Happy Hour

My Favorite Movie Soundtracks

When I was eleven years old my grandmother bought the original Tron soundtrack by Wendy Carlos for me. It was other worldly and I loved it. I still love it to this day. It is absolutely beautiful. It never got the recognition it deserved, and I cannot believe it does not get more attention.

Around the same time I bought for myself the Ennio Morricone soundtrack for John Carpenter's The Thing. Again, I absolutely loved the creepy vibe and genuinely enjoyed listening to it. Once again, to this day. In fact, I recently purchased the remastered version, which had some additional tracks making it even grander. In my opinion, this is the best collection of uniquely spooky tracks of any scary movie soundtrack.

Honestly, I love the Halloween I, II, and III soundtracks. They are all great and I listen to them periodically throughout the year. John Carpenter has created some stellar scary movie scores, but none better than these. While I am on scary movie soundtracks I would like to make honorable mention regarding Jerry Goldsmith's brilliant Poltergeist score, which is a wonderful mix of beautiful melody with an eerie effect.

Also in the Top 10 is Hannibal by Hans Zimmer. He does a superb job of mixing beauty with scary in this amazing score. There are also intermittent clips of Anthony Hopkins' voice with lines from the film. Zimmer also incorporates strange sound effects, which add to the eerie factor.

Another outstanding score that uses odd sound effects is Gone Girl by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. There are some really eerily beautiful tracks on there, some of my favorites of all time such as "Sugar Storm," "Appearances," "Like Home," "Something Disposable," and "What Will We Do?"

John Williams composed my next two favorites. The first is The Empire Strikes Back, which is wonderful with "Yoda's Theme," "The Imperial March," and "The Asteroid Field." Just fantastic. Raiders of the Lost Ark is the most iconic in my opinion. There is "The Raiders March," "Marion's Theme," and "The Desert Chase." I loved listening to this as a kid, and still break it out on special occasions.

Then there is James Horner's Braveheart with it's beautiful tunes along with a touch of melancholy. It was so good that they had to make a second CD for the original score! Like Dances With Wolves it has an overall theme, but still contains several distinct melodies with their own character. The second CD is interspersed with lines from the film.

So, now for my favorite movie soundtrack of all time. Blade Runner by Vangelis is numero uno. It is so good that there are several different versions of it (the original, the 3 CD set, the Esper Edition, and the Edgar Rothermich version). It is a futuristic fantasy where Vangelis' glorious compositions take you; talk about other worldly... The 3 CD set is a must have, and I was so elated that it had the track "Dr. Tyrell's Death," which was not included on the original. "Perfume Exotico," "Spotkanie Z Matka," and "Up and Running" are some of the never heard before tracks, and I am taken to another place every time I listen to it.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this, and indulging my Top 10 list. If you care to agree or differ, or have others you feel should be added, then please feel free to leave a comment below and let me know. I truly appreciate any and all input from others.