Top Horror Movie Composers
 

These are my favorite horror movie composers.
Goblin (Dawn of the Dead, Deep Red, Suspiria)
Jerry Goldsmith (The Omen, Alien, Coma)
John Carpenter (Halloween, The Fog)
Ennio Morricone (The Stendhal Syndrome, Cat O' Nine Tails)
Bernard Herrmann (Psycho, Sisters)
Pino Donaggio (Carrie, Tourist Trap)
Riz Ortolani (Cannibal Holocaust)
Charles Bernstein (Nightmare On Elm Street, The Entity)

Although he's not a horror movie composer, Krysztof Penderecki's bone-chilling music in The Shining and The Exorcist is also worth noting.

Gotta agree on all those, as well as John Carpenter, of course, as well as Les Baxter for his work on Roger Corman films in the 60s, Akira Ikufube for work on countless Japanese monster movies, Angelo Badalamenti, Harry Manfredini for Friday the 13th, John Murphy for 28 Days Later, Krystof Komeda for Rosemary's Baby, Ronald Stein for his stellar work on countless low-budget films from the 50s and 60s, Shino Sato for his subtle and frightening score for Ju-On and of course Vic Mizzy.

James Bernard would be right up there for me. Big, dark orchestral sounds with all those big heavy timp and cymbal rolls and crashes. Quality. Hammer Horror wouldn't be the same without his influence.

The top list is totally backed by me. All those guys are great John Carpenter being my favorite.

I loved the soundtracks for Rosemary's Baby and Friday the 13th as well. Some other great horror movie soundtracks:
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978) - Denny Zeitlin
Carnival Of Souls - Gene Moore
Inferno - Keith Emerson
Salem's Lot - Harry Sukman
The Wicker Man - Paul Giovanni

Am I the only one with horror movie music playlists on my iPod?

Maybe- I don't have an ipod.

gotta agree w/ the carnival of souls score. So very good. Love Goblin as well.

and i do keep a lot of these on my mp3 player. i also have a lot of the songs in the scary music thread ive been putting together. they're great for long walks at night.

Haha I'd get paranoid as fuck rolling down the street with horror soundtracks on :D

ennio morricone and graeme revell are my favorites