The Spookiest Surf Clip You’ll Watch This Week

Music is an absolute necessity for creating atmospheric tension during a film. Ever get really scared during an intense scene of a horror movie? Just plug your ears — almost all of the stomach-churning dread you’d been feeling will disappear.

Why does ominous music create such a visceral response for the viewer? Anthony Lacagnina, a neuroscientist at the Friedman Brain Institute explains, “We don’t like when frequencies clash. Sometimes spooky music will work by resembling sounds that trigger our fight-or-flight response. The brain responds to that by activating the brain areas that are going to be involved in protecting you.”

Music is responsible for an equal amount of atmosphere in surf films, of course. Dane Reynolds, CEO of Ch11 TV, is a master of scoring his cinema. Above, he dips into the realm of horror, laying screeching, eerie strings over a misty day at a thumping Ventura beachbreak. About as dark and thumping as Ventura gets, really.

Unfortunately, the ear-plugging trick doesn’t work when one of these closeouts is about to land on your head. Click above, and happy mindsurfing.