ELM STREET — Music can be a huge part of what makes a movie scary.

Most horror movies are all about atmosphere, and music is often one of the most important ingredients for creating one. Filmmakers aim for a combination of sight and sound that will make you engrossed in the story and characters — so that you’re even more startled when the scary moments come.

Music in movies often helps us know what to feel during a scene, but horror filmmakers can also use scores to make viewers feel unsettled or surprised.

Here are five of the greatest horror movie soundtracks of all time, and how filmmakers used them to make their movies terrifying.

“Hereditary” (2018)

Music by Colin Stetson

Filmed in Utah, Ari Aster’s “Hereditary” gained accolades earlier this year for Aster’s savvy direction, Toni Collette’s committed performance and Colin Stetson’s creepy score.

The avant-garde saxophonist is known for contributing to music from indie rock acts such as Arcade Fire and Bon Iver, but Stetson’s solo records caught Aster’s ear. He asked the musician to create a score that felt evil, according to The Verge.

Stetson’s dark, seething, abstract score matches the tone of the brooding, horrifying film. He routinely produces sounds you wouldn’t expect to come from a saxophone, creating atmospheric music that at times is just as disorienting and bizarre as the movie itself.

As the film builds and builds toward its totally bonkers final scenes, Stetson’s score rises in intensity, too.

He must have recorded dozens of separate saxophone tracks for the climactic track “Reborn.” The result is a brilliant piece of music that’s both freakishly noisy and morbidly beautiful.

This movie is absolutely not for kids or the faint of heart, but Stetson’s music stands on its own as a singular work of art.

“The Thing” (1982)

Music by John Carpenter and Ennio Morricone

“I know you gentlemen have been through a lot,” one character quips after a pivotal scene in John Carpenter’s cult classic “The Thing.”

These guys are tired. They’re holed up in Antarctica, fighting a terrifying beast that can perfectly imitate anything, so they’re all constantly on edge.

And to make matters worse, as Kurt Russell’s reluctant ringleader MacReady concedes, it’s only the first week of winter.

There’s an underlying sense of claustrophobic dread in Carpenter’s creature-feature. The score Carpenter created with Ennio Morricone simmers underneath the action, gradually building along with the slow-burning scenes.

The sparse, synthy main theme pops up at multiple times during the film, its two-note melody seemingly ever-present like a menacing heartbeat. Like the film’s famously ambiguous final scene, the score from “The Thing” likely will stick around in your head for a while after the movie ends.

“Psycho” (1960)

Music by Bernard Herrmann

Even if you haven’t seen Alfred Hitchcock’s horror classic, you’ve likely heard Bernard Herrmann’s music style duplicated in countless other films.

Herrmann doesn’t waste any time — the shrieking violins that make this soundtrack so memorable make their first appearance in the film’s opening theme.

Herrmann was able to make stringed instruments sound almost unreal at times. In the film’s infamous shower scene, the unnatural, super-high notes almost sound like a sound effect instead of a real instrument.

At other times, though, the music is beautiful and somber, acting both as a tribute to the characters and a subtle signifier of the bad things that are going to happen to them throughout the film.

Hitchcock is often called the “master of suspense,” but he owes a lot of credit to Herrmann for making his masterpiece the intense edge-of-your-seat experience it is.

“Halloween” (1978)

Music by John Carpenter

Even outside the horror genre, there are few films that have a piece of music as recognizable as that menacing piano riff from “Halloween.” It’s perhaps cinema’s most iconic theme song.

There’s just something about that escalating piano line, with the backdrop of glitchy percussion and bombastic synths, that makes you feel like Michael Myers is constantly lurking behind you.

The other John Carpenter soundtrack on this list features a lot of repetition, and Carpenter again uses that here.

There are two or three piano themes that pop up over and over during the film. Even though they repeat, Carpenter changes what’s happening around them — the synths, the percussion, random sound effects — to gradually hike the music’s intensity as the film slowly builds to its wild conclusion.

The masterful, minimalist soundtrack is a major reason that Carpenter’s slasher has spawned ten sequels so far. The latest one, also titled “Halloween,” opens Friday, with Carpenter returning to write its music.

People still instantly recognize that piano theme 40 years later, and I won’t be surprised if everyone still knows it in another 40 years.

“Suspiria” (1977)

Music by Goblin

The soundtracks for “Halloween” and “Psycho” are iconic in their own ways. But Italian prog-rock band Goblin made what gets my vote for the best horror score of all time for their ghoulish “Suspiria” music.

Dario Argento’s film about a ballerina who joins a prestigious dance academy only to learn there’s something much more sinister going on is known for its use of vivid colors and striking imagery.

Goblin’s soundtrack is similarly in your face. It’s almost overwhelming at times, with the band using multiple instruments to create a cacophonous mixture of gothic rock music.

It’s as if you’re sitting in a massive concert hall or cathedral with the way the sounds seem to echo and bounce around your head.

Like any self-respecting 1970s progressive rock band, Goblin used an eclectic list of instruments for “Suspiria,” including chimes, strings, saxophones and a Greek stringed instrument called the bouzouki, as well as a lengthy list of synths and percussion instruments.

The downright weird vocals add some extra flair to the soundtrack. Goblin band members didn’t sing many words, but they did growl, chant and scream, giving the music a sinister, primal quality.

Luca Guadagnino’s “Suspiria” remake/reboot opens in a few weeks, and Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke wrote the music for the film. Yorke has some big shoes to fill if he wants his soundtrack to match the intense and unforgettable quality of Goblin’s original score.

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