The Sound of Silence: How Horror Scores Use Silence to Terrify
In the world of horror cinema, sound is an essential tool for creating fear. Screeching violins, deep bass rumbles, and eerie sound effects can all send shivers down a viewer's spine. However, one of the most powerful tools in a horror composer’s arsenal is not sound at all, but its absence. Silence, when used strategically, allows the audience to breathe, creating a momentary lull that heightens the impact of the horror when it finally strikes. Let's explore how silence plays a pivotal role in horror movie scores, referencing iconic films and composers who have mastered this technique.
Setting the Stage: Silence in Classic Horror Scores
The use of silence in horror scores is not a modern invention. Even in the golden age of cinema, composers understood the power of quiet. One of the earliest and most iconic examples comes from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). Bernard Herrmann’s masterful score is filled with sharp, jarring sounds, like the infamous "screeching strings" in the shower scene. But equally important are the moments of silence that punctuate the chaos.
The scene leading up to the attack on Marion Crane is eerily quiet—only the soft sound of water from the shower is audible. It is the silence that builds the audience’s anxiety, making the eventual burst of violence even more shocking. Herrmann’s score becomes most effective because of its selective use of sound, balancing intense moments with silence to toy with audience expectations.
Silence as a Weapon: Modern Horror and the Quiet Terror
Modern horror films have taken the use of silence to new heights. In many cases, it’s the lack of sound that creates an almost unbearable tension, causing audiences to hold their breath as they await the inevitable scare.
In Ari Aster’s Hereditary (2018), composer Colin Stetson carefully integrates silence into the score, allowing quiet moments to stretch to their limits. In one of the film’s most terrifying scenes, as a character realizes the full horror of her situation, the score recedes, leaving only the sound of her panicked breathing. This stark absence of music heightens the emotional intensity, letting the audience focus on the character’s terror and creating an overwhelming sense of dread. When the sound does return, it hits even harder.
Another perfect example comes from The Witch (2015), where Mark Korven’s sparse score emphasizes silence to mirror the isolation and creeping madness of the story. The spaces between musical cues become just as important as the sounds themselves, with the silence intensifying the oppressive, eerie atmosphere of the film.
Image provided courtesy of IMDb
The Quiet Place Phenomenon: Silence as a Plot Device
Perhaps no recent film has used silence as effectively—or as literally—as A Quiet Place (2018). In this film, silence is not just a stylistic choice; it is the central conceit of the plot. The characters must remain completely silent to avoid detection by the deadly creatures hunting them. Composer Marco Beltrami had the unique challenge of crafting a score that could enhance the film's tension without overpowering the silence that dominates so much of the narrative.
What makes A Quiet Place so effective is the way it uses silence to play with the audience’s expectations. Long stretches of quiet force viewers to become hyper-aware of every small sound, making the sudden crashes or jump scares feel exponentially more jarring. The silence in A Quiet Place is suffocating, trapping both the characters and the audience in a tense, nerve-wracking experience.
Silence and Psychology: How Composers Manipulate Fear
Horror composers understand that fear is largely psychological, and silence can be used to manipulate the audience’s emotional response. By giving the audience a momentary reprieve, silence allows the tension to simmer just below the surface, ready to explode at the right moment.
James Newton Howard’s score for The Sixth Sense (1999) is a perfect example of how silence can be weaponized to heighten fear. Throughout the film, Howard uses minimal soundscapes to emphasize the quiet, reflective atmosphere of the story. In the scene where young Cole reveals that he sees dead people, the score falls away completely, leaving the audience in an unnerving stillness. This silence amplifies the emotional impact of Cole’s revelation and makes the supernatural elements feel even more chilling.
Iconic Silence: A Breakdown of Key Scenes
In some of the most iconic horror scenes, it’s not the music that makes us jump—it’s the silence before it. One such scene comes from Insidious (2010), where composer Joseph Bishara masterfully uses silence to disorient and terrify.
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Insidious (2010) – The Confrontation with the Demon
During the climactic scene where Josh (Patrick Wilson) enters "The Further" to confront the red-faced demon (around the 1:32:30 mark), Bishara pulls the score back completely. As Josh confronts the demon face-to-face, there is a sudden drop in sound, and the eerie quiet hangs over the scene. The audience is left in a tense silence, their discomfort growing as they await the next move. When the demon finally attacks with loud, clashing noises and chaotic musical bursts around 1:33:00, the sudden shift from silence to sound makes the moment significantly more jarring and frightening.
The Exorcist (1973) – Regan’s Possession
Similarly, in The Exorcist (1973), silence becomes a psychological weapon. Director William Friedkin and composer Jack Nitzsche both understood the importance of silence, particularly during Regan’s terrifying transformation scenes. One of the most notable moments occurs during the exorcism itself.
In the scene where Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) and Father Karras (Jason Miller) attempt to exorcise the demon (beginning around the 1:38:30 mark), there are stretches of unnerving silence. As Regan (Linda Blair) writhes in bed, the sound cuts out completely for several moments (particularly at 1:40:45). This stark silence forces the audience to focus entirely on Regan's disturbing physical transformation and the grotesque visual imagery. When the quiet finally breaks with Regan’s violent screaming and demonic voice around 1:41:15, the impact is far more visceral than it would be with a continuous score. The silence adds to the psychological tension, making the horror feel raw and immediate.
The Sound of Nothing: Why Silence is the Scariest Sound in Horror
In horror, silence is never truly silent. It’s the sound of anticipation, of dread lurking just out of sight. When a composer chooses to strip away the music, it’s not because nothing is happening—it's because something is about to happen. And that is what makes silence one of the most terrifying sounds of all.
Whether it's the slow-building dread of Hereditary, the suffocating quiet of A Quiet Place, or the disorienting stillness of Insidious, silence is a powerful tool in horror scores. It gives the audience room to breathe, only to snatch that breath away when the scare finally comes. By mastering the art of silence, horror composers transform the absence of sound into something far more unsettling than noise could ever be.
Conclusion: Silence as a Storytelling Tool
In the end, silence in horror is not an afterthought or a passive choice. It is an active element of the score, just as integral as any musical note. When used effectively, silence can become the loudest sound in the room, creating a sense of tension that lingers long after the music has started again.
By studying the work of composers like Bernard Herrmann, James Newton Howard, and Marco Beltrami, we can see how silence isn’t just the space between sounds—it’s a storytelling tool, carefully deployed to make the horrors on screen even more visceral.
