HORROR SOUNDSCAPE IN GIALLO FILM Function of the musical score

Abstract

In cinema, sound plays a significant role, since it can emphasize, give depth or even change the meaning of a scene, thus the very sense of the film. Early in horror cinema, a very popular film genre, soundscape became a pivotal element working hand by hand towards visual narration, this has changed the way in which cinema was seen before and added more atmospheric values to it. Sound design became another powerful feature of the cinematographic language, creating terrifying environments according to the patterns that perception obeys to, and playing with these, to juxtapose the seventh art in its greatest expression. This document will focus on the importance of the musical score and how soundscape recreates another nuance of narration in addition to the visual in horror films, particularly in the supernatural Giallo horror trilogy by Italian filmmaker Dario Argento. These films are Suspiria (1977), music by Goblin band, Inferno (1980) Music by Keith Emerson from Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and The Mother of Tears (2007), music by Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin band, and Daemonia band.