Composer & Songwriter
Tom Schraeder is an award-winning composer and songwriter whose work has become increasingly recognized within the horror and psychological thriller genres.
Schraeder’s path to scoring was anything but conventional. As a kid, he chased storytelling from every angle, writing scripts at a young age before music eventually took over. By sixteen, he was performing his first solo shows in Chicago, later touring internationally and sharing bills with artists such as Dawes, Jason Isbell, Kurt Vile, Justin Townes Earle, and John Doe of X.
In 2009, a conversation with Eddie Vedder shifted his perspective. Vedder’s advice to “record as much as you can” pushed Schraeder into a prolific period of songwriting, recording, and experimentation that would later shape his instincts as a film composer.
His breakthrough came with Bryan Bertino’s acclaimed The Dark and the Wicked (Shudder/IFC Midnight), which paired his haunting score and original songs with collaborations from Nels Cline (Wilco) and Mars Williams (The Psychedelic Furs). Variety described his closing theme “Darkness Stalls” as “an evocative country folksong with a Gothic streak.”
Schraeder’s latest work includes Paramount Pictures and Atlas Independent’s Vicious starring Dakota Fanning, featuring collaborations with Stan Harrison (David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen) and Clive Deamer (Portishead, Radiohead). His scores and original songs have been covered by The New York Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Consequence, earning him multiple Fangoria Chainsaw Award nominations and a Hollywood Music in Media Award nomination for Best Original Horror Score.
Today, Schraeder continues to build a body of work shaped by cinematic storytelling, emotional restraint, and a deep fascination with the psychological power of sound.