No false reassurances.

I’ll be the first to admit that the things I enjoy in all facets of life are rather arcane. Even now, one of my all-time favorite movie tropes - and one I so wish would come back - is the one where the heroes have killed or thwarted all the bad guys, but there’s still one left over hiding out and they end up giving themselves way through some unseen word or action. cf. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Diamonds Are Forever.

Another oddly specific trope I’m fond of is the end credits music in horror movies that more or less tells the audience, ‘Don’t worry about the survivors. They’re gonna be just fine.’ David Newman’s The Kindred is a strong example, but another one that caught me by surprise in the last year or so was Danny Elfman‘s Nightbreed.

The first 3:02 typifies the creepy/violent nature of the film - and was a favorite whenever I’d listen to the composer’s compilation “Music for a Darkened Theater - Vol. 1” - but then (as I discovered when I first saw the film a few years ago), there was a delicate, achingly beautiful variation on the main theme afterwards. Harp, flute and strings unite for one of Elfman's most underrated cues. (BTW, yes, I am eagerly awaiting Intrada's imminent expansion of this score.)

I guess I just miss horror movies where the villain was defeated at the end because it wasn't some arcane force that could never be stopped and the characters were pretty much ass-fucked from before the first studio logo. We need more of those again.