Bestiality belongs to the material Morricone wrote for The Thing. Its reuse connects two worlds of isolation and suspicion, but the Smithers scene requires distinguishing piano music from score.
A composition predating the western
The music publisher Wise Music identifies Bestiality as music by Ennio Morricone from The Thing, John Carpenter’s 1982 film. Its use in The Hateful Eight does not make it a composition written originally for Tarantino. The credit should preserve that provenance, even if some later recordings present it as associated with the western’s title.
The distinction between composition and recording is important. A concert performance or a new edition may carry the reference to The Hateful Eight because that film has given the piece a new life. That does not mean it is the same take used in the film mix, nor that its publication date is the date the music was created.
The commercial Decca album also does not contain all the music heard in the film. The absence of Bestiality from its main track list does not invalidate its credited presence in the film. The disc selects and arranges material; it is not a complete inventory of every sound intervention.
Warren’s monologue should not receive an automatic label
The attribution of Bestiality to the Warren monologue directed at Smithers is not sufficiently supported by the location documentation consulted. In that sequence Bob’s piano playing of Silent Night is recognisable. Music guides place Bestiality in later moments of violence, including the consequences of the poisoned coffee. That distinction should not be replaced by an association based solely on the piece’s title.
The error is tempting because Warren’s account is cruel and the name Bestiality seems to describe it. However, semantic fit does not prove synchronisation. A title may suggest a scene to the reader without the corresponding music actually playing there. Identification must start from the credits and the mix, not from the coincidence between a word and disturbing content.
The diegetic piano also serves a different function from music the characters do not hear. Its presence shares the space with the conversation and can make the coexistence between a recognisable melody and what Warren is saying more uncomfortable. Confusing both layers erases a central difference in the scene’s sound design.
A link between confinements that does not require identical monsters
The origin in The Thing encourages a comparison between isolated groups who do not know whom to trust. The musical borrowing can activate that memory for anyone who recognises the source. Anyone who does not know it may still experience its tension. The material’s effectiveness does not depend on passing a test of film culture.
The similarity also does not make the dangers identical. The western does not need an extraterrestrial organism for the refuge to be unsafe. Its occupants can lie, act together in secret and use other people’s everyday needs. The recovered music takes part in that shift from a threat of another nature towards organised human violence.
Bestiality should therefore be understood as an earlier piece reused within a soundtrack that combines new music and existing material. Its origin is firmly identified; its exact placement requires care. Keeping that distinction allows the relationship with horror to be studied without attributing Warren’s monologue to a composition simply because its title seems to describe it.
Back to the The Hateful Eight guide.