#3: DRACULA

While Tod Browning's 1931 version of Dracula remains to be a signature classic in the American horror archive, the film has developed with age a distinct dissonance that reflects not only on the era of its creation but subtly highlights the evolution of music throughout the horror genre. 

In the opening credits of Dracula, the tone is set with the melodic score of Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Swans" from "Swan Lake" (NOTE: Universal Studios, the studio behind "Dracula", recycled the same excerpt from "Swan Lake" in the opening credits of their subsequent horror feature, Karl Freund's 1932 version of "The Mummy").  However, as the film begins, there is a dense, silent lull from scene to scene that accentuates a stirring discomfort for the viewer.  This discomfort is the impulsive, sensory response to the fact that the film does not have a musical score.  For the modern horror viewer, this can trigger an inconclusive discordance to the film's fear-inducing intent, making it ineffectively frightening.

Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye in Dracula (1931)

Browning's Dracula proves to be an example of how the post-mid-century horror film have become subsequently stigmatized by the accompaniment of a musical score.  From Bernard Hermann's sweeping score in Psycho (1960), John Williams' pulsating composition in Jaws (1975) to Harry Manfredini's whispery synth in Friday the 13th series (1980 - 1993), audiences have adapted to the guiding temperament of the horror film's score.  Like Pavlov's dog, a viewer responds to the music's "ringing bell", foreshadowing the anticipated emotion of "fear".  However, without the musical cue, a viewer is only left with their natural sense of fear and vulnerability.

Bela Lugosi in Dracula (1931)

However, a variation of filmmakers have discovered a way to communicate horror without the dependency of score, primarily through the style of "mockumentary" and reality-based visuals; films that have succeeded to play into this effect started with Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez's The Blair Witch Project (1999), moving on to Chris Kentis' Open Water (2003) and Oren Peli's The Paranormal Activity franchise (2007-2012).  Yet, the narrative-based horror film has yet to make this attempt.  Even with Kentis' Silent House (2011), an eighty-six minute horror film feature in "real time", which, although intended to appear as one realistic, seamless cut, was still accompanied by Nathan Larson's haunting score.

In 1998, composer Philip Glass was commissioned to compose a score for the Browning's Dracula.  Watch below to hear Glass' take on the project:

Philip Glass and the Kronos Quartet for Dracula

Go here to listen to Philip Glass' score for Dracula performed by the Kronos Quartet.

-MTK