Musical Monday #6 (be sure to check the poll in the post below this one!)

I'm getting into the mood for Halloween. Which means monster movies!! And scary movies!! Not the crap that's out there now with thousands of gallons of "blood" and axes and guts and gore. I mean the real scary movies that can scare with a good story and not the gore. And little reliance on digital tricks.

I'll be doing a list of my favorites, but one that's sure to be on the list is "The Shining". Not the made-for-TV one, but the original with Nicholson. For my Musical Monday selection, I've chosen the intro music to the movie. It is based on the 13th century Gregorian chant "Dies Irae" (Day of Wrath). This chant has been used as a motif in classical music for centuries, and was a major component of the Requiem Mass in the Catholic Church until around 1970. Also often found in movie soundtracks, it invokes a sense of menace and death.

This version was written by Wendy Carlos (back when she was still Walter Carlos--yeah, he whacked off his weenie...). Carlos is most well-known for his/her "Switched-On Bach" recordings, and the soundtracks to "Tron" and "A Clockwork Orange". The juxtapostion of the "Dies Irae" with the beautiful scenery in the opening credits puts viewers on edge from the beginning moments of the movie. Enjoy!