Spooky sound effects

A sustained low bed with no melody anywhere in it. This is the thing most horror cuts are actually missing: it lifts the tension of a held shot without the audience registering that a sound was added.

One slow hinge turning, dry and wavering, with a definite stop at the end. Reach for it when a door opens on screen and the movement on its own is not carrying any of the dread.

Breath shaped like speech with nothing intelligible inside it, so nobody has to write a line. It works in a game corridor as readily as in a film, because there is no language to translate.

A thin edge dragged across rough stone, brightening and tightening as it travels. The rise is doing the work, which is why it can sit under a slow push-in with nothing else happening in frame.

Dry timber flexing under a weight the audience never sees. It puts a person in the room above with no actor, no second set, and no extra camera setup.

A dull, evenly repeating thud with the top end gone, nearer a heartbeat than a drum. Laid quietly under a held shot it sets a pace the audience follows without ever hearing it.