HALLOWEEN TAPE REVIEW #2: Thriller/Chiller Sound Effects

Title: Thriller/Chiller Sound Effects

Manufacturer: Fun World

Year: 1988

Total Runtime: 45 min

Repeats on both sides: Yes (and then some)

Stories: No

Music: Funeral march repeats multiple times

Narration: No

Distinct Audio: An innocent sounding cat meows several times followed by someone yelling “Boo!” There’s also a recurring ambulance siren.

Review: This tape was everywhere. I own four copies, though I only bought one of them on purpose. In the late 1980s a Faustian deal was struck with the biggest retail chains in the country. As a result, a Legion of these cassettes were produced and shoveled into stores across the nation. The upside to this is that Thriller/Chiller Sound Effects now stands as a great unifier among Halloween lovers. Sadly, it’s a low effort release by almost any standard.

When it comes to sound fidelity, Thriller/Chiller manages to sound both muffled and shrill. It’s like the audio is coming from a metal raccoon trap that’s buried under a pile of blankets. It warbles and reverberates like it’s a third or fourth generation dub. (I suppose it could be argued that the distorted qualities are welcome on a scary record.) But it’s unforgivable crime is that the tape consists of a single four minute track repeated over and over and over. Not only does it loop, the loops are out of sync. Eventually you hear the same track carelessly piled on top of itself three or four times, creating an echo chamber of buyer’s remorse.

The title is a cheap grab at the seminal, best-selling Halloween recording, Disney’s Thrilling Chilling Sounds of the Haunted House. I’m guessing it was a plot to get buyers to confuse the two. Fun World unleashed even more confusion when they used the same title for an entirely different album. To further complicate things, most of Thriller/Chiller’s effects also show up on a tape called Chamber of Horrors.

The cassette itself is made from the cheapest possible materials. There’s no plastic case, or illustration. The stickers fall off. Yet despite all its shortcomings, for many people this is the quintessential Halloween sound effects album because this is the one they bought— because it was everywhere.

Rating: 1 of 5