‘The nuns were convinced they were possessed by demons’: goth and metal stars select the scariest music ever made

Forget the Monster Mash. For the ultimate Halloween playlist, reach for horror soundtracks, 1940s kids’ music and Russian darkwave – all chosen by Sunn O))), Creeper, Diamanda Galás and more

Bernard Herrmann – The Murder (1960)

Scary music actually excites me, but the piece that most sends shivers down my spine is the music in the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Psycho. I’ve seen it numerous times and even though I know what’s coming, the stabbing knife synched with Bernard Herrmann’s score always freaks me out.

More recently, I went through a phase of watching Japanese and Korean horror films. I had to stop watching them because they weren’t good for my heart condition, but none of them affected me like the Psycho shower scene. Music set to visuals intensifies the audio experience and other senses. Surrendering to the film-maker’s interpretation of what the sound represents holds you in a heightened state of expectation of the unexpected, which really is scary.

Abruptum – Evil (1991)