Today it seems nearly every horror movie features a score filled with shrieking guitars and industrial sludge. But there was a time -- the late ‘70s and ‘80s -- when filmmakers were more interested in making theaters sound like discotheques than Slipknot concerts.

While disco may be long dead, these horror film tracks live on, creeping us out even as they put the "thing" in "shaking your groove thing." Relive the gory, glory days with this list of 10 essential horror themes that make you want to get up and dance.

In no particular order:

"Devil Dance" -- Un' Ombra Nell'ombra (Satan's Wife) (1979). This track from Stelvio Cipriani's score to the relatively obscure Pier Carpi horror will certainly get a dancefloor moving, even if it probably falls into the category of prog-rock rather than disco,. If the jazzy opening keyboard doesn't stir something in your soul, you'll be hard-pressed to resist the spirit of the boogie when that same theme explodes into a kaleidoscope of different riffs.

"Amityville Frenzy" -- The Amityville Horror (1979). Although this track technically was only on the soundtrack LP and not used in the film itself, Lalo Schifrin himself arranged this disco version of his own theme. Featuring an ominous electronic bass line, disembodied, dreamlike choruses and church bells that signal dancefloor doom, the track will scare you out of your pants before you even have a chance to dance them off.

"Main Title" -- Zombi 2 (1979). Fabio Frizzi makes our list twice thanks to his amazing electronic artistry, starting with the iconic title theme from the best movie ever to feature both zombies and sharks. The track would be a contender even if it only featured that driving drumbeat and vacillating bass line, but Frizzi adds symphonic flourishes and a creepy chorus in order to bring any dead dancefloor back to life.

"Halloween Theme" -- Halloween II (1981). John Carpenter has made enough memorable scores to earn a Top Ten list of his own, but it's this alternate arrangement of perhaps his most famous that turned Halloween parties into hellraisers. Working with Alan Howarth, Carpenter uses synthesizers to first introduce the iconic bass line, and then leaps headlong into the full theme, which sounds sinister but is also great for ass shaking.

"NYC Main Title" -- Cannibal Ferox (1981). Fabio Frizzi's second contribution to our collection is probably the most conventional cut to make the list; indeed, it could be mistaken for any other classic dance track. Blasting horns give the track a certain kind of malevolent urgency, while an elastic bass line and all sorts of oddball sound effects make it feel like the unholy combination of the Charlie's Angels theme and, well, the soundtrack to a movie about cannibals.

"The Theme From Friday the 13th Part 3" -- Friday the 13th: Part 3 (1982). One of the most famous movie-related disco themes this side of Saturday Night Fever, longtime Friday composer Harry Manfredini pairs up with Michael Zager (himself the composer of the minor disco hit "Let's All Chant") for this amazing introduction to the film's 3-D world. Although Manfredini's "ki-ki-ki" flourishes are overshadowed a bit by slightly overproduced synthesizer work, the track builds beautifully.

"Paul's Theme (Jogging Chase)" -- Cat People (1982). Of all the composers on this list, Giorgio Moroder is one of the few with disco roots, a true pioneer of the genre who worked early on with legends like Donna Summer. Director Paul Schrader may have been more interested in the psychosexual dimensions of this horror remake, but Moroder gives it both sex and suspense, chugging along on a guitar and drum-driven beat as synthesizers ebb and flow.

"Tenebre" – Tenebre (1982). Prog-rock act Goblin is no stranger to horror soundtracks, having done dozens in the ‘70s, but during their electronic period they never surpassed this terrifyingly awesome title theme from what many argue is also one of writer-director Dario Argento's last great films. Sampled recently by Justice, the track is built on a seeming doo-wop vocal that was processed through some sort of evil computer. Its percussive excesses make it truly epic, building to amazing crescendos as operatic keyboards, organs and other instruments cascade down around the listener like light reflecting from a disco ball.

"Demon" -- Demons (1985). In addition to his film scores with the other members of Goblin, Claudio Simonetti worked in Italian disco throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, carving a successful niche as a purveyor of electronic thrills. The opening theme to Lamberto Bava's 1985 horror movie is a study in slow-burn suspense, thanks to a midtempo disco beat and a repetitive keyboard melody, punctuated by industrial noises.

"Title Theme" -- Return of the Living Dead (1985). The irony of this track's inclusion is the fact that other than the film's one or two score cues, the remainder of its music isn't disco but its pop-culture replacement, punk rock. But SSQ takes more than a few cues from the playbook of people like Simonetti and Frizzi, assembling a collection of creepy sounds that offer the promise of impending doom – that is, if you don't get out on the dancefloor.