This is the End
By T.J. Tranchell
I belt the song out every time I hear it on the radio: “Dream Warriors” by Dokken. And now it’s in your head, too. Arguably Dokken’s best song, the tune was written specifically for the end credits of A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors (1987). Back in those halcyon days of the 1980s, many major Hollywood productions ended with a new song just for the movie, or a song that became iconically associated with the film. Think “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” and The Breakfast Club (1985). I know that’s not a horror reference, but it was the ’80s and there was, I think, less segmentation among audiences. Those songs established a final mood with which to send audiences back into the world and bring us back to those moments any time we hear them. The films of the 1980s were the best at it, I think, but a new crop of filmmakers and musicians are seeking to rekindle the end credits song for modern audiences.
Not all of the old songs shared a title with the film it was made for, but many of them did. J. Geils Band did “Fright Night” for Fright Night (1985), for example, but I have trouble recollecting the song on its own. Once, many years ago when I worked in haunted houses, I saw a group of kids — okay, teens — wearing Ramones t-shirts. I was in a talking position and took my shot and told them I was going to bury them all in the pet sematary. “Whoa, dude! Did you hear that? Just like the Ramones song,” one among the group said. Did they know that Stephen King is a huge Ramones fan and got the band to do the eponymous end credits song for one of the best adaptations of his work? I don’t know and it doesn’t really matter. We shared a moment and that is what all entertainment is about, isn’t it? I struck a nerve by acknowledging their favorite band, and they got a bit more scared because I was paying attention to them rather than just jumping out and saying, “boo!”
King films don’t always have a great reputation for end credits songs, though. Those films often benefited more from the use of existing songs. George Thorogood’s “Bad to the Bone” kicks off Christine (1983), and the entire Maximum Overdrive (1986) soundtrack is comprised of AC/DC songs (suck it, Iron Man 2, you didn’t have this idea first). The Stand miniseries in 1994 uses Blue Öyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” and Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction” masterfully. Do you remember, though, John Parr’s “Restless Heart” from The Running Man (1987)? For every stroke of genius there is a moment when the death knell chimed and what was once great collapses.
Please, feel free to argue the “He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask)” is one of Alice Cooper’s better songs. The song from Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) does exactly what I want from one of these songs: it summarizes the plot — there is one if you haven’t watched this installment lately — and has a cool music video to go along with it. The song itself… “Feed My Frankenstein,” used in Wayne’s World (1992), is a much better horror song. So, they can’t all be winners and the trend fell off the map. Original end credits songs were replaced by rehashed songs from the rest of the movie or just extended versions of pieces from the score.
The trend was brought back by someone from the ’80s whose film included an amazing soundtrack. The Lost Boys (1987) is the epitome of 1980s “cool horror,” and the soundtrack reflects that. Director Joel Schumacher reengaged the original end credits song by letting Minnie Driver sing “Learn to Be Lonely” for his film version of The Phantom of the Opera (2004). Driver, who plays an opera singer in the film, did not get to sing those songs so she shows up in the end credits. End credits songs gained more wide popularity by the song about the credits in The Lego Movie (2014), also. Maybe there are others, but two more contemporary films have sealed the deal that end credits songs need to return in full force.
Look, Ghost is not my favorite band. I dig a lot of their songs, but there are just as many I don’t care for. “Hunter’s Moon” from Halloween Kills (2021), however, grabbed me by the throat and made me wish I could have used it for something else. I like Halloween Kills and Ghost’s song captures the mood of the film quite well. It is haunting but also accessible. I listened to it a dozen times before the movie was released. Ghost hit a niche, and I thought they would do more in that arena.
When the announcement came that Ghost would be pairing with actor-director Patrick Wilson on an end credits song for Insidious: The Red Door (2023), I clapped. And then I heard the song would be a cover of “Stay” from Shakespeare’s Sister, and I knew we were going back in time and moving forward together. You don’t have to like this movie or Halloween Kills to enjoy the songs. “Stay” indeed becomes a perfect complement to the film the precedes it. Wilson’s vocals relay the story of not wanting to part from a loved one, and the band brings in the more demonic side, giving us, in a sense, both sides of the door. Wilson belts it, much like I wail out “Dream Warriors,” but there were people who doubted he could sing. Excuse me, but did we not just talk about Schumacher’s Phantom of the Opera? Wilson played love interest Raoul in the film and is one of the better singers in it.
I hope to hear more end credits songs with horror movies. Filmmakers, are you listening? Find your favorite band and ask them to record a song for your movie. Musicians, reach out and search for your spot. I want to remember your song and the movie, and I promise not to forget about you. 🩸
About
T.J. Tranchell was born on Halloween and grew up in Utah. He has published the novella Cry Down Dark and the collections Asleep in the Nightmare Room and The Private Lives of Nightmares with Blysster Press and Tell No Man, a novella with Last Days Books. In October 2020, The New York Times called Cry Down Dark the scariest book set in Utah. He holds a Master’s degree in Literature from Central Washington University and attended the Borderlands Press Writers Boot Camp in 2017. He currently lives in Washington State with his wife and son. Follow him at www.tjtranchell.net or on X @TJ_Tranchell.
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