How The Saw Franchise Soundtrack Beats A Big Star Wars Record [Exclusive]

Although similar musical themes will be repeated and re-used throughout just about any long-running film series, it's actually somewhat rare that the original film's composer will stick with a series for the long haul. Example: John Carpenter's scary, tinkling theme is used in most of the "Halloween" sequels, but he is only credited as the composer or co-composer for six of the 13 movies. John Williams has proven an exception to this practice, as he has composed the music for nine of the 15 "Star Wars" movies. Some Starwoids liked to think that he held the record for the most consistent composer from within a single film franchise, although that claim doesn't hold up to any kind of scrutiny. Not that composing nine orchestral film scores is anything to sneeze at.

Williams' record, however, will be, as of September 29, 2023, surpassed by Charlie Clouser. Clouser, as horror fans may know, is the composer for all 10 of the extant "Saw" movies, the most recent of which hits theaters in a matter of days. Clouser also doesn't hold the record for the most in-franchise films composed by the same musician, but passing John Williams in any capacity is certainly a point of pride. Could 53 Oscar nominations be next for Clouser? Only time will tell.

Recently, /Film's own Ryan Scott sat down with Clouser to discuss his work on the "Saw" movies, his philosophy when it comes to their music, and his feelings about being better than John Williams at something. Clouser was careful to point out that he is no record-breaker, although he figured he might hold the record for someone from the U.S.

Clouser said that one of the public relations people working on "Saw X" corrected any claims of record-holding, citing a celebrated series of British comedy films released from the 1950s through the late 1970s:

"[O]ne caveat is Jordan from the PR company had done some deep digging and he found a composer who had scored like 22 films in a series called 'Carry On,' which is a British film series. I know nothing about them, but apparently they've been running for decades. I'm not completely at the top of the pile, but let's just say for American composers or American films, that'll be our little footnote."

The "Carry On" composer Clouser refers to is Eric Rogers. Rogers wrote the music for a large number of British sex farces including 20 "Carry On" movies and one "Carry On" TV special. The "Carry On" films were a series of notoriously raunchy slapstick films that were set all over the world and across history, but which all featured cheekily inappropriate sex jokes. They're not terribly sophisticated, but they are enjoyable.

Clouser also failed to note the indomitable Akira Ifukube, the composer for 21 of the films in the Godzilla franchise (including connected non-Godzilla films like Ishiro Honda's "Atragon" and "The Mysterians"). Ifukube also composed the music for 11 of the Zatoichi movies.

As far as U.S. film composers go, I would hasten to mention Carl Stalling, who composed the music for over 600 Warner Bros. animated shorts from 1936 through his retirement in 1958. Surely he holds the record.

Whether or not he's a record-holder, Clouser is still impressively prolific, and his work should not be undersold. He composed the memorable and intense semi-industrial themes for the "Saw" movies, including the oft-reused "Hello Zepp." And he has no intention of stopping. Clouser loves the series and stated his devotion outright:

"I will do them all. They're going to have to pry the 'Saw' franchise from my cold dead hands. I love doing them and I by no means feel like I've exhausted the possibilities, so I'm anxiously awaiting to see what they come up with next, and I'm 100% on board." 

Closer has also composed the theme song for "American Horror Story," as well as the music for films like "Dead Silence," "Death Sentence," and "The Collection." He is a keyboardist, mixer, and sound engineer who worked with Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails on multiple projects. He also worked with Rob Zombie throughout the '90s, and helped out Marilyn Manson on several of his songs and records. Clouser has additionally played with David Bowie, Rammstein, A Perfect Circle, Type O Negative, Helmet, Puscifer, Killing Joke, and many others.

When it comes to intense, dark music, one couldn't do much better than Clouser. As long as feature films need bleak, industrial horror, they will always have an artist standing by.

"Saw X" is now playing in theaters.