Title: Thriller Chiller Sound Effects (Frankenstein label)
Not to be confused with Fun World's first release of Thriller/Chiller Sound Effects
The CD release is called 55 Minute Horror Sounds
Manufacturer: Fun World
Year: Unknown (circa late 80s)
Total Runtime: 45 Minutes
Repeats on both sides: Yes. Also repeats within each side
Stories: No
Music: An all too short musical introduction and outro
Narration: No
Distinct Audio: The music. Also an extra loud rooster.
Also the phrase, "You've entered the wrong door...and you're not coming out alive"
Review: You know the song that says "This is Halloween, this is Halloween?" Well, that's how I feel about this tape. The opening theme blew me away the first time I heard it. It has a somber, Dark Ages quality, but it's been filtered through the charm of a Casio. To me, those minor notes capture a sense of mischief and mystery like nothing else. After the forty-nine second melody ended I immediately skimmed through the whole recording wanting more, but it only repeats again at the tail end.
As far as I can tell, the tune has no name, and there's no known writer or performer. It's as though the essence of the season was mystically forged onto magnetic tape. A couple years after I bought the album I heard the same music coming from a battery-operated jack-o-lantern in a Wal-Mart (back when it still had a dash in the name). It was another Fun World product, leading me to wonder if it originated with the company. As far as I'm concerned, this is the "Jingle Bells" of Halloween. If only I can convince my family to play it at my funeral.
No sound effects could live up to that musical intro in my mind, but there's a lot that I appreciate on Thriller Chiller. It opens with crickets, the universal night song that is surprisingly absent on the majority of Halloween tapes. Once a woodland setting is established, a series of terrors are ushered in. While the common practice is to thrust the listener into mayhem, Thriller Chiller rolls out the scares as though you're following a path and encountering each fright one by one. There's a loose "stormy, monster-infested forest" theme (Although that doesn't explain the recurring sound of high heels on a smooth floor.)
But that name— why would Fun World give a superior new recording the same name as their previous sound effects album— an album that used stolen audio from Horrible Sounds of Halloween which was stolen from Halloween Horrors. It's possible that they got into legal trouble. It's also possible that they just wanted to be able to use the packaging interchangeably...
My other theory is that Halloween sound effect tapes rank so low on the collective care-o-meter that nobody involved was willing to invest an extra shred of time or creativity. These albums are intended to be as ephemeral as the sticker on a rotten banana, or the cardboard you wrap around a disposable coffee cup to keep from burning your hand. Furthermore, understanding this fact of life is a healthy way of thinking that will prevent one from spending precious money on obsolete relics of yesteryear, or wasting hours listening to people who are now long retired, pretend to be monsters, or typing thousands of words that amount to a guessing game about what happened thirty years ago, with no real evidence to stand on. But that's just a theory.
Rating: 5 of 5
Oh boy! I love this tape...I had it on CD first, and got the tape later...however, I've got quite a shock for you...there...is...another...version...of Thriller/Chiller!
ReplyDeleteand...it's different than BOTH of these beautifully reviewed versions.
This version uses the orange label, but THIS TIME, it's a "brighter" orange, and comes in the new packaging (in fact, it's the same one you've got pictured here on the right side)
It's different...very different.I'll have to upload it here in a bit so you can hear it. It's a very strange tape.
I saw your mention of the other version on the Halloween forum. Do you think it's a legit release? Is that the one with the thicker text? Either way, I'm eager to see what you've got!
ReplyDeleteNope, the thicker text version, is just a badly edited version of tbe rip-off thriller/chiller. No THIS one is completely different with a different cassette casing, as well as different soundtrack! I'll upload tommorrow if I get the chance
ReplyDeleteI,ve been waiting to see if you reviewed this cassette!It's been in my possession for about 20 years now, and I think my first opinion of it was that it kinda sucked.I think I was spoiled by the great spooky albums I used to have in the 70's.This cassette has moved twice with me, and has been sitting on a media shelf in the living room of my current house for 15 years.My brother recently gifted me with a bunch of well preserved albums,including Pickwick's Sounds to make you Shiver,Disney's Haunted Mansion, and Pickwick's Monster Mash/Sounds of Terror,to name a few.That prompted me to give this cassete another try.This time around, it has a sentimental value,sounds from a time where I was younger,stronger, and more financially challenged.My copy is the orange labeled cassette,and while it has no listings on the cassette, somehow I know that the music was about a haunted forest.How could I know that,short of reading your article?There must have been something written on the cardboard backing, which is long gone.
ReplyDeleteNostalgiaKidd- Bring it on then!
ReplyDeleteHauntedheadful-
Thanks for sharing! I'm with you, it took some time for me to fully appreciate it. Comparing it to other releases really shows off it's strengths. The nostalgia factor is always hard to let go of. I got this one as an adult and it still managed to win me over.
I'm pretty sure the haunted forest theme is telepathically implanted on the listeners.
It's strange. I had a completely different version of this tape. It had the same Frankenstein/lightening bolt packaging, and the same black cassette tape with the same orange label that read "thriller/chiller". It was neither of the ones I heard on this site. The tape started with silence, then a LOUD, blood-curdling scream, followed by several more, then came one moan after another, and then a series of evil laughs. The tape was divided into sections that way, which was lame, but it was still one of the most terrifying Halloween albums I've heard. Some more details I remember are an evil, witchy sounding woman with an echo-ey voice saying "Coooome to meeee, little girl. Cooome tooo meeeeee.", Satanic-sounding chanting, someone being stabbed to death by an evil, laughing creature, Dracula saying something like "I'm going to drink your blood! Don't tremble! It will only hurt a bit." Followed by Igor saying "Oh master, I like this one!" Does anyone else remember this tape? Every time I see a picture of the packaging and the tape, I think I've found it, only to be disappointed.
ReplyDeletePLEASE SOMEONE HELP. THE VERSION I'VE HAD (AND STILL HAVE ARCHIVED) HAS DRIVEN ME CRAZY. I NEED TO FIND A RESTORED VERSION OF THIS. ALTHOUGH ITS DIFFERENT .
ReplyDeleteIT A 30 MINUTE BLACK CASSETTE
SIDE A
HAS A PICTURE OF A GREEN HOST WITH CHAINS
A STEREOTYPICAL HAUNTED HOUSE
THE TITLE SAYS
VOICES.SOUND.MUSIC-THE HAUNTING-A HORROR STORY
BASICALLY JUST REALISTIC SOUND EFFECTS
SIDE B
HAS A PICTURE OF A DRY TREE WITH A HANGING ROPE
AND A SKULL
THE TITLE SAYS
VOICES.SOUND.MUSIC-CHAMBER OF HORRORS
IT THE ONLY ONE OF ITS KIND AND PLAYS A MASH-UP OF
MICHAEL JACKSON'S THRILLER COMBINED WITH A CATCHY JAZZ SEGMENT
PLEASE ANYONE CAN HELP.
I HAVE THE THE TAPE BUT NO INFO AND IT HAS DRIVING ME CRAZY ALL MY LIFE.
I know what you're talking about. It's talked about on this blog.
ReplyDeletehttps://secretfunspot.blogspot.com/2017/10/halloween-tape-review-8-chamber-of.html
I have an MP3 copy. Pretty good quality. I don't remember where I found it, but someone provided a link on Halloween Forum, which I found from a link given in the blog post I linked above.
https://www.halloweenforum.com/threads/the-haunting-chamber-of-horrors-cassette-1988.78048/
Dinosaur1972 is the poster. Click their link. I know it's The Haunting part at least. I don't know if it's the same place I got mine, so if it's not both sides of the tape or not great quality I can send you my copy.
Send me yours because the link you gave me says "LINK REQUEST INVALID"
ReplyDeleteUnknown, try cutting/pasting the link because it does work. I deleted your rude comment. No need to be that way when someone's trying to help you.
ReplyDeleteOh my f-ing god.
ReplyDeleteyou must be enjoying this..
Let me see if I can put it in a way you can understand.
Ready???
1. YOU SENT ME A LINK TO WHAT YOU CLAIM IS A WAY TO DOWNLOAD AN MP3 COPY OF
THE RECORDING. YOU WROTE THE FOLLOWING....
https://www.halloweenforum.com/threads/the-haunting-chamber-of-horrors-cassette-1988.78048/
2. I COPY AND PASTED THE LINK
3. IT TOOK ME TO A WEBSITE WHERE IT TALKS ABOUT THE CASSETTE.
4. I LOOKED FOR MR. DINOSAUR LIKE YOU TOLD ME. I FOUND IT. AT THIS POINT I FELT LIKE I WAS FOLLOWING A TREASURE MAP. WITH THE AMOUNT OF GLEE THAT I HAD, THINKING I WAS FINALLY GOING TO HAVE THAT RECORDING ONCE AGAIN.
MY GLEE QUICKLY TURNED INTO DISAPPOINTMENT WHEN I CLICKED ON HIS TEXT THAT READ
"HERE'S WHAT I HAVE"
THE TEXT TOOK ME TO ANOTHER SITE THAT NOW I FEEL MY COMPUTER IS IN DANGER OF GETTING WHAT I CALL "WEB HIV", AFTER SEEING WHAT LOOKED LIKE CLOSE TO NAKED ANIMATED FEMALES PROMOTING SOME VIDEO GAME THAT YOU SHOULD NOT AND I QUOTE,
"TELL YOUR WIFE ABOUT THIS VIDEO GAME"
AS I TRIED IGNORING THE OFFENSIVE CLOSE TO PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGERY, I CLICKED ON A BUTTON THAT HAD THE CASSETTE TITLE AND THE WORDS "DOWNLOAD ZIP FOLDER".
THEN IT TOOK ME TO AN ERROR PAGE THAT SAID SOMETHING ABOUT NOT BEING ABLE TO DOWNLOAD THE FILE.
YES. I TRIED IT SEVERAL TIMES. I EVEN TRIED IT USING THAT INFERNAL WINDOWS INTERNET EXPLORER BASED ON SIMILAR PAST EXPERIENCES WHERE CHROME FAILS AND I HAVE TO USE THE WINDOWS VERSION.
THEY BOTH SAID THE SAME THING.
HOWEVER, YOU ARE CORRECT. I SHOULD APOLOGIZE FOR THAT COMMENT. IT WAS MY FAULT. I SHOULD NOT HAVE TRUSTED ANYONE ON THE INTERNET.
THANK YOU FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE ME ON THIS QUEST OF FINDING THIS LOST AUDIO CASSETTE.
In firefox, I just checked the "here is what I have" link it took me straight to mediafire. No sketchy ads. (maybe I have an adblock on or something) There's a big green button that says download. clicked it and I've got the Haunting zip file. I don't know what the issue is with your computer.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, I completely forgot I even posted about the tape you wanted. I only come back here once in a while to see if anyone answered my question. If you shoot me an email I will probably check that sooner than here. Then I can send it directly to you. Put CHAMBER OF HORRORS HALLOWEEN TAPE or such as the subject and I will see you through all the junk mail. I don't mean to be inconvenient and would like to help.
ReplyDeletebktwilightzone@gmail.com
As for the tape I'm after, someone else on Halloween Forum had that as well, but the quality is awful and glitchy. It's the only evidence I've found that the version of Thriller/Chiller I remember did in fact exist.
https://www.halloweenforum.com/threads/thriller-chiller-sound-effects-fun-world-9309.77981/
The user SinisterClown linked it. Finding a higher quality recording of it would be awesome. I'm very fond of that version of Thriller/Chiller.
HOLY CRAP, I HAD THIS TAPE! I used to decorate the front porch of my childhood home for Halloween each year when I felt that I had become too old for trick-or-treating, and this was the tape I used for sound effects. I think I picked it up at a cheap dollar store, and I'd have it playing on a boom box that I had stashed in the darkened far corner of the porch. So many memories, particularly of having to go and flip the tape over every hour when it reached its end.
ReplyDeleteTHIS! This was the very first Halloween tape I have ever gotten. I remember it was 1998 I was 12 and I went into Rite Aid and bought it and I would play with my cousins in the dark playing hide and go seek with this playing in the background. We would run to each room before another monster came out it was like a trail. And by the end of the tape when that music will come on we knew we survived. When children had imaginations. I just purchased mine again and I got it today in the mail. The memories.
ReplyDelete