Top 10 Songs from Psychotic Movies

Whether it makes one curl up under a blanket in terror or stand to their feet in hair-raising excitement, audiences tend to have a guilty pleasure for psychotic thrillers and characters.

The list below is comprised of the top ten songs from memorable moments in psychopathic thrillers.

The best movies of the genre captivated its audience by taking them on a roller coaster ride where the filmmakers intricately weaved masterful sound design with visuals. They engaged their audience by tactfully placing songs and musical tracks in crucial parts of the film.

Some of them were deemed ironic due to their seemingly irrelevant lyrics, while others told a side story and conveyed a insight into the characters. It is remarkable how these songs and visuals that are sometimes created ages apart can come together on screen and exhilarate us.

These songs and scenes captivated and sometimes repulsed audiences of all kinds. Whichever the case, the duos ranked in this lineup have shocked, amused and offended viewers since their releases.

Whether it is the unlikely combination of the song and the scene, or because the music was harmoniously with the deranged and demented actions of the plot, this top ten list will give psychopathic film lovers a familiar dose of crazy.

10: “After Dark”
Artist: Tito & Tarantula
Movie: From Dusk till Dawn
Criminal brothers Richard and Seth Gecko (Quentin Tarantino and George Clooney, respectively) seek refuge at a strip club/brothel called the Titty Twister — also a vampire nest. There they encounter Santanico Pandemonium (Salma Hayek), a vampire queen and her hive. Before the hive’s vampire identity is revealed, Hayek seductively dances to Tito & Tarantula’s “After Dark” with a snake on her shoulders, while serenading the men before her meal.

9: “The Greatest Love of All”
Artist: Whitney Houston, instrumental Performed by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Movie: American Psycho
Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) discusses his musical proclivities as the intoxicated Elizabeth (Guinevere Turner) makes out with call girl Christie (Cara Seymour). Bateman speaks about the message behind Whitney Houston’s “The Greatest Love of All” as the instrumental by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra plays in the stereo. He passionately speaks about self-preservation and bettering one’s self all the while he plans to kill both women after he sleeps with them.

8: “The Ride of the Valkyries”
Artist: from Richard Wagner’s “Die Walküre,” performed by The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Movie: From Dusk till dawn
Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall) commands a squadron of attack helicopters against a Viet Cong village filled with women and children. The Colonel orders the helicopters to blast Richard Wagner’s “The Ride of the Valkyries” to frighten and intimidate the Vietnamese while simultaneously pumping up his soldiers for battle. As the squadron flies over, the village which moments ago was filled with students and farmers is left ravaged by bombs.

7: “The Way I Walk”
Artist: Cover by Robert Gordon
Movie: Natural Born Killers
Mickey and Mallory Knox (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis, respectively) are a killer couple who get a thrill out of murder and mayhem. At a diner, Mallory dances alone by a jukebox while Mickey orders some pie. Two men walk in and notice Mallory. The song changes to Robert Gordon’s “The Way I Walk” and Mallory dances wildly. One of the men pursues to join her, a gesture responded with Mallory’s wrath. Within seconds, the loving couple blissfully kills every person there except just one man, who is left behind to tell of their deeds.

6: “Hold Tight” (1966)
Artist: Dave Dee, Dozy,
Beaky, Mick & Tich
Movie: “Death Proof” (2007)
Arlene, Jungle Julia, Shanna and Lanna (Vanessa Ferlito, Sydney Poitier, Jordan Ladd and Monica Staggs, respectively) drive down the highway with their stereo blasted. “Hold Tight” by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich plays as the girls get in their groove and horse around. Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russel) speeds past the girls’ car in his 1970 Chevy Nova. He makes a u-turn ahead, turns off the headlights and speeds right back towards the girls. Unknowingly, the girls cruise ahead turning up the volume. Mike turns on the headlights before impact and crashes into the girls’ car. The car crash is shown repeatedly from various angles to showcase the severed body parts and the gruesome deaths of each girl.

5: “Banana Split” (1979)
Artist: The Dickies
Movie: “Kick-Ass” (2010)
Vigilante superhero Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) comes to the rescue of Kick-Ass (Aaron
Taylor-Johnson), another costumed hero, in a drug dealer’s den. With a butterfly knife and her Mindy Stick (a staff weapon with two katanas at each end) Hit Girl stabs, slashes and chops off body parts until every criminal in the apartment is dead. The Dickies’ “Banana Split” is used as a soundtrack while the 11 year old girl kills everyone with glee.

4: “Hip to be Square” (1986)
Artist: Huey Lewis & The News
Movie: “American Psycho” (2000)
The complexity of Patrick Bateman’s (Christian Bale) intellect are exemplary in this scene. Bateman drugs his coworker, Paul Allen (Jared Leto) with a drink . The couches are covered with sheets and the floor with the style section of the newspaper. As he talks about Huey Lewis to Allen, Bateman puts on a rain coat and turns on “Hip to be Square.” He dances back to pick up an axe and speaks about how the band makes a statement through the song, all the while making a statement about himself. Bateman then axes down Allen with raw vigor and excitement.

3: “Goodbye Horses” (1988)
Artist: Q Lazzarus
Movie: “Silence of the Lambs” (1991)
Jame Gumb aka Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), a serial killer has kidnapped a young girl, Catherine Martin (Brooke Smith) and locked her in a well in his basement. Q Lazzarus’s “Goodbye Horses” plays as Bill dresses in a women’s clothing and puts on makeup. He uses lipstick, jewelry, human skin and hair to doll himself up. Bill then sets up a camera to dance and experiment in front of it. The scene crosscuts between Martin trying to escape out of the well with Bill’s playtime. The scene shows the extent of Bill’s insanity and foreshadows what could become of Martin’s future.

2:”Stuck in the Middle With You” (1972)
Artist: Steeler’s Wheels
Movie: “Reservoir Dogs” (1992)
Vic Vega aka Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) has kidnapped a cop, Officer Marvin Nash (Kirk Baltz) after a heist. While his crew is out, Mr. Blonde is left alone in the safe house with a wounded accomplice and Officer Nash. Seizing the opportunity, he turns on the radio and takes out a razor from his boot. As “Stuck in the Middle With You” by Steeler’s Wheels plays on the radio, Mr. Blonde dances and slashes the officer’s face while taunting him. He then cuts the officer’s right ear off and gets a gallon of gasoline from his car. Still dancing, he drenches the officer with gasoline for what’s next.

1:”The Last Waltz” (1941)
Artist: from “Masquerade,” Last Waltz by Aram Khachaturyan
Movie: “Oldboy” (2003)
Aram Khachaturyan’s “The Last Waltz” is perhaps the most diversely and widely used soundtrack in a single film in the realm of psychotic thrillers. The movie depicts the life of Dae-su Oh (Min-sik Choi), an industrial worker, as he tries to find out the truth behind his mysterious imprisonment of 15 years. This terrifyingly beautiful melody is elegantly played through the most violent and delightful scenes in the movie. Through moments of love, death, sex and incest, the film shows the beauty in something ugly and the horror in something beautiful.