Bestiality is part of the material Morricone wrote for The Thing. Its reuse connects two worlds of isolation and suspicion, but the Smithers scene requires distinguishing between piano music and the score.
A composition predating the western
The music publisher Wise Music identifies Bestiality as Ennio Morricone music from The Thing, John Carpenter's 1982 film. Its use in The Hateful Eight does not make it a composition originally written for Tarantino. The credit should preserve that provenance, even if some later recordings present it as associated with the western 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 another life. That does not mean it is the same take used in the film mix, or that its release date is the date the music was created.
The Decca commercial 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 documented presence in the movie. The album selects and organizes material; it is not a complete inventory of every sound cue.
Warren's monologue should not get 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 performance with Silent Night is recognizable. Music guides place Bestiality in later moments of violence, including the aftermath of the poisoned coffee. That distinction should not be replaced by an association based solely on the piece's title.
The mistake is tempting because Warren's story is cruel and the name Bestiality seems to describe it. However, semantic fit does not prove synchronization. A title may suggest a scene to the reader without the corresponding music actually playing there. The identification must start from the credits and the mix, not from the coincidence between a word and disturbing content.
The interior 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 recognizable melody and what Warren is saying more uncomfortable. Confusing the two layers erases a central difference in the scene's sound design.
A link between enclosures that does not require identical monsters
The fact that it comes from The Thing invites comparison between isolated groups that do not know whom to trust. The musical borrowing can trigger that memory for anyone who recognizes the source. Anyone who does not can still experience its tension. The material's effectiveness does not depend on passing a film-culture test.
The similarity also does not make the dangers identical. The western does not need an extraterrestrial organism for the shelter to feel unsafe. Its occupants can lie, act together in secret, and use other people's everyday needs. The reused music takes part in that shift from an otherworldly threat to organized 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 difference in mind makes it possible to study the relationship with horror without attributing the Warren monologue to a composition just because its title seems to describe it.
Back to the The Hateful Eight guide.