So, here’s the final Halloween song profile for 2023. The link to the opening credits of the film Experiment In Terror shows a woman driving home at night, which serves as an apt metaphor for end of the Halloween season.
My wife and I had 15 trick or treaters, which was pretty impressive considering the miserable, snowy weather in the Chicago area. Most of them were teenagers. As per my Halloween night tradition, I went out for a walk around the neighborhood to see the houses decorated with ghosts and monsters, but I turned back out halfway through. The wind and snow were just too scary.
“Experiment In Terror” has a slow, ominous beat and twanging guitars that conjure images of a monster creeping along some darkened street. And we might just be its next victim. Surprisingly, this instrumental was composed by Henry Mancini for a 1962 cops and robbers movie called Experiment In Terror.
In the Chicago area, it’s much better known as the theme for Creature Features, which presented old time horror movies like House Of Dracula; Frankenstein; The Wolf Man; and The Mummy’s Ghost on WGN every Saturday night from 1970 to 1976. “Experiment In Terror” will be forever linked to that show’s signature graphic of a horrifying guy in the top hat and cloak.
But “Experiment In Terror” also brings back memories of our childhood fascination with monsters, hours spent trick or treating, and neighborhood Halloween parties in garages or basements. Plus, it’s a great song. In addition to the eerie guitars, a string arrangement adds drama and a cinematic ambience. Later, there’s even a sexy sounding saxophone that puts the vamp in vampire. Back when I was part of the Famous In The Future comedy group, I used this song an an intro for a satirical skit I had written about the workplace called “Night Of The Living Temps.”
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