during her radio show throughout the film, that included The Cramps' "Goo Goo Muck" and Oingo Boingo's "No One Lives Forever."

Another melding of metal and the macabre can be found when hair band Dokken was hired to record the title track for the third installment of the now-popular A Nightmare on Elm Street movie series titled Dream Warriors. Elektra records released the Dokken "Dream Warriors" single on 12" vinyl, accompanied with the previously unreleased track "Back for the Attack" and "Paris Burning." A soundtrack composed by Angelo Badalamenti was also released on both vinyl and chrome cassette thanks to Varese Sarabande Records who had previously released the original two film scores on a double LP years prior. As the decade was coming to a close Freddy Krueger was becoming more of a joke with each passing sequel, as he traded in his kills for comedy. Nothing made this more apparent than when the rap trio known as The Fat Boys were approached to record the theme song for A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master in 1988, titled "Are You Ready for Freddy?," which again featured Robert Englund performing as Freddy Krueger on both the song and in full make­up for the music video. This single was released on both 7" and 12" vinyl. Even Will Smith of DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince attempted to capitalize on the success of Freddy and his hit film series with their rap song titled "A Nightmare on My Street," but right before the music video could premiere, New Line Cinema, as quoted by Jazzy Jeff, "sued the daylights out of us," leading to a settlement on behalf of New Line ... the video remains lost to this day. Only Freddy had one more trick up the sleeve of his red and green sweater as an album titled Freddy's Greatest Hits was released by RIC Records in 1987. Performed by The Elm Street Group that was comprised of Stephanie Davey, Kevin Kelly, Neil Posner, and let us not forget, Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger who can be heard throughout this silly album yellingh and cracking jokes, featuring cover songs like Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour" and the Everly Brothers' "All I have to Do is Dream" other song titles included: "Do the Freddy" and "Down in the Boiler Room." You can't help but laugh out loud at the utter stupidity of this release. I didn notice my cat seemed to like it, so who knows maybe it was not meant for humans. This album stands as irrefutable evidence as to how and why the slasher boom was taking a nose dive leading to its indisputable demise at the close of the '80s.

(Originally published in HorrorHound magazine, Issue #22, March/April 2010)