Most Unsettling Movie Soundtracks from the 1970s

The 1970s changed horror movies forever, and nowhere was this more evident than in their soundtracks. Gone were the dramatic strings and obvious musical cues of earlier decades. Instead, filmmakers discovered that the path to true terror was through your ears. Using everything from simple piano notes to industrial machinery sounds, these groundbreaking soundtracks didn't just accompany scary scenes; they created fear all by themselves. These innovative approaches to sound forever changed how movies make us afraid, establishing techniques that still give audiences nightmares today.

Let's explore the ten most unsettling movie soundtracks from this golden age of horror sound.

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Most Unsettling Movie Soundtracks from the 1970s

The 1970s changed horror movies forever, and nowhere was this more evident than in their soundtracks. Using everything from simple piano notes to industrial machinery sounds, these groundbreaking soundtracks didn’t just accompany scary scenes; they created fear all by themselves.

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The Exorcist (1973)

Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" wasn't created for The Exorcist, but it became forever linked with terror after director William Friedkin used it in the film. The simple piano melody feels innocent at first but grows unsettling as it repeats. What makes the soundtrack truly disturbing are the additional sound effects—the whispers, the scratching, and the demonic voices that lurk beneath the music. These sounds get inside your head and stay there long after the movie ends. Sound designer Ron Nagle created many of these effects using unexpected tools, including a pig being led to slaughter for some of the more disturbing moments.

The Exorcist

When a charming 12-year-old girl takes on the characteristics and voices of others, doctors say there is nothing they can do. As people begin to die, the girl’s mother realizes her daughter has been possessed by the devil - and that her daughter’s only possible hope lies with two priests and the ancient rite of demonic exorcism.

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Halloween (1978)

John Carpenter created the Halloween theme in just three days, proving that sometimes simplicity is scariest. The 5/4 time signature piano melody feels off-balance and wrong, making viewers uncomfortable without knowing why. What makes this soundtrack genius is how it uses silence as a weapon. The music disappears completely at key moments, leaving you straining to hear what might be lurking in the quiet. Then when the music suddenly returns—often louder and more intense—the effect is truly terrifying. Carpenter, who directed the film himself, understood that what you don't hear can be just as frightening as what you do.

Halloween

The early years of young Michael Myers and the events leading up to his fateful Halloween night murder rampage in the quiet town of Haddonfield, Illinois.

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Jaws (1975)

Those two alternating notes ("dun-dun...dun-dun") might be the most famous musical cue in film history. Composer John Williams created a perfect audio representation of a shark—relentless, primal, and getting closer with each repetition. The genius of the Jaws soundtrack is how it lets your imagination do the work. The music tells you the shark is coming long before you see it, building unbearable tension. Director Steven Spielberg credited the soundtrack with being "half the movie," especially since mechanical problems with the shark robot meant it couldn't be shown much on screen. The music became the monster.

Jaws

When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town’s chief of police, a young marine biologist, and a grizzled hunter embark on a desperate quest to destroy the beast before it strikes again.

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Alien (1979)

Jerry Goldsmith's score for Alien creates a sense of isolation and dread that perfectly captures the experience of being hunted in space. The soundtrack uses long, echoing sounds that make you feel the emptiness around the spacecraft. Strange, alien-sounding instruments create noises that don't quite register as music, putting viewers on edge. When the action intensifies, the soundtrack becomes chaotic and disorienting, mirroring the panic of the characters. Unusual for its time, the soundtrack often blurs the line between music and sound effects, creating an audio experience as alien as the monster itself.

Alien

During its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. When a three-member team of the crew discovers a chamber containing thousands of eggs on the planet, a creature inside one of the eggs attacks an explorer. The entire crew is unaware of the impending nightmare set to descend upon them when the alien parasite planted inside its unfortunate host is birthed.

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Suspiria (1977)

Italian progressive rock band Goblin created a soundtrack for Suspiria that's as colourful and intense as the film's famous visuals. Using everything from bouzoukis to synthesisers to actual screams, the music feels like a nightmare brought to life. The main theme combines a child-like music box melody with whispering voices saying nonsensical words, creating a deeply unsettling contrast. Director Dario Argento played the soundtrack at full volume during filming to keep his actors on edge, and it works just as effectively on viewers. Unlike subtle horror soundtracks, Suspiria is aggressive and in-your-face, becoming almost another character in the film.

Suspiria

An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.

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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

The "music" in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre barely qualifies as music at all. Composers Wayne Bell and Tobe Hooper (who also directed) created what might better be called an audio nightmare. Using cattle bones, metal scraping, and a variety of industrial sounds, they built a soundscape that feels like insanity captured on tape. The soundtrack rarely falls into recognisable patterns or melodies, denying viewers any comfort or predictability. What makes it truly effective is how it blends with the film's most iconic sound effect—the chainsaw—until you can't tell where the music ends and the horror begins.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.

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Eraserhead (1977)

David Lynch's debut feature film uses sound in ways no previous horror film had attempted. There is no traditional score for Eraserhead; instead, the entire film is layered with a constant industrial hum and mechanical noises that never let up. Sound designer Alan Splet spent a year collecting and creating these sounds, from air hissing through pipes to machines grinding metal. The constant noise creates a feeling of being trapped in a nightmare factory with no escape. Lynch himself considers sound to be 50% of a film's impact, and Eraserhead proves his point by creating unbearable tension without ever resorting to typical "scary" music.

Eraserhead

First-time father Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.

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Don't Look Now (1973)

Composer Pino Donaggio uses deception brilliantly in the soundtrack for Don't Look Now. The music often feels beautiful and melancholy rather than frightening, lulling viewers into a false sense of security. This perfectly complements a film about misread signs and false perceptions. The score uses a children's song-like melody played on piano that feels innocent until it's distorted and twisted later in the film. The Venice setting is enhanced by appropriate Italian musical influences, making the city itself feel like a maze where danger lurks. The contrasts between beautiful music and disturbing images make the horror even more impactful when it arrives.

Don’t Look Now

While grieving a terrible loss, a married couple meet two mysterious sisters, one of whom gives them a message sent from the afterlife.

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Taxi Driver (1976)

Bernard Herrmann's final score (he died the day after completing it) captures urban isolation and growing madness perfectly. The Taxi Driver soundtrack mixes two contrasting elements: a lonely, haunting saxophone melody representing the empty nighttime streets, and harsh, militaristic percussion that reveals the violence building inside the main character. As the film progresses, these elements begin to blur together, mirroring the character's deteriorating mental state. The romantic saxophone parts become twisted and distorted as the character's obsessive thoughts take over. Without ever being obviously "scary," the music creates a sense of psychological unease that grows increasingly disturbing.

Taxi Driver

A mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feed his urge for violent action.

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Apocalypse Now (1979)

While not strictly a horror film, Apocalypse Now features one of the decade's most unsettling soundtracks. The opening sequence alone, with The Doors' "The End" playing over helicopter sounds and jungle warfare, creates an immediate sense of disorientation. Throughout the film, electronic music pioneer Walter Murch layers helicopter blades, animal noises, and bizarre sound effects to create a hallucinatory audio experience. The film also uses Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" during its most famous battle scene, turning classical music into something terrifying. The overall effect is a soundtrack that makes viewers feel like they're losing their grip on reality—exactly what the characters experience.

Apocalypse Now

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Why These Soundtracks Work

What makes these 1970s soundtracks still frightening today is their focus on psychological impact rather than cheap scares. They target primal responses in our brains—using sounds at frequencies that cause physical discomfort, employing repetition that creates anxiety, and inserting unexpected noises that trigger our fight-or-flight response. Many use what scientists call "non-linear" sounds—irregular, chaotic noise patterns that humans are evolutionarily programmed to find disturbing because they often signal danger in nature.

These composers understood that fear isn't just about what we see—it's about what we think we might see based on what we hear. By tapping into these psychological principles, they created soundtracks that bypass rational thought and target our deepest fears directly.

These revolutionary soundtracks forever changed how filmmakers approach horror. Their techniques—minimalist themes, industrial noise, merging of music and sound effects, strategic use of silence, and psychological manipulation—became the foundation for virtually all horror sound design that followed. Films like The Blair Witch Project, The Ring, and Hereditary all owe a debt to these pioneers. Even video games and modern streaming horror shows continue to use these techniques. The most unsettling soundtracks today still follow the template established in the 1970s: get inside the audience's head and make them afraid of what they hear as much as what they see.