7 Perfectly Fine Songs Made Scary by Horror Films

If you ’ve seenUs , you ’ve had Luniz ’s “ I ’ve come 5 on It ” flummox in your straits ever since . Though it ’s ab initio frame in a lighthearted context , the song becomes a crucial component in the movie ’s intensify apprehensiveness . Using an cheerful Sung dynasty to craft a creepy climate in a horror movie is not a novel proficiency — but it seldom give out to gross out us out . Here are seven songs we invalidate listen to in the wickedness .

1. “Rocky Mountain High”

The choice of John Denver ’s “ Rocky Mountain High ” to signal doom in Final Destination is a clever , if macabre pick , since it plays just prior to a airplane clash , ring how Denver himself go forth this mortal ringlet . Of naturally , most of the characters who heed this supposedly lifesaving word of advice do n’t end up survive anyway , since the whole pointedness of the picture show is that there ’s no point in time in test to wander end when your eternal number is up . The “ you hear this strain , you die ” concept continued throughthe Final Destination serial , but it ’s never put to more eery effect than whenever Denver ’s song begin to play in the first cinema , putting a soft , folksy twist on the sound of a destruction knell .

2. “Mr. Sandman”

John Carpenter ’s use of “ Do n’t dread the Reaper ” in the first Halloween made sentience ; the song would ’ve been just a twain of year honest-to-goodness when the 1978 film was liberate , and would unquestionably still be in radio revolution ( while also dovetailing with the patch , acting as an eerie signpost for the butchery to amount ) . But Rick Rosenthal ’s Halloween II makes use of an anachronistic song to hammer home the mood as it act over the ending mention : “ Mr. Sandman , ” a huge 1954 hit for all - girlfriend a capella grouping the Chordettes . It ’s a savvy selection ; the vocal is already scrap nervous on its own , mixing wholesome vocals with lyrics begging the folklore - gain title frame to “ turn on your witching irradiation … and get me a pipe dream . ” Or , as the case may be in the Halloween serial publication — a nightmare that none of the characters , particularly the “ I ’m so alone”Laurie Strode , can ever stimulate .

3. “Hip to Be Square”

Mary Harron ’s 2000 adaptation of American Psycho , Bret Easton Ellis ’ 1991 satirical yuppie debacle - fest , hold back up alarmingly well in 2019 . Christian Bale ’s portraying of a guy who may ( or may not ? ) be a roughshod serial grampus is magnificently trouble from start to destination , but his Patrick Bateman makes a particular impact in the scene where he rhapsodize about Huey Lewis ’ musical brainiac as “ Hip to Be Square ” blasts in the background — sample lyric : “ You might think I ’m gaga , but I do n’t even care”—while preparing to send Jared Leto ’s unmindful character to a very splattery other grave .

4. “American Girl”

The ultimate sing - along vocal becomes the ultimate “ you in danger , daughter ” instant , as Jonathan Demme ’s Silence of the Lambs cuts straightaway fromHannibal Lecter ’s forecasting that serial killer Buffalo Bill is on the hunt for “ that next limited lady ” to the blissfully incognizant Catherine Martin ( Brooke Smith ) . In an jiffy , we like her — jam out to Tom Petty , have a blast , pretty much perfectly embodying the issue of the song — and we ’re truly disturbed for what ’s about to happen . And even now , almost 30 years later , “ American Girl ” is still forever join with that vista . Oh yeah , all right on , take it easy baby , do n’t assist that guy rope with the van !

5. “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker”

Everyone remember the Ramones ’ remnant - credits theme for Pet Sematary , but the substantial slaying lay in the 1989 movie is the dance band ’s legitimately bouncy - as - hell jam , which is play in the monumental truck that unexpectedly flatten wandering yearling Gage Creed . The driver ’s not an evil swell — he ’s just attempt to get from point A to B perhaps a little too quickly , but everyone speeds on that damn country Maine route . The truck flip , the kid dies , and while we never see what happens to the hoodlum fan behind the wheel , presumably nobody decides to bury himin a damned cemeteryand Bob Hope for a best - case - scenario Christ’s Resurrection .

6. “Tiptoe Through the Tulips”

Tiny Tim ’s 1968 knickknack ukelele - and - falsetto ditty already sounds like it was recorded in another dimension , so its comprehension inJames Wan ’s Insidious — a film about a family line menaced by entity lurking in purgatory — is kind of perfect . Chased from their unexampled business firm by what come along to be malevolent ghosts after their young Logos falls into a mysterious comatoseness , the Lambert kinfolk move into a novel new house , only to discover that whatever evil spirit that’ve take an interestingness in them have travel along right along . They are n’t even done re - unpacking when “ Tiptoe Through the Tulips ” clamor uninvitingly from their criminal record player — a song that repeat to even more stomach - turn effect when Josh Lambert ( Patrick Wilson ) ventures into a flash crimson lair within the astral plane to deliver his Word . Forget Slayer — some fiend prefer sharpen their claw to the tremulously sweet strait of Tiny Tim .

7. “Looking for the Magic”

The Dwight Twilley Band — whose members also included Phil Seymour , who let the cat out of the bag backup on Tom Petty ’s “ American Girl , ” as it happens — had a fistful of power papa smasher in its mid-1970s prime . The groovy “ Looking for the Magic ” was not one of them , but it attain its own moment in the limelight after it was used in a pivotal view duringAdam Wingard ’s 2011 home - intrusion bloodletting You ’re Next . really , it ’s a series of scenes , since the Sung dynasty is set to “ recapitulate ” on a CD histrion at the startle of the film : the porta double slaying , a afterwards gruesome attempt , and finally , chug - chugging onto the soundtrack after the last killing , like a jubilant exhale for the consultation as the end credits roll .

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