Music in the Horror Films of Val Lewton

Michael Lee

Music in the Horror Films of Val Lewton
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Country
United Kingdom
Published
31 May 2024
Pages
224
ISBN
9781474497039

Music in the Horror Films of Val Lewton

Michael Lee

Val Lewton's horror films revolutionized a popular genre through a much-studied and still widely emulated visual style emphasizing shadows and absences. By denying audiences visual confirmation of horror, his reforms placed a fresh burden on the soundtrack of his films. This book offers a fine-grained study of the Lewton unit's transformational sonic style which introduced the first "jump scare," liberal use of pre-musique concrte, and an original orchestral score for every film in the series in violation of "B" movie norms. Their orchestral scores often exceed the conventions of film music as we hear the RKO Music Department ignoring instructions thus freeing their contributions to signpost the path toward each films' essential themes.

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