Classics and cult gems: Trent Reznor’s favourite horror movies
As the driving force behind Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor has secured his place as one of the most important names in alternative rock. He’s the man behind genre classics like ‘Closer’ and ‘Hurt’, industrial sounds with intense, violent lyrics that continue to capture audiences nonetheless. However, Reznor’s place in the music industry extends beyond his work in the alternative realm into the medium of film.
In 2010, Reznor took his first steps into the world of film composition when David Fincher recruited him to score his critically acclaimed tale of billionaires and betrayal, The Social Network. Matching the tone of the film perfectly, Reznor worked alongside his long-standing creative partner Atticus Ross to concoct a haunting score filled with whirring electronics and melancholic keys, taking home an Academy Award for their efforts.
A decade later, Reznor has delivered some of modern filmmaking’s most atmospheric and innovative scores. From his continual collaborations with Fincher to his techno-style score for Luca Guadagnino’s recent cultural phenomenon, Challengers, Reznor has honed his talent for scoring, perfectly matching his production to each project.
One genre that Reznor has yet to really delve into in his film composition career is horror, which seems strange. Surely, his atmospheric, eerie approach to music production would fit perfectly into the genre that aims to scare. This decision doesn’t reflect Reznor’s lack of interest in the genre, either. In fact, he once shared a list of his favourite horror flicks to the Nine Inch Nails discord, spanning a range of classics and more modern entries.
Reznor shared his love for the iconic slasher series Halloween, picking out the first and third films as particular favourites. Directed by genre legend John Carpenter, the original follows Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie through her attempts to fight off the iconic Michael Myers, while the third entry into the series focuses on an entirely different set of characters. Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness also appears on Reznor’s list.
Reznor also shared his love for the V/H/S franchise, which has a particularly striking horror concept. Each film features a series of tapes shot by different filmmakers, meaning each instalment is credited to several directors. The series has expanded across several movies and even made its way into other, stranger formats—it even featured on Snapchat.
Reznor’s other more recent picks from the horror genre include cult favourite It Follows, which pulls sex into the genre, Robert Eggers’ increasingly beloved The VVitch and South Korean zombie flick Train to Busan. This wide-ranging selection of films will make for a perfect watchlist over the Halloween season, spanning old favourites as well as fresher entries into the genre, classics, and cult classics.
Hopefully, Reznor’s love for horror one day translates into his work, too. It would be interesting to see him take his experience in thriller scoring and horror-inducing industrial music into the world of slasher movies or zombie fights. His sound seems like it would thrive particularly in more tense takes on the genre, in strange body horrors or sci-fi adjacent tales, films that will one day become cult classics.
rent Reznor’s favourite horror movies:
- Color Out of Space (Richard Stanley, 2019)
- The Descent (Neil Marshall, 2005)
- The Fly (David Cronenberg, 1986)
- Goodnight Mommy (Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, 2014)
- Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)
- Halloween III: Season of the Witch (Tommy Lee Wallace, 1982)
- Hell House LLC (Stephen Cognetti, 2015)
- Hostel (Eli Roth, 2005)
- It Follows (David Robert Mitchell, 2014)
- Night of the Living Dead (George A Romero, 1968)
- Prince of Darkness (John Carpenter, 1987)
- Train to Busan (Yeon Sang-ho, 2016)
- V/H/S series
- The VVitch (Robert Eggers, 2015)
