35 Creepy & Scary Horror Background Music for Films (Free Downloads)

Royalty Free Music 26/10/2021 8 min read

The scariest thing about a horror film is the music. Sure the chase sequences, knife-wielding killers, and terrifying monsters are important for the storyline but you pair an intense chase sequence with a romantic elevator melody and you’ve completely ruined the mood. Without the chills that the music provides, the thrills really aren’t there. Music truly makes a scary movie, and there’s a lot of horror background music out there. So, it’s important you find the perfect fit.

35 Top Rated Horror Background Music 

1. Secret Signs

For a suspenseful cinematic experience, Secret Signs gives you a mixture of electronic synth pulses, dramatic percussion, and ambient SFX. It’s reminiscent of an opening scene where one might find clocks ticking and gears turning, and ends with a real screaming splash.

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2. Ghosts Are Coming

Ghosts Are Coming is a piece that could easily be found in an updated version of the Addams Family or another creepy comedy. This horror background music features everything from a celesta and harpsichord to a children’s choir. It has a real Halloween vibe to it that’s more fun than freaky.

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3. The Dark Ritual

Putting off a real Lord of the Rings fantasy vibe, The Dark Ritual has a real scary, dark intensity to it. It features epic percussion, whispering, and war drums. If you’re looking for something to lead up to a battle scene, you might have just found it.

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4. The Haunting

Get ready for old-school Scooby-Doo vibes with this track. The Haunting has a creepy vintage theme featuring both the theremin and glockenspiel. Whether you’re working with a creature feature, mystery game, or spooky cartoon, it provides a fun, frightful vibe.

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5. Dark Subject

This modern, electronic track would be a good inclusion in deep space, horror sci-fi features. With modern synths, a deep bass, and an eerie ambiance, it makes for a great story-building piece. But it’s more of a background track being not quite intense enough to own the scene.

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6. Midnight Gloom

Who doesn’t love a little doom and gloom in their horror background music? Midnight Gloom offers a dystopian, War of the Worlds style feel that is fitting of a more action-horror than something meant to scare your pants off. There’s a certain urgent intensity to it that’s sure to build suspense.

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7. Pulsing Halloween

Pulsing Hallow is a scary, hybrid, cinematic theme that matches the eeriness of a piano with the intensity of strings. While this could work for the intro of a horror movie, you could also pair it with a dark-themed game. It has a Halloween vibe that’s not too intense but provides a consistent feel. 

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8. Breath Of Freedom

With a breathless opening and a dark piano theme, Breath Of Freedom makes for a dramatic piece. The intermittent cuts of music mixed with the eerie beats create panicky suspense that’s sure to be felt by your audience. Horror, thriller, even a dark cinematic action project would match perfectly. 

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9. Lurking Evil

Much like the title implies, if you’re looking for a scary background music download that lurks in the background providing a foreboding feel, Lurking Evil was made for you. It features a touch of classic horror, with growing dreadful energy to it that makes for a great open or close.

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10. Haunted Pumpkin

A throwback to the 1980s, Haunted Pumpkins has a classic sinister vibe that’s perfect for trailers or opening themes. It features the waning trill of bells mixed with sliding electronic sounds that wind down into a broken-down carnival ride feel. Unique, enchanting and definitely creepy, it makes for great scary background music.

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11. Murder On All Hallows Eve 

Think 1970s horror film ending credits and you have Murder On All Hallows Eve. This mysterious, dark track has a very vintage sound and feel with the steady electronic beat and billowing synths. If your project has an urban Halloween vibe to it, it just might work.

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12. Eerie Time Of Witches

The Eerie Time of Witches does have a particularly teen witchy vibe to it. Featuring guitars, drums, xylophones, and the theremin, it works its way up to being a full orchestral piece. If you’re looking for fun and magic, it might be the perfect fit.

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13. Mad Crows

Mad Crows is more fun and whimsical than traditional scary, and follows a similar melody to the Inspector Gadget theme. Combining strings, harpsichord, bassoon, percussion, and topping it all off with creepy vocals, this enchanting piece is perfect for your supernatural black comedy.

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14. Midnight Escape

If you’re looking for Halloween music that’s more action-comedy than bone-chilling thrill, Midnight Escape can deliver. Reminiscent of something more playful like you’d find in the Addams Family, it features an upbeat but still creepy melody filled with strings, drums, bells, and brass. Not to mention it has a particularly final ending, perfect for opening or closing your project.

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15. Spooky Dungeon

Hello, Dracula! Spooky Dungeon is a vampiric melody to include in your monster masterpiece. Cinematic and eery, this horror background music is filled with edgy, synthetic sounds and even a Theremin. It’s very creature-feature with more fun than terror.

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16. Halloween Shivers

For an updated scary sound, Halloween Shivers combines a cinematic crescendo with an eerie alien-feeling aura. If you’re project features otherworldly creators or has a particularly spooky enchanting vibe attached to it, this might be the track for you. It provides a steady background for any spooktacular scene.

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17. Dark Halloween Time

It’s just a hop, creep, and a jump into your next spooky adventure with Dark Halloween. Fit with the creepy laughter of children, a sharp harpsichord, and a music box, this catchy horror tune has a much more playful vibe. If you’re looking for a classic ghostly track, you may have just found it.

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18. Creepy Playground

Built to pair with a dark sci-fi or paranormal adventure, this fearful and intense track adds a truly scary vibe into the mix. It features dark, creaky strings, a foreboding children’s choir, and intense hits that match the horror vibe perfectly.

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19. The Dark Side Of Souls

Picture rain pouring and the swipe of the windshield wipers in an intense, somber scene — that’s what The Dark Side of Souls delivers. There’s an eerie heartbeat that runs through the track and paired with an airy piano and thunderstorm SFX, it’s bound to add darkness to your scene.

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20. Something Behind You

That moment where the audience sees the impending doom before the character is intense, and Something Behind You can help deliver that uncomfortable feeling. Fit for sci-fi and horror trailers, or even a graphic battle scene (especially when the horn comes in), this piece of music is perfect for your scary fantasy.

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21. Last Minute

If you’re looking for a crescendo that starts out unimposing and becomes tempo-heavy and aggressive, take a listen to Last Minute. With steadily increasing percussion and an epic-feature chant, this piece could easily come from a dystopian soundtrack, like The 100.

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22. How Awful

How Awful is an epic sci-fi feeling piece of scary music that’s perfect for your film or gaming project. It features cinematic rises with a thudding, consistent pulse, and if you listen closely there are faint, eerie screams. It’s a solid frightening track that will add just the right amount of suspense.

Download How Awful Now

23. Impending Doom 

Impending Doom is a piano-led piece that’s reminiscent of classic horror music sound effects. If you want more Freddie and Jason than Annabelle Doll, this creepy track will inject just enough anxiety and impending doom into your project to put your audience on the edge of their seats.

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24. Searching

While a creepy track no doubt, Searching has an almost hopeful, longing feel to it. The graceful piano slides over an electronic ambiance, and the addition of the eerie vocals in the far distance makes this particular piece fit for a moment of hope in the heroine’s journey.

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25. Midnight Sacrifice

The low, ominous ambiance is the best way to describe Midnight Sacrifice. It’s not a piece of scary music that steals the show, instead, its unsettling nature could provide the perfect background for an intense video game sequence.

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26. Recurring Nightmare

Recurring Nightmare starts with dainty chimes and a high-noted piano before the screechy strings take over. The creepy march-like melody that haunts the background of much of the track is reminiscent of a Tim Burton-esque picture. If you’re looking for Halloween music, this is it.

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27. Buried Hopes

While some tracks make for a good title theme, Buried Hopes is more ambient background than a crowing piece. With its low, dark tones and airy strings, it oozes horror energy. But it maintains a steady tone that won’t interrupt or take away from the scene.

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28. Despair

Despair has a low dark ambient tone that slides right into the background of a blood-filled horror or monster flick. It has deep, ruinous energy to it that could easily be found in a dystopian or end of the world thrill.

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29. Creepy Realms

Creepy Realms has a disturbing calm to it — picture that classic scene where the camera pans over an empty room with dated trinkets, family photos, and lots of dolls. It’s perfect for dark or sad scenes and has a melancholic vibe like the opening of the “Mosley Lane” (Season 5) episode of Criminal Minds.

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30. Someone Is In Our Basement

With a classic dark piano trill and the hard scratch of strings, Someone Is In Our Basement carries a very Psycho vibe to it. It has sharp sliding strings that burst into a chilling circular piano for the ultimate in-your-seat startle. It would make a vivid opening piece for a slasher or paranormal horror.

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31. Night Time

Picture the sound of a light submarine beep echoing out underwater right before a dramatic action scene — that’s what you get with Night Time. It’s the perfect pairing of frantic percussion and underwater echoes that are needed for a deep-sea thriller. With a slightly more epic undertone, this could easily have been included in the Greyhound soundtrack.

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32. Lost Echoes

Lost Echoes is led by a mysterious piano that feels like it would fit right into a crime drama. The instruments are playful with the bouncing piano and electronic, hybrid percussion, but the whole piece has a dark atmosphere to it — it’s definitely not something you’d include in a rom-com.

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33. Secrets And Mysteries

With a mystic, far-off sound, Secrets and Mysteries is a scary background music download for a project reminiscent of 1970s horror. With a nod to old-school electronics and an airy piano, it has a real dark alley vibe.

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34. Lurking In The Dark

This slow, dark cinematic piece is perfect if you want something to lurk in the background of your opening credit scene. With the low hum of female vocals that are added around the 30-second mark, this feels like a great horror alternative to The Little Mermaid.

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35. Haunted Churchyard 

Churchyards, graveyards, and other places with hallowed ground make for excellent horror movie settings—and Haunted Churchyard fits right into the background of that. With a repetitive gonging bell and wind-like vibes, this royalty-free horror piece will fit right in.

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Bonus: 3 Free Horror Background Music

1. Cthulhu Over The Horizon

Cthulhu Over The Horizon makes for a great, albeit short, addition to any cinematic project. What starts out with a wind-whispering vibe ends 45-seconds later in a loud ominous crescendo. If you’re looking for creepy teaser material, this track is for you.

Download Cthulhu Over The Horizon Now

2. Blockbuster

Short, not-so-sweet, and perfect for cinematic horror video games, Blockbuster holds a lot of drama. It features a heavy orchestra arrangement that seemingly builds to a creepy reveal. But the piece is short, so it’s probably best left for teasers or trailers.

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3. Cinematic Suspenseful Piano

With a creepy childlike tone, this 20-second piano-led piece is perfect for a short social media trailer or a quick transition. It carries a quiet, dramatic mood that if paired with the right visual could chill you right to the bone.

Download Cinematic Suspenseful Piano Now


The right background music will help not only move your story along, but your audience connects to it on a more emotional level. Motion Array has thousands of royalty-free horror background music tracks that are waiting to hop into your next project. Take your next film from scary to terrifying by choosing the right track.