Scare yourself with these chilling horror stories!

Pulp writer Michael Avallone’s Tales of the Frightened was published as a book of short stories in 1956, and first recorded in 1961 by Boris Karloff for a pair of record albums [1 2]. The stories have been reprinted many times, but the original Mercury LPs have become quite rare. Avallone’s son thought to have the Karloff readings reissued, but decided a fresh approach might be a more interesting option. He set to work with Australian actor Vernon Wells (best known to American audiences for his portrayal of Wez in The Road Warrior) and composer Eban Schletter (Mr. Show, SpongeBob SquarePants) to reanimate the dark stories of men bedeviled by bad omens, inexorably hunted by fate and consigned to less-than-ideal forever-afters.

Wells’ readings are deeper-voiced and more physical than the delicately theatrical work of Karloff, which makes these re-tellings complementary rather than repetitious. He uses pauses and silences to masterfully let a story’s tension fester and build. Schletter’s soundtrack (which provides both backing and mood-setting interludes) is similarly bold, using ghostly vocals, heartbeat bass lines, discordant blasts, Theremin, feedback and reverb to immerse you in the next dimension of horror. This set includes seven of the thirteen stories originally recorded by Karloff, leaving material for a second volume. As the liner notes suggest: dim the lights and play this record – if you dare! [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]