The horrifying brilliance of the ‘Valerie and Her Week of Wonders’ soundtrack

Posted On October 31, 2025October 31, 2025

Horror scores can be the perfect thing to play when you’re trying to get into the Halloween spirit; if you don’t have the time to watch a scary movie, why not soundtrack your walk with the unsettling sounds of eerie strings or menacing synthesisers?

Over the years, I’ve discovered a deep love for listening to horror movie scores, regardless of whether I love the film, and at the risk of sounding like a teenager wearing a ‘Normal People Scare Me’ T-shirt, I find a strange comfort in these albums. In the same vein that walking through graveyards can be bizarrely freeing, so enveloped by the idea of death and mortality that the fear starts to fade, listening to horror movie soundtracks can certainly put you in a specific state of mind, one that’s almost cinematic and deliciously dramatic.

Cleaning your dishes to the sound of Mica Levi’s Under the Skin score or John Carpenter’s Halloween is certain to get you in the zone, although I would best suggest doing so when it’s daylight outside; you don’t want to start getting paranoid.

I’ve returned to many soundtracks over and over, from the Ennio Morricone-heavy The Love Witch score to Broadcast’s Berberian Sound Studio, but one that I can never leave out from my regular rotation is an incredibly underrated collection of tracks which, coincidentally, served as inspiration for the latter.

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, scored by Luboš Fišer, is a strange film which explores the coming of age of its titular character, who encounters predatory men and vampire women. It’s surreal and suitably 1970s; that’s to say, a lot of what goes on in the film would not fly today.

The film has become somewhat of a cult favourite, though, and one of the reasons for it being so compelling is down to its score that will transport you to a world that feels both magical and sinister, where religion is tainted and violence and fear constantly bubble up from under the surface. 

While some tracks feature dramatic organs, others are much more whimsical, matching the folk horror element of the film; then there are moments when it feels like you’re listening to a slowly dying toy box, evoking a haunting aura undercutting sounds of innocence. As a film about a young girl’s initiation into the grim real world where men aren’t to be trusted, the soundtrack couldn’t be more appropriate.

Listen to ‘Disquiet’ for example, and you’ll find yourself swept into another world, almost Angela Carter-esque, where you can imagine yourself stumbling across a room where creepy dolls come to life, a liminal space where only this uncanniness exists. You’ve also got the tracks that make you feel as though you’re in a church, praying for your sanity, but brooding sounds almost always interject as brutal reminders that this isn’t a world built for easy navigation.

In my well-tested opinion, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders has one of the greatest horror soundtracks of all time, and it deserves its flowers for leaving you feeling wholly unsettled, as such tracks should. Perhaps don’t play it if you’re alone at night; we wouldn’t want you to feel paranoid within your four walls.

Related Topics