Nobody cares about CDs anymore, I know, but when I write, it’s either in silence or with movie scores and soundtracks going. When you see this spread in my writing zone, you know I’m deep diving on a horror project and catching fire. This is a small portion of just the horror section to my film score collection. I constantly write with scores and soundtracks to all genres.
And lest we forget the deliciously creepy metronome of this horror masterpiece. Bom bommmm…bom bommm…bom bommmm… As my friend John Boden would call it, a holy grail out of print film score find I waited a long time for a decent price to snag. I always think back to 1982 and Carpenter’s version of The Thing and reports of people puking from it or walking out of the theaters altogether. Sure, everyone expected an upgraded 50s B-movie. Instead, one of the goriest yet smartly savage sci-fi horror classics anyone ever attempted.
Extra special to me as I was 12 back then and grounded from everything (banished to my bedroom with no t.v., Atari or outdoor fun) for poor grades due a long stretch of bullying followed by weeks of fighting back. I brought home a B on a math test when The Thing came to HBO for the first time back then and my parents knew I needed to see this as a lifelong horror nut. A one-night reprieve to see it and it blew me out of my mind.
–Ray Van Horn, Jr.
Roads Lesser Traveled 
Great collection. Yes, I have a collection of great horror soundtracks as well. Sometimes they’re just the thing to get me in the mood to start generating some great writing!
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“The Thing” still stands out to me as one of the best horror films of that era. They don’t make them like that anymore.
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I don’t think I have any horror movie soundtracks, unless you count The Lost Boys, which is questionably horror at best. I do have a lot of other soundtracks, though, including from movies where I bought the soundtrack without seeing the film (like Brokedown Palace and the version of Great Expectations with Gwyneth Paltrow) just because I wanted to get some of the songs on the CD. Because we used to have to do that if we wanted a song and it was never released as a single, back in the Dark Ages. 😬 I also have the soundtracks to a couple of the “Twilight” movies because those are surprisingly good, even though the movies are (I assume) terrible …
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Oh, I remember, Ray! I was 12 then, too, btw. I’m glad they let you out of “jail” to watch it. Bom bommm….bomm bomm…after weeks/days of bullying, I get it.
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The Jaws music?
Iconic.
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