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"Psycho" Strings - TV Tropes

️Fri Feb 29 2008

For added atmosphere, play this full "Psycho" Strings while reading on.

A common audio cue used when you want to establish that something or someone is deeply insane, evil, or unnatural, but the Ominous Latin Chanting is off on vacation: a series of sharp, screeching notes on any string instrument. Sometimes this is paired with the Vertigo Effect. When done on strings, like in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, it is frequently used by three short, fast bow strokes below the bridge — the wooden piece that holds the strings up — of a cello.^note

In most horror movies, if it's not strings, it's probably a waterphone.

Usually part of a "Psycho" Shower Murder Parody. See also Scare Chord and Drone of Dread for the deeper pitched cousin. Compare Orchestral Bombing and Playing the Heart Strings for string music that's dark in different ways.

And yes, this is a variety of sting, or a sharp musical note played to enhance drama.

Examples:

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Anime & Manga

Done in Berserk when Griffith is being particularly creepy to others (Charlotte and Casca) or when he is found emaciated and desecrated after his year long torture.
The entire shower scene is parodied in Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei, strings and all. It only serves to make Fuura Kafuka even creepier, too—while the stabber changes between every shot (Bruce Lee, Freddy Krueger, and the Drunken Master to name a few), it's Kafuka we see dashing around the corner out of the bathroom.
Used in the first episode of Slayers when the Black Dragon attacks.
Used alot in Ghost Stories, with the episode 11 dub lampshading it.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood's track "Tribute to W.C. 1", used near the end when Greed attacks Father in a last-ditch attempt to stop the countrywide transmutation circle.
Used in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya when the SOS Brigade discovers their host stabbed to death on the island. It also makes up the majority of Asakura's theme music.
Neon Genesis Evangelion has the tracks "EVA-00", "THE BEAST" and "The End of Midsummer."
Used in a parody of the Psycho shower scene in Digimon Frontier just as Izumi is about to change into a swimsuit. Interestingly, it doesn't appear to be any more than an excuse to have her scream, alerting the rest of teh Five-Man Band.
Done with Escargoon and Dedede in episode 47 of Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, in a "Psycho" Shower Murder Parody scene.
Yuki Kajiura's composition of the The Garden of Sinners OST used this trope to great effects, it is most prominent in the OST of Episode 5 Paradox Spiral.
The Kowaina summoning theme from Yes! Pretty Cure 5 has this on spades.
Used several times in Kaguya-sama: Love Is War with the song "Help Me", usually when Kaguya is scaring Ishigami.
The Aion's Ambition of Chrono Crusade Gospel II Original Soundtrack
One Piece: The recurring track "Duel That Defies Description", which debuted in Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island where it accompanied a horrifying Wham Shot. In the anime, it similarly plays whenever something makes the Straw Hats freeze and stare in horror, such as more Wham Shots or when a villain says something particularly psychopathic.

Films — Animation

Finding Nemo, when Darla arrives.
During the song "Be Prepared" from The Lion King (1994), what appears to sound like this trope is actually made of hyenas giggling.
Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee
Played for Laughs in one scene of Monsters, Inc. when Sulley finds out Boo had followed him to the locker room.
In Turning Red, this is combined with a Drone of Dread and a Scare Chord for the sequence where Mei discovers her mother is spying on her at school.
The Wind in the Willows (1983) uses waterphone screeches to augment the horror atmosphere during the Wild Wood sequence.

Films — Live-Action

Alien features Psycho Strings-themed music from composer Jerry Goldsmith in the third act, when Ripley, Parker and Lambert have decided to evacuate the Nostromo on the emergency shuttle. Parker and Lambert split from Ripley to obtain life support supplies for the shuttle, and the alien corners them. The Strings play most prominently when the alien turns slowly toward the petrified Lambert, its head and arm silhouetted against the emergency lighting. The track is called "Parker's Death".
Used in Attack of the Clones, when Anakin Skywalker attacks the Sand People who killed his mother Shmi.
Bad Reputation uses this whenever it's leading up to Michelle making a kill on one of her tormentors.
Used in Bean upon the revelation that the industrial solvent that the title character used to remove an ink stain he accidentally left on Whistler's Mother is also starting to dissolve the paint underneath.
Done in Big Fat Liar when Marty Wolf realizes that his skin and hair have been dyed blue and orange, respectively.
In Blood Drips Heavily on Newsies Square, the famous theme plays when Ivan is butchered with a knife and the killer washes it off in the sink.
The background music for Cabin Fever features a motif that uses double beats of a creepy string note, adding a sinister undertone to a passionate sex scene. The music cue and dialogue during the scene suggest that one of the characters is passing the deadly disease to their one-time lover. This is later revealed to be true.
The very same strings are used whenever Carrie (1976) uses her telekinetic powers.
Used in Daddy Day Care when Max "misses".
The Joker's signature theme in The Dark Knight, "Why So Serious?" is built up of this. The best example is probably in the interrogation scene, where upon Joker's revelation that both Dent and Rachel have been kidnapped, the music begins, and comes to a climax where the Joker laughs manically at Batman's attempts to force details out of him.
Used in Django Unchained when John Brittle is about to whip a slave, before Django confronts him.
To be heard in Dressed to Kill right after the hooker picks up the razor blade from the elevator floor.
The track The Clash of Lightsabers in The Empire Strikes Back plays when Luke meets Darth Vader in the bowels of Cloud City. As Luke finally catches sight of Vader, the Imperial March plays slowly and ponderously. The string section doesn't shriek as in most cases, but in a counterpoint to the low horns of the March they skitter in a rising panic.
In Mel Brooks Hitchcock spoof High Anxiety, the Psycho shower scene parody uses the shrill cries of an angry bellhop in place of the strings: "Here! Here's your paper! Here's your lousy, stinking paper! Happy now?"
Thorndyke: That kid gets no tip...
Used in Kill Bill Vol. I. Said piece, "Twisted Nerve", is also by Bernard Herrmann.
A similar-sounding variation of the shrieking violins plays several times in Maximum Overdrive when the machines are trying to kill someone. But then, considering the nature of the movie and the fact that it's a "horror" movie that's not scary at all, the "Psycho" Strings come across as sort of a Large Ham.
In Clive Barker's Nightbreed, the psychotic serial killer Dr. Decker is accompanied by a creepy string-based theme designed to unsettle the viewer during his first major knife-wielding appearance.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles when Neal discovers what Del did to the bathroom, and that he had been washing his face in the water Del was using to soak his socks.
Used famously in (duh) Psycho. Alfred Hitchcock supposedly wanted the murder scene to be totally silent, but film composer Bernard Herrmann had a better idea.
A Pure Formality: The opening music.
Saw II: The soundtrack that plays during Amanda's struggle in the Needle Pit once she gets up features a squeaky string melody prominently, although not over its whole length.
The Shining uses excerpts of Pendrecki's Utrenja as well as material by Bela Bartok and Gyorgy Ligeti.
Spencer: Diana's moments of discomfort and mental instability are accented with a sharp string score.
A comical variation is used as the Leitmotif for Iggy and Spike in the Super Mario Bros. (1993) movie.
Terminator:
- The first film has a squeaky violin motif when the T-800 is moving in for the kill.
- This is more along the lines of Psycho Synths, but in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, that note they play whenever the T-1000 is bearing down relentlessly on someone and it gets faster and more intense the closer he gets.
The soundtrack for There Will Be Blood.
Us uses a unique version in that its high musical screeches are actually the melody from Luniz's "I Got 5 on It" played higher.
In Wayne's World, Garth screeches "Reeee! Reeee! Reeee!" as he's "killing" Mr. Donut-Head Man. They also show up (underneath some of the band music) when his ex-girlfriend Stacy shows up at the Gasworks.
Part of Magneto's Leitmotif in X-Men: First Class.

Live-Action TV

American Horror Story: Murder House uses the actual Psycho Strings as Maria is stabbed in the back to death at the end of the flashback in 'Home Invasion'.
Used in the Nickelodeon "Attack Of The Giant Vulture" short when the vulture bursts through the title card and tries to eat the girl at the beginning.
Used in Babylon 5 when Lyta uses her abilities to perform a Psychic-Assisted Suicide on a Drazi.
These appear in an episode of Castle.
Doctor Who:
- In the new series, whereas the Daleks get the Ominous Hebrew Chanting, the Cybermen get the Psycho Strings. The same sound effect was used for the Family of Blood. And in the classic series, the Daleks get the Psycho Bleeps.
- Also in the revived series, the Master gets his own distinctive "Psycho" Strings theme, which is four loud drum beats.
- As does Davros, which is actually a re-arrangement of the Midnight monster's theme.
- The Weeping Angels' Leitmotif is nothing but Psycho Strings.
- Craig Owens' baby son Alfie (sorry: "Stormageddon: Dark Lord of All") also gets his own dramatic chord.
Fear Factor uses these during its three-episode Psycho special, filmed at the actual Bates Motel.
Friends: Chandler Bing accidentally got the top of his toe cut off to the sound of Psycho Strings. When he arrives at the hospital, a carrot top was brought instead.
In Season 6 of Game of Thrones, Cersei gets her own theme, and the cello often pops up whenever she does something particularly villainous. It first appears as part of "Light of the Seven", and returns in "Hear Me Roar", "The Long Farewell", and "No One Walks Away from Me".
Tends to appear in Gotham whenever Oswald Cobblepot gets mad.
In the Hogfather tv series, these form the leitmotif for Psycho for Hire Jonathan Teatime.
Interview with the Vampire (2022):
Pick any episode of Lost.
- The whole soundtrack, really.
The ridiculously awesome extended version of Lord Zedd's Theme from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
Happens twice in one episode of Mrs. Brown's Boys. Although, as soon as it's over, she walks to the door, and yells at the violin players standing right there to PISS OFF!
Mystery Diagnosis often pulls this off when the subject of the current segue experiences a new and terrifying syndrome, usually one which puts them at risk of imminent death. A related 'plonk' stock sound is often played as well for emphasising the confusion some of the patients and subjects experience when witnessing symptoms, be it those of their own or someone close to them.
The Nanny: Played for Laughs in one episode when Maxwell, suffering from a hangover and unable to take the small noises at the breakfast table, sees Fran come in and about to speak, the strings playing as the camera pans in on her mouth.
Lampshaded in an episode of Parker Lewis Can't Lose: A man in a trenchcoat looks at a journal saying "The Chameleon escapes!", then orders a string quartet (which wasn't there before) to play a chilly music.
In Pee-wee's Playhouse: "I'm going door to door, to make you this incredible offer..." (AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! Ha ha!)
That '70s Show: It happens in "Water Tower", after Eric tells Laurie he witnessed their parents having sex.
The X-Files uses a rather ominous violin-string plucking number in scary scenes — usually when the Monster of the Week is stalking (and then killing) its victims.

Music

Parts of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia".
The opening of Krzystof Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (written in 1960) may be an inspiration: all fifty-two string players are instructed to play "the highest note on the instrument" as loudly as possible, producing a very harsh and grating high-pitched tone cluster which sounds a bit like a scream. (Its relation to the subject matter is actually purely incidental; Penderecki originally intended to call the piece simply 8'37", but once he heard the song performed, he "was struck by the emotional charge of the work ... I searched for associations and, in the end, I decided to dedicate it to the Hiroshima victims." He also figured a memorial to the victims of American nuclear bombs would be more likely to be accepted by the government of Poland as more in line with their Social Realist artistic policies.)
- Serial music in general can sound really weird. Anton Webern's Fünf Sätze could easily be included in a survival horror soundtrack.
- György Ligeti's music, which is also serial in nature, utilizes a similar method in his Atmospheres, where the string players play every chromatic note over five octaves at once. That's 60 notes. This is the largest tone cluster ever written in a serious piece. Then things get weird when the string players start using microtones.
- There's also George Crumb, and his famous piece, Black Angels, the introductort section of which, which is titled "Night of the Electric Insects," literally makes you feel like there are bugs crawling all over your skin. It was used very effectively in soundtrack of The Exorcist.
- Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring has these in some movements as well.
"Gimme Some More" by Busta Rhymes offers a variation to the trope; although it prominently uses Psycho Strings, it more specifically samples the opening theme strings rather than those from the shower scene.
Sonata Arctica use this at one point in "Juliet".
Avant-garde metal band Unexpect use Psycho Strings a lot, but most notably on "Silence 011010701".
In Gawr Gura's track "REFLECT", some very faint tense strings can be heard underlining Gura chanting "tsurai, tsurai, tsurai, tsurai".
"O Green World" by Gorillaz opens with a sort of deranged banjo-plucking solo. The entire song may be a deliberate Shout-Out to Alfred Hitchcock, as you also hear crows screeching throughout the instrumental portions of the track.
"Opheliac" - the album, not the song - by Emilie Autumn is full of creepy notes on electric violin.
The Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich was fond of using these for political commentary. For instance, the Party-mandated Fifth Symphony's grandiose, triumphant finale is rather undermined by the string section sawing away in the background, rendering the whole thing rather hollow, creepy, and artificial. Not that anybody important noticed.
Kraftwerk's "Mitternacht" from the flip side of Autobahn uses electronically distorted violin to terrifying effect.
The intro track to Sepultura's Schizophrenia album features this.
In Johann Sebastian Bach's cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden (BWV 4) the 3rd movement contains a series of 11 very sharp chords played on a solo violin.
Appears in Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire" when Billy sings "Psycho".
Knife Party's "Internet Friends" breaks into these immediately after that line. Never block a Yandere on Facebook.
"Delilah" by Tom Jones opens with sharp repeating strings that evoke this. A fitting choice for a song about a man driven to murder his cheating lover.
Distressed violin notes are part Stream of Passion's Signature Style. For instance, the passage that opens "Monster" creates a feeling of anxiety.
Naturally, "Slasher" by Aviators features pairs of stings as a recurring motif.
Aerosmith's "Janie's Got a Gun", a song about a girl putting an end to her sexually-abusive father, features sharp violin riffs in each chorus.
Used fittingly enough in the bridge of Ice Nine Kills' Psycho-inspired song "The Shower Scene".
Coolio's "Gangstas Paradise" sets the stabbing on-beat strings over a hip-hop beat.
An unusual variant or subversion in The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby", which, per their producer George Martin, who wrote the string arrangement, was explicitly inspired by Bernard Herrman's score for Psycho, hence the strings consisting largely of staccato chords. It's a lot more melodic and less unsettling than most examples in this list, but once you hear it, you can't unhear it.

Pinball

In WHO dunnit (1995), a case involving the murder of a female character will sometimes begin with a shower murder scene that's accompanied by a direct replica of Psycho's string music.

Puppet Shows

Tweenies: Heard in "Dirty Hands" when Fizz finds her cushion covered in Milo's dirty handprints. Cue Screaming Woman.

Pro Wrestling

Not surprisingly, this was included in Sycho Sid's entrance music.

Tabletop Games

They Came From Beyond The Grave, a game deeply immersed in the tropes of its chosen horror subgenre, goes so far as to make the quote for the "Slasher" monster just a reference to "high-pitched violin screeching".

Theatre

Used in many songs in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, "Epiphany" in particular.
The Reduced Shakespeare Company uses "Psycho" Strings as the music cue for Hamlet stabbing Polonius.
Richard Strauss's opera Salome uses an effect of this sort as Salome is listening for Jokanaan's death cry. The short sharp sound, made by double basses playing far higher than their usual range, is meant, according to the composer's footnote, to "resemble the stifled moans and groans of a woman."
Hinted at in the song "Oh The Thinks You Can Think," played in recent productions of Seussical The Musical, in which the audience is invited to "Think of something horrible and hairy, something sinister and scary that you've never dared to think of before!" Cue "Psycho" Strings (big solo for second keyboardist).
In Heathers, high-pitched violins and electric guitar are often played in the background of J.D.'s songs and dialogue, specifically in his "that school was society" rant towards the end.

Theme Parks

At Universal Studios:
- In Special Effects Show, when the hosts pretend to drive a knife through one of the volunteers' arm, music from Psycho is played.
- Can faintly be heard in Shrek 4D when a spider comes down in front of Donkey, likely in reference to the Alfred Hitchcock attraction it replaced.

Video Games

Aside from the scare chords that accompany some xenomorph encounters, Aliens Versuss Predator 1999 uses Psycho Strings in parts of its rarely-played soundtrack.
Assassin's Creed:
The Banjo-Kazooie games remix the music depending on where you are in a level. When you're, say, very, very deep underwater, strings of this ilk kick in, to sometimes unsettling effect.
Used liberally in Batman: Arkham Asylum, especially during the Scarecrow encounter. It's even played for laughs once. In the beginning, as the Joker is wheeled through Arkham, a doctor looks over the Joker. The Joker suddenly goes "BOO" accompanied by a scare chord, and scares the poor doctor shitless as he starts laughing. Quite funny the first time it happens.
A lot of BioShock's music uses violins to represent madness, such as in Doctor Steinman's battle theme.
In BioShock Infinite, violins play whenever Booker manages to pull off a Melee Finisher. In addition, the Songbird's Theme incorporates a lot of very sudden strings.
BUP 64: A stock sound-effect of these types of violin strings plays when you get Jump Scared by Toad in the first level, and when you get chased by the Toad monster in the second.
Celeste (2018) has a terrifying electronic strings piece appropriately titled "Anxiety" when Madeline and Theo get stuck on a cable car. The beginning and end of "In the Mirror" use similarly shrill synth strings.
Clock Tower: The First Fear has it in some of the times Jennifer goes into panic mode or discovers something, examples including when strangled by her reflection in the mirror, when seeing blood come out of the sink, when finding Laura's body, either in her shower or armor deaths, seeing the zombie in the closet, and so on.
The SNES/Genesis adaptation of Clue uses this as the motif for the knife.
The track "A Deadly Monster or...?" from Code:Realize features them.
If Laura Bow has a shower in The Colonel's Bequest, and she gets killed for it.
- Also occurs in the second game, The Dagger of Amon Ra, whenever she finds the corpse of a murder victim.
- The second game also has it as the first thing you hear while Laura is chased by the killer.
In Conker's Bad Fur Day the music for "Frying Tonight" sounds like a track mostly composed of this.
In Dawn of War and its expansion packs have strings build up as an Aspiring Champion, Chaos Lord, or Chaos Sorcerer floats up into the air as Chaos energies swirl around them before slamming back onto the ground as a Bloodthirster of Khone appears in realspace.
"Purge the Xenos Scum" from the Dawn of War 2 soundtrack (usually played during defensive missions when you have to hold the line against waves of enemies).
In Deadly Premonition, Psycho Strings are widely used.
Dead Space 2: The climactic section of "Lacrimosa" is a textbook horrifying example of aleatoric strings techniques, namely high-pitched glissandos, tremolos, and slow pitch bends played at ear-splitting volume, a la the aforementioned "Threnody For The Victims of Hiroshima".
Doom series:
- Doom (1993):
- Doom II has the title screen's music, contrasting the upbeat rock music heard in the first game's title screen.
You can hear it sometimes in the ambient background music while in the Fade in Dragon Age: Origins.
Used throughout Drakengard to great effect. The composer favored repeated "Psycho" Strings to set the mood in some cutscenes and even in normal gameplay, to the point of making combat feel like you're on the monster's side of a fantasy slasher flick.
Evadare - Full Stop Punctuation: Two characters, Chase and Habdaey, have this as their sound, but Chase's sound is very low-pitched, though it is still fast-paced like the typical psycho strings. Habadaey's sound is still the typical psycho strings.
The music played in X-8 in Eversion is basically just this, with the occasional drum sound in the background.
- Also, it ends with a Last Note Nightmare.
Used often in the First Encounter Assault Recon games whenever Alma appears, along with other scare events. At least one soundtrack piece uses a waterphone.
The opening of "One Winged Angel" from Final Fantasy VII, as well as Exdeath's theme from Final Fantasy V.
In Final Fantasy XIV, you have "Unworthy", the theme that plays during the last section of the "Steps of Faith" trial. This theme carries with it an unholy sense of urgency, as Vishap, a gargantuan dragon, is reaching the gates of Ishgard, with the organ, violins (via screeching notes), percussions and an eerie woman wail all coming together to make the player realize that if they don't stop the dragon fast, it is game over. You will never hear it in-game nowadays, as the trial has been nerfed to oblivion, making it impossible to hear this theme anymore.
Friday Night Funkin' features these as a recurring riff in the song 'Spookeez', fitting with the Halloween aesthetic of the week.
In Grandia II, the establishing music for Selene is a flute melody which degenerates into dissonant violins. It can be heard during the second part of "The Broken Seal" theme (OST).
Grim Fandango: Used a few times, including when Chepito reveals the Demons of the Deep.
Halo:
Heroes of Might and Magic III.
In Hollow Knight, the Deepnest ambience mainly consists of atonal violin squeaks. The Forgotten Crossroads/Deepnest Battle Theme Music also uses this.
The In the Groove song "Determinator".
Surprisingly, this shows up in Katawa Shoujo. The piece is called "High Tension", and the first time you hear it, it is seriously unnerving. It comes right the hell out of nowhere and it's not he sort of thing you've expect out of a game like Katawa Shoujo.
Although not in the game, League of Legends' has one in one YouTube ad, when the guy with the "Download Now!" booth bursts into the the gamer's living room.
All the bacteria in Left 4 Dead. Can be heard here. Also, the main and horde themes for "Swamp Fever" campaign from the sequel.
The Legend of Zelda:
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: The Cave and Dark World Dungeon themes use this to emphasize their thematic danger and (in the latter's associated areas) foreboding atmosphere.
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: The game is fittingly fond of these, being used in many tracks, notably in all of the main villain's themes, and the title opening (which has a Last Note Nightmare).
- The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks:
  - The music that plays when you meet the Dark/Armored Trains, to great effect.
  - Chancellor Cole's Leitmotif, which fits his deranged personality and malice.
  - The Battle Theme Music for Rocktite incorporates this via Variable Mix, as it transitions into Psycho Strings as the monster gradually approaches the Spirit Train.
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: The "Guardians Awaken" theme, which is heard when Link accidentally draws the Guardians' attention while collecting Sacred Tears in the Silent Realm.
Mass Effect 2 uses this is in part of the Overlord DLC's boss music. It conveys an appropriate sense of panic for the circumstances.
The "Sniper's Last Stand" theme from Medal of Honor: Allied Assault.
According to Hideo Kojima himself, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was supposed to feature this at one point, with the source of the Psycho Strings actually just being a soldier playing the violin. The animation for this proved too troublesome for the time, so the idea was scrapped.
The Nightmare in Metroid: Other M gets these in its battle theme.
- The Omega Metroid battle theme from Metroid: Samus Returns also has these.
- In Metroid Prime: Hunters, Sylux's battle theme consists of high-pitched strings which actually use the "psycho note pattern" in some parts.
In Miitopia, these will play if a Mii sees their friend give another Mii a gift at the inn, or vice-versa if they see another Mii give their friend a gift. The same music will also play if a Mii that becomes a rumor subject or has another Mii do an impression of them overhears it.
Near the end of Myst III: Exile, Psycho-esque themes can be heard whenever Saavedro confronts you in Narayan. ''Let Me Go!" in particular uses several distorted violins and sharp brass stings when you stand in front of Saavedro instead of lowering the outer shield. It comes to a head if you piss him off too much, ending with Saavedro either clubbing you with his hammer or bashing you with the Releeshahn book.
Paper Mario: Color Splash: Psycho Strings are featured in the track "Straw of Doom".
PAYDAY 2: These play when you prepare a charged attack with the "Psycho Knife" melee weapon.
Pikmin 2: The theme for the battle against Titan Dweevil is full of this. In fact, the more parts you take off of him, the more intense the "Psycho" Strings get! Every single song (about to attack, [insert element here] attack, and so on) during this battle has these at some point.
Pokémon:
- In Pokémon Black and White, Gothitelle uses it as its Battle Cry.
- Dusknoir's battle theme from Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky.
- As well as Shadow Lugia's Battle Theme in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness.
Used in Molecular Clock from RayStorm, alongside theremin, doubling the creepy factor.
Used throughout the Resident Evil series, such as Tyrant's theme in the original, the Bandersnatch theme in Code Veronica, the Leech Zombie theme in 0, and the Neptune shark danger music in RE1 Remake. The Noche (night battle) music and Mendez's battle theme in Resident Evil 4 overlap this with Drone of Dread.
Used in various forms in the Silent Hill series. Sometimes it sounds like the aforementioned Psycho Waterphone. For example, in this clip. One piece in the first game sounds like bowed piano strings, and a variation is pitched an octave down, making it much scarier. Also used when Pyramid Head kills Maria in the hospital basement. And the first game's alley sequence uses psycho industrial percussion.
Dark ominous strings in Slender: The Arrival (coupled with unhuman growling) is a sign that The Chaser is lurking and will hunt you down. Once the fast, 'psycho' strings kick in, she has found you. And now you have to deal with her as well as the tall man himself.
The drowning music used throughout the Sonic the Hedgehog series.
Splatoon has every music track in each game's Salmon Run mode filled to the brim with discordant cello strings, which considering how the harder difficulties can leave you as the last one standing in a veritable sea of enemies raining down explosives and all focused on chasing down and destroying you and only you while your teammates desperately cry for help? Yeah, definitely justifies the tones of underlying horror.
Disturbing Psycho Strings are heard when nearing Horror Spectacles in Sunless Skies, accompanied by a blood red, pulsating tint on the corners of the screen. As if most of these Spectacles (Faith's Fall and the Grave of the Silent Saint particularly come to mind) weren't gruesome enough...
Terraria: The surface Corruption's theme uses these towards the end of the track, while the underground Corruption music has them at the beginning. The latter also has string sounds halfway through, but the tune is more melodic than psycho.
"Death Marshes", "Hive of the Mantids" and "Oblivion" from Turok 2. "Death Marshes" also uses "psycho trumpets".
Warhammer Online's music for Chaos-controlled areas uses these to full effect. To help things sound even more discordant and unnatural, the musicians played their instruments upside-down.

Webcomics

Western Animation

Arcane: Those affected by Shimmer usually have their grunts and yells underscored by a set of these, emphasizing the dehumanizing and unsettling effects the serum.
In Avatar: The Last Airbender, several of the scenes in the series finale, featuring Azula's Villainous Breakdown, are accompanied by these.
The Cartoons That Never Made It short "Frothy Dawg" features psycho strings playing when Frothy turns around to reveal his foaming mouth and frightens the father and son who were looking at him through the pet shop window.
Parodied in one episode of Dave the Barbarian. While doing spring cleaning with his enchanted broom Dusty, Dave sticks his head in the fire place and screams as piercing strings are heard, followed by him wrestling his head out and crashing into the wall.
In one episode of Dexter's Laboratory, the scene of trope was parodied with the Mom "murdering" the Dad while has was showering, minus the murder.
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends has a parodied take of this trope where Cheese opens up the shower curtain with Eduardo inside and...
Cheese: I! FOUND! A! CARROT! [Cheese proceeds to use the carrot like a knife, to no effect]
Garfield and Friends: These are used in the episode "Monday Misery", in which Garfield learns, to his dismay, that it's Monday, the day of the week that he hates most. These notes are used to trigger a parody of a horror movie trailer:
Announcer: From the people that brought YOU the terror of Wednesday and the horror of Friday...
Woman in trailer: [seeing kids get off a school bus] The kids will be home all weekend! AAAAAAGH!!
Announcer: ...comes the most horrifying, terrifying day ever, the day invented just to make the rest of the week seem good... MONDAY!
Gravity Falls:
- Invoked by Mabel when wielding the ax to Stan in "Headhunters". ("Wree! Wree! Wree!")
- Actual "Psycho" Strings appear in "Bottomless Pit!", accompanying Old Man McGucket's "HORRIFYIN' VOICE!".
Hazbin Hotel: In "Dad Beat Dad", when Lucifer sees Alastor acting chummy with Charlie by putting his hand on her shoulder, he stares in horror as sharp string notes play.
Heard twice in Invader Zim, once when an old lady throws up sawdust on GIR in "Door to Door", and again during one of Dib's crazy fits in "Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom".
Kim Possible does it twice, once with Bonnie taking a shower as a homage to Psycho's famous scene, and again when music from the film plays after Ron falls off his bike and water comes from his head.
The Legend of Korra does these for Eska's Woman Scorned moment. Then it's used whenever she unexpectedly enters Bolin's sight.
My Little Pony Tales: These are used in "Out of Luck" when Clover returns home and spots the teapot she believes is making her unlucky. They resurface later when the teapot is returned to the house again.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Heard in the episode "May the Best Pet Win" when Opal bares her claws at the beginning of the Guts test.
The Ren & Stimpy Show:
- In the episode "Stimpy's Fan Club", we see an insane Ren contemplate strangling a sleeping Stimpy. It's after he says the line "Just... one... twist!" when the Psycho Strings start to come into play.
- Also used in the episode "Haunted House" when Stimpy's taking a shower, in homage to Psycho.
Scared Shrekless: Donkey actually sings the Psycho Strings notes from Psycho when he narrates Puss in Boots being ambushed in the shower.
The Simpsons:
- Hilariously done in the episode "The Springfield Files", when Homer hears the strings from Psycho while lost in the woods... but it turns out to be an orchestra driving by on a bus.
- Used in "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge" of season two whenever Maggie attacks Homer with a mallet. Also combined with a "Psycho" Shower Murder Parody.
- Used in "The Bob Next Door" when Homer, Lisa, and Walt enter a room and find hundreds of pictures of Bart that have knives stabbed into them.
- Seen in "Homer The Smithers", when Homer sees he punched Mr. Burns unconscious in a fit of rage.
In the episode of South Park where Damien, the Antichrist and Son of Satan, arrives at South Park Elementary, and ultimately wants to fit in and be just another kid, his entrance is always presaged by an ominous choir singing a Latin phrase ending in Domine - "Lord".
SpongeBob SquarePants:
- Used in the episode "Bummer Vacation" in which SpongeBob's sitting in Patrick's house after being forced by Mr. Krabs to take a vacation and hiring Patrick as his temporary replacement. When Patrick finds him, SpongeBob looks (and acts) completely insane, complete with Psycho Strings.
- Used in the episode "Squeaky Boots" when Mr. Krabs goes insane with guilt after stealing rubber boots he gave to SpongeBob.
  - In case you were wondering which song it is, it's ''Killer Birds''. Thirty seconds of almost nothing but this trope and the orchestral chord at the end. Indeed, whenever it plays, you can expect moments of insanity from a given character.
In Star Wars: Clone Wars, General Grievous' nightmarish assault on the beleaguered Jedi is set to a mix of trumpets and "Psycho" Strings, proving that that possessing mastery of the force will still mean nothing in the face of shock-and-awe tactics and superior swordsmanship. And that Jedi are still very much capable of feeling absolute terror.
In Star Wars: The Clone Wars the main instrument in Ventress' leitmotif is a sinister sounding violin, emphasizing how dangerous and unpredictable she is.
Combined with a Drone of Dread in the Thomas & Friends episode "Ghost Train".