How Horror Music Works, From Weapons to Dead Space

Composers Ryan Holladay (Weapons, Resident Evil) and Jason Graves (Dead Space, Still Wakes the Deep) talk with Jamin Warren about how horror gets scored for film and games: dread, stingers, extended technique, interactive music and the instruments they build. Ryan and his brother Hays scored Zach Cregger's Weapons and this year's Resident Evil. Jason wrote the music for the original Dead Space trilogy, Until Dawn, The Dark Pictures Anthology and Still Wakes the Deep, built around The Rig, a metal sculpture Matt McConnell made for the score. Part of Killscreen's Cross-Conversations: Horror, presented with MUBI. Watch Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma on MUBI, 30 days free: https://mubi.com/killscreen Event page: https://www.killscreen.com/cross-conv... 00:00 Scoring Fear, and two composers in one room 2:04 Bluebrain, Myst and music you walk through 4:59 A drummer's ear and the Dead Space audition 7:15 Dread, or the quiet before the scare 13:08 Is there a universal language for fear? 18:47 Control, and why a game can't time a joke 23:43 Players who move at their own speed 27:50 The objects that make a room uneasy 29:54 Themes you hum, and themes you feel 39:00 The Rig, and the texture of real objects 45:30 Audience questions: instruments beyond the dark 48:14 Keeping your nerves intact 53:53 Sampling workflows, from field recorders to Ableton 56:43 What's next, and where to find them Subscribe:    / @killscreenla   Like Killscreen on Facebook:   / killscreen1   Follow on X: https://x.com/killscreen Follow on Instagram:   / killscreendotcom   Follow on TikTok:   / killscreen_la   Watch Killscreen on YouTube:    • Killscreen   Read More: www.killscreen.com The Killscreen Podcast Episode 38 October 13, 2026 ★ Episode details: https://share.transistor.fm/s/e62549e2 ★ Additional episodes: http://www.killscreen.com