The scariest horror films don't just make you want to cover your eyes, but your ears, too. Stephen Thrower on movie music with real menace

Please note: some of the links in this article point to gory or graphic horror movie scenes

There are two schools of thought when it comes to film music: some say you should scarcely notice it, while others are attuned to every flattened fifth. Being a musician as well as a film journalist, I've always been staunchly in the latter camp (although I did have to look up "flattened fifth"). It seems inconceivable to me that we should fail to notice something as profoundly affecting as a movie soundtrack, and that goes double for the horror genre.

From the moment Bernard Herrmann's violins assaulted the shower-loving public in Psycho, horror soundtracks have rarely been content as mere background gloop. James Bernard's music for...