A year ago, I met a woman who composes original soundtracks (OSTs) for movies, television, games, and advertisements. I was traveling in Europe and it was a welcome surprise. We had hours of conversation about everything from what makes a good score in general to specific topics like my favorite weird/atmospheric/scary OSTs.
I listen to those kinds of scores the most. The ideal one for me isn’t necessarily scary as much as having a simultaneously tranquil and unsettling aspect to it. It’s atmospheric enough to sit in the background while you do other things or think about something but also discordant or uncomfortable enough to keep you awake. There’s also a subtle texturing and layering to them that I’ve always found compelling.
Something that the people who compose these kinds of scores have always known is that they have much more room for formal experimentation than they would otherwise. I was reminded of this when listening to Vladimir Ussachevsky’s film scores.
The score from No Exit in particular has this incredibly austere and hostile vibe to it. The liner notes make me now curious about the “tape music” referred to here:
Vladimir Ussachevsky (1911-1990) was one of the most significant pioneers in the compositon of electronic music, and one of its most potent forces. He produced the first works of “tape music” a uniquely American synthesis of the French musique-concrète and the German pure-electronic schools. He co-founded the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in 1959 and directed its course for the next twenty years as the leading electronic music studio in the United States.
Here’s a non-exhaustive listing of the film, game, and television OSTs with this particular quality I enjoy the most. As you’ll see, film scores totally dominate over everything else. So much so that listing all of the film stuff probably makes me less likely to recall other kinds of scores I enjoy.
Film
- Blade Runner
- Hostage
- Waltz with Bashir
- Last Year at Marienbad
- The Salton Sea
- Vertigo
- Kwaidan
- Beyond the Black Rainbow
- The Neon Demon
- Oppenheimer
- Come and See
- Jacob’s Ladder
- Only God Forgives
- Dark Water
- The Social Network
- Birth
- The Conversation
- Taxi Driver
- Demonlover
- The Lighthouse
- Ex Machina
- The Last Temptation of Christ
- The Andromeda Strain
- The Good Shepherd
- Candyman
- Annihilation
- There Will Be Blood
- The Prestige
- Aguirre, the Wrath of God
- Suspiria
- Eraserhead
- Only Lovers Left Alive
- Derrida
- The Seventh Seal
- The Fog of War
- Branded to Kill
- Mishima: A Life in Four Acts
- No Exit
- Syriana
- Ringu
- Mandy
- Inception
- The Golem
- Requiem for a Dream
- Donnie Darko
- 28 Days Later
- The Bride Wore Black
- Psycho
- Nosferatu
- Tetsuo: The Iron Man
- Memento
- The Witch
- Gone Girl
- Dark City
- The Revenant
- Army of Shadows
- Drive
- Under the Skin
- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
- Line of Apogee
- Forbidden Planet
- It Follows
- The Thing
- Zone of Interest
- The Shining
- Manhunter
- Stalker
- Sinister
- The Exorcist
- The Killer
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- Sicario
- Good Time
- Leon: The Professional
- Videodrome
- Glass Harmonica
- Dune (I-II)
- Solaris
- Pi
- The Proposition
- Assault on Precinct 13
Game
- Killer7
- Arma3: Contact
- Doom (PSX)
- Doom 64
- Hylics
- Parasite Eve
- Cruelty Squad
- Eternal Darkness
- F.E.A.R
- Koudelka
- Harvester
- Clock Tower
- Yume Nikki
- World of Horror
- Inscryption,
- Resident Evil (1-2)
- Silent Hill (1-3)
- OFF
- Diablo (I-II)
- Fatal Frame
- Shadowrun
- Vagrant Story
- Quake
- Amnesia: The Dark Descent
- Quake (N64)
- Shin Megami Tensei (IV-V)
- Bloodborne
Television/Anime
- Serial Experiments Lain
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
- Noir
- Akira
- Edge of Darkness
- Twin Peaks
- Gasaraki
- Berserk
- Ergo Proxy
- Hellsing
- The Twilight Zone
- The X-Files
- Ghost in the Shell
- Perfect Blue