by Blood Raven, MoreHorror.com
Think back to season one of American Horror Story. Remember Tate walking down the hallways of his high school just before his shooting spree? What was the song playing in the background?
If you know what I'm talking about, most of you are thinking it was the whistling song from Kill Bill when "nurse" Elle was on her way to poison Beatrix Kiddo with a syringe while she was still asleep in a coma. Your guess would be right, except it would also be wrong.
The whistling song is actually the main sound track of an old 1969 British Horror film, Twisted Nerve, composed by the talented Bernard Herrmann. THAT'S RIGHT! It didn't originate with Kill Bill.
After seeing Twisted Nerve, it makes sense why this song has been reused with other "unsuspecting" killers…
Twisted Nerve is the tale of a troubled young man named Martin who leaves home as the harmless Georgie, his alter ego, when he befriends an attractive young woman named Susan. Overcome by obsession, and trying to escape the pressures of his family, Martin is the unsuspecting psychopath whistling as he goes off on his killing sprees.
This was also not the only Horror soundtrack composed by Bernard Herrmann. In fact, Bernard Herrmann has a great list of movies he composed for that are both Horror and big-name movies. Soundtracks attributed to him include:
1. Citizen Kane - (I don't care who you are, if you say you love film, you better watch this movie at least once!)
2. The Bride Wore Black (1968 Horror)
3. The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (TV Series 1963-1965)
4. Twilight Zone (THAT'S RIGHT - Bet you didn't know that!)
5. Psycho (YUP - obviously if he did Hitchcock's TV series, this would only make sense - if fact, let's just stop and say he composed for several of Hitchcock's films and you can look them all up instead of me listing them here, especially since not everyone agrees that all of Hitchcock's movies are "Horror")
6. The Garden of Evil (1954 Horror)
7. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947 Horror)
The list goes on and on.