Whats the scary music in Netflixs Ratched, and where do I know it from? – Classic FM

23 September 2020, 17:14

Striking music and dazzling cinematography put the thrill in Netflixs Mildred Ratched origin story thriller, starring Sarah Paulson. But why is that music so familiar?

In Netflixs newest horror-thriller, Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story, 12 Years a Slave) stars as Ken Kaseys terrifying Nurse Ratched first introduced to us in the One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest novel (1962) and film (1975).

Ratched is a made-for-Netflix, eight-episode prequel to One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest which aims to introduce and explain the fearsome nurse in a sympathetic origin story.

As well as some pretty spectacular cinematography every single shot really is ravishing to look at and stellar performances for the star-studded cast (Sharon Stone and Cynthia Nixon star alongside Paulson), a stand-out feature of the series is its music.

From the first scene of the Ryan Murphy/Evan Romansky collab, music is almost an invisible character, pushing the action along in a way thats difficult to ignore. And it sounds so familiar. Where do I know it from?

Read more: Netflix wanted a symphonic version of their iconic Ta-Dum. So, they called Hans Zimmer >

Turns out the guys responsible for the music in Ratched a team of music supervisors and editors, and Emmy-winning composer Mac Quayle took their cues from 1962 horror film Cape Fear. Including some literal cues in the form of borrowed orchestral passages.

Cape Fears soundtrack was composed by film music trailblazer Bernard Herrmann and reworked by another movie music legend, Elmer Bernstein, for the 1991 remake of the film. And here Quayle borrows some passages from Herrmanns score, while composing his own Cape Fear score-inspired original music.

Think blaring French horns and shrill woodwinds in suspension,all underpinned by terrifyingly tense string shimmers. These Herrmann-esque devices drip off the Ratched score, resulting in a classic horror feel thats immediately familiar but strikingly noticeable.

Read more: How to get your classical music fix on Netflix >

These opening titles are worth not skipping (for once) mostly for the music. Because the music is Saint-Sans gripping Dance Macabre, Op. 40.

That spiky pizzicato throwing to the angsty, grumbling flute solo gets us every time. And then the wonderful swelling melody in the strings ahh. We watch the titles all the way through, all eight times, during our binge.

Good choice, Netflix peops.

Ratched is out now on Netflix.

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Whats the scary music in Netflixs Ratched, and where do I know it from? - Classic FM

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero