The Phantom Creeps was a 12-chapter serial released by Universal Pictures in 1939, starring Bela Lugosi as the mad scientist Dr. Zorka. When I finally found this on DVD, I was startled by the familiarity of several of the themes on the sound track. It seemed that I had heard these themes all my life. Doing a little digging on the internet, I found that the sound track was made of "stock music" (stuff already composed for other movies). Although the movie itself lists no credits for the sound track, the IMDB lists Universal's famous group of sound track composers from that era: Franz Waxman, Charles Previn, Karl Hajos, Heinz Roemheld, Frank Skinner, and Clifford Vaughan.
I captured some of the themes and put them on this page in MP3 format. Do they sound familiar to you also? Many thanks to George Chastain, Tony LoBue, and Richard Bush for their help in identifying the composers and original movies! Email me if you have additional info. Thanks!
| Clip | Size | Composer | Original Movie | Description |
| Theme01a Theme01b Theme01c |
60KB 76KB 76KB |
Frank Skinner | Son of Frankenstein | Monster's Rampage |
| Theme02 | 145KB | Heinz Roemheld | Dracula's Daughter | Lilli arriving at the hospital |
| Theme03 | 120KB | Frank Skinner | Son of Frankenstein | Monster's Rampage |
| Theme04 | 166KB | Franz Waxman | Bride of Frankenstein | Entrance of Dr. Pretorius |
| Theme05 | 68KB | Karl Hajos | Werewolf of London | Leitmotiv |
| Theme06 | 148KB | Frank Skinner | Son of Frankenstein | Discovery of the Monster |
| Theme07 | 231KB | Franz Waxman | Bride of Frankenstein | Creation of the Bride |
| Fools | 39KB | script audio | The Phantom Creeps | Bela Lugosi (just for fun!) |
| Power | 32KB | script audio | The Phantom Creeps | Bela Lugosi (just for fun!) |
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