by Peter Nielsen

Those of you who know me, or are long-time listeners to the Forgotten Flix Podcast, know I like to go for long walks. Preferably at night!

I usually listen to different podcasts during these walks, but I do occasionally listen to music too. Most often it’s nothing upbeat or anything like what many people listen to while exercising. No, I tend to lean more towards something a little bit slower and darker. Many times I listen to soundtracks and musical scores from horror movies. In fact, I love listening to these, and the closer we get to Halloween, the more frequently I do.

I was recently asked if I wanted to listen to and write a little bit about an album suitable for this season. I said: “Yeah, sure! That might be fun!” It was for an album titled Welcome to the Horror Show: Haunt Music for Halloween by Sam Haynes. The cover looked cool and title sounded promising, so I dove right into it…

As I stated earlier, I sometimes like darker stuff and horror soundtracks, and Welcome to the Horror Show was, as it turned out, a combination of both.

As soon as the first track “All Hallows“ started, my mind was immediately drawn into some sort of twisted nightmare setting. If you’re out walking around in a dark and fairly empty town like me, that’s actually pretty creepy.

The entire album is very atmospheric and Sam Haynes takes you on a dark, musical journey through titles such as “Scarecrows”, “Doll House”, “Ghost Train” and ‘Midnight at the Funhouse”.

It’s a nice blend of a classic 80s, electronic, John Carpenter-style score. And yes, I say ‘score’ because this music would fit perfectly in any horror movie. Just listening to it paints pictures in your mind of long, dark hallways, or abandoned carnivals, or echoing woods. As you listen, you’ll unwittingly start to look behind you and think,

“Wait? What is that? Is that a shadow in that window? And what the hell is that lurking behind those trees?”

This album would be perfect to use as background music for any home haunt, be it big or small, private or professional. Even some of the more up-tempo tunes like “Zombie”, “Halloween Night”, or “Ghost House”, have an underlying creepiness to them that makes you uneasy. I believe that’s what Sam Haynes was aiming for. Well that, and making a damn good album, of course!

So, if you like classic, electronic, horror scores from the 70s and 80s, chances are you’ll like Welcome to the Horror Show: Haunt Music for Halloween too. I sure did!