Thirty-One Days O’Horror: Now That’s What I Call Halloween (2015)

“Dig Through The Ditches And Burn Through The Witches….”

I decided to throw in a quick review of 2015’s Now That’s What I Call Halloween. I’ve been wanting a decent Halloween album for a little while now and whenever I saw this one, I decided to give it a go. To be quite honest, it’s hit or miss.

Released by Universal and Sony Music, you’d think that this album would be loaded with some great Halloween themed tunes, especially considering Universal’s horror legacy. Instead, we get a hodgepodge of great tunes mixed in with a few questionable ones.

I understand that getting the rights to some of the more ideal tracks for this compilation might have been difficult and/or expensive, but I wish that Universal and Sony would have put a little more effort into this release.

Here’s the track listing:

1. Halloween Theme: John Carpenter
2. Dragula: Rob Zombie
3. O Fortuna: St. Louis Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
4. Tubular Bells (Theme from The Exorcist): Mike Oldfield
5. (Don’t Fear) The Reaper: Blue Oyster Cult
6. Devil Inside: INXS
7. Bad Things (Theme From True Blood): Jace Everett
8. Werewolves of London: Warren Zevon
9. Ghost Town: The Specials
10. Dead Man’s Party: Oingo Boingo
11. Monster Mash: Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers
12. This Is Halloween: The Citizens of Halloween
13. Season of the Witch: Donovan
14. I Put A Spell On You: Nina Simone
15. Beetlejuice Main Title/End Title: Danny Elfman
16. Ghostbusters: Run DMC
17. A Nightmare On My Street: DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
18. Somebody’s Watching Me: Rockwell

There are a few obvious tracks on the album that sound great such as This Is Halloween and music from the films Halloween, Beetlejuice, and The Exorcist. Then there are a few tracks that fit in perfectly with the Halloween theme like Dragula, Ghost Town, Nightmare On My Street, and Dead Man’s Party, all of which are excellent tunes in their own right. In fact, some of the best tracks on the album are pop and rock tunes from the 1980’s and 1990’s.

Unfortunately there are a few songs that, while they sound perfectly fine, are a little out of place. INXS’ Devil Inside is an awesome song, but just because it has the word “Devil” in it doesn’t mean that it’s a Halloween track. The same goes for songs like O Fortuna which, despite being used in a few horror movies over the years, is more associated with comedies these days.

My favorite tracks include Bad Things (True Blood theme) by Jace Everett and Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon. Donovan’s Season of the Witch has never been a favorite of mine, but it does fit in with the album’s theme. My biggest gripe is with the inclusion of Run DMC’s Ghostbusters. While I have no personal issue with the song, I seriously wonder why this track was chosen over the much more popular Ghostbusters theme song by Ray Parker, Jr.

Almost the entire album is listenable, but a few questionable additions and one major missed track (the Ray Parker, Jr. version of Ghostbusters) throw off the rhythm of the entire album. Apparently another Now Halloween album was released in 2018 and features sixty tracks including many of those featured on this album. That might be a better choice in the long run.

I hope that you enjoyed this look at Now That’s What I Call Halloween. What are some of your favorite Halloween tracks? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for checking out this post!