“We could all use some new music for All Hallows' Eve, with apologies to Bobby Pickett’s ‘Monster Mash,’” Robert Englund tells FANGORIA.
If you're also tired of reusing the same 20 songs for your Halloween playlist, the “spooky-music supergroup and horror media company” LVCRFT has exactly what you need. “Skeleton Sam’s Deadtime Stories,” the group’s eighth album, is due out on October 1, 2026, and FANGORIA has the exclusive details on the jaw-droppingly impressive roster of featured artists joining them.
For those unfamiliar with LVCRFT, the group was founded in 2019 by songwriters Evan Kidd Bogart, Amanda “MNDR” Warner, and producer Peter Wade, who spend the rest of the year writing global pop hits with credits for artists like Beyoncé, Rihanna, Charli XCX, Katy Perry, and Dua Lipa (just to name a few).
The coven has put out eight albums since, scores the mazes and live entertainment at Thirteenth Floor’s Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor, LA’s Haunted Hayride and Magic of the Jack O’Lanterns, and has placed music in Hocus Pocus 2, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Hubie Halloween, Flack. and Chucky.
But “Skeleton Sam’s Deadtime Stories” marks a new step in their holiday evolution. Shaped like a late-night horror broadcast that clawed its way out of somebody’s basement, the album is hosted by Roger L. Jackson — the voice of Ghostface — and features 27 songs flanked by film trailers for features nobody can watch yet and clever skits. To sweeten the deal even more, a music-driven anthology series inspired by the album is being developed as you read this article.
And the line-up of special guests on this album will melt your brain. Check out this killer track listing:
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Deadtime Stories
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The Host (feat. Roger L. Jackson)
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Bloodmoon (feat. Cynthia Garris and G Koop)
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Get In The Car (feat. Ernie Hudson and Trevor Shand)
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My Boo (feat. Jasmin Savoy Brown)
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I'm Hungry (feat. Bonnie McKee and Michael Alden)
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Eat You (feat. Johnny Plague and sKarface)
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Sweet Kristine Movie Trailer (feat. Michael-Leon Wooley)
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Sweet Kristine (feat. Katharine Isabelle)
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So Alive (feat. MNDR, TJ from Deathchant and Sarah Barrios)
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Nighty Night (feat. Heather Langenkamp and Violet Petunia Rebel)
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Possessed (feat. Ernie Hudson)
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The Final Veil (feat. Roger L. Jackson)
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The Other Side (feat. Alyssa Sutherland)
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Dead Heart Beat (Kodeblooded) (feat. John Kassir and Uffie)
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Ghost Story (feat. Amy Hollaman)
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Scream For Halloween (feat. Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, Mick Garris and Robert Rodriguez)
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Light As a Feather
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Creepy Crawl (feat. Monte Revolta and Maizin' Hell)
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Kristine Kristine Kristine
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Bruce Campbell (feat. Bruce Campbell and MNDR)
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Principal Weintraub (feat. Cindy Weintraub)
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Halloween Hop (feat. David Dastmalchian and Thunderwolf)
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Moonset (feat. Cynthia Garris and Sarah Barrios)
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Devil In My Rearview (feat. Jenna Davis)
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Until Next Time… (feat. Roger L. Jackson)
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Cabinet Of Horrors (feat. Christopher Young and Monte Revolta)
That’s right, this album has Ghostface, a Ghostbuster, the Crypt Keeper, the Maggot Mommy, M3GAN, Ginger Fitzgerald, Ashley J. Williams, Nancy Thompson, Freddy Krueger, and fan-favorite directors like Mick Garris and Robert Rodriguez.
Not to mention the incomparable Michael-Leon Wooley; Humanoids from the Deep star Cindy Weintraub; Scream and Yellowjackets star Jasmin Savoy Brown (who just made their Broadway debut in Hadestown); Christopher Young, Johnny Plague, and Monte Revolta; and Fango fave David Dastmalchian, who is joining up with Thunderwolf.
“The real turning point was the realization of what LVCRFT had actually been doing across our eight albums: becoming a link between horror culture and music culture in a way nobody's really done since those iconic '80s horror soundtracks,” the musical coven tells FANGORIA. But once Mick Garris agreed to partner with the group and come on as an Executive Producer, countless others followed suit.
“We started collaborating with icons one by one […] then when Robert Englund and Heather Langenkamp agreed to share a song, we knew we'd crossed over from making an album to making history.” LVCRFT has collaborated with horror icons before, but this is uncharted territory. The group didn’t just want horror stars; they wanted, as they tell me, “the people who've become the actual mythology of what horror means to the people who love this genre.”
“More Scream Queens makes everything better at Halloween,” says Heather Langenkamp.
“Come on! Crypt Keeper’s the mayor; he’s the gateway drug to horror!” John Kassir tells FANGORIA. “Although this isn’t a dead-on Crypt Keeper voice, I was doing it in the spirit of the creepiest of voices that can bring goosebumps to any flesh […] I hope listeners and fans of the Halloween hop can hear the joy in my voice as I perform. Getting to make the song and sing it was my opportunity to take a swing at being Bobby ‘Borys’ Pickett for a minute! Dream come true!”
“Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I did Ghostbusters years ago and get to be a part of people’s holiday celebrations all over the world, and being a part of this album is in that tradition,” says Ernie Hudson.
As they explained, “From the beginning, LVCRFT has tried to capture every genre, subgenre, and era of what spooky music has meant to people for decades. Casting followed the same instinct: we wanted icons who represented every different corner of horror and spooky film and TV.”
For instance, “Devil in the Rearview” leans into Jenna Davis’ country pop sound, but pulls it into a darker, more eerie direction. “Country music has always been rooted in storytelling, old backroads, heartbreak, small towns, and stories that can feel haunting all on their own,” Davis says. “It's still country at its core, but there's this unsettling atmosphere woven throughout that makes it feel right at home around Halloween.”
“Sweet Kristine,” the song featuring Katharine Isabelle, sounds to the actress like “If Ginger made a hauntingly beautiful retro bop about shoving the popular girl off a bridge, and then wrote her a love letter.” A fan of the “definitely evil children and devious teenagers” subgenre, Isabelle declares them “the real heroes of Halloween,” and that Sweet Kristine reminds her of The Good Son, which “certainly sets the mood.”
All of the artists FANGORIA spoke with had nothing but great things to say about working with LVCRFT, with Robert Englund joking, “This old fart could fantasize about rock stardom,” and Mick Garris declaring it as “probably my best recording experience ever.”
“Working with the LVCRFT team was an absolute blast,” says Jasmin Savoy Brown. “Everyone was so kind and collaborative. I would work with them again in a heartbeat!”
So many horror fans can recall a voice in a horror movie that stuck with them forever, and “Skeleton Sam’s Deadtime Stories” gives these actors another chance to let their voices shine.
“Vincent Price was one of my heroes always, along with many other voice actors when I was a kid,” says John Kassir. “It’s something that I always enjoyed as a kid and never thought I would wind up as part of the Horror Community, but the Crypt Keeper was just a perfect fit as a character for me. It obviously means a lot to me because it’s something I can look at from both sides.” He continues, “You do it as entertainment, and then you find out that so many people became engrossed with horror through a character like the Crypt Keeper or Freddy. It truly was the gateway drug to horror for all of them. “
“In the moments when it sinks in, it makes me very proud to know people really love and appreciate the wonderful lines Nancy got to say thanks to Wes Craven,” Heather Langenkamp says.
“I was pretty anxious about being the ‘big bad' in a horror film, not to mention in an Evil Dead film!” Alyssa Sutherland tells Fango. “You want to do the franchise justice, and to have fans respond the way they have is incredible. Ellie will forever have a piece of my heart; she's the most fun I've ever had in a character!”
“I hope my voice is one that they’ll remember for a long time,” says Ernie Hudson. “You know the Vincent Price voice in Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller?’ There are so many classic examples of great voices … I’m not going to put mine in that category, but hopefully the fans will. We did some good work, and I’m excited for the fans to get a chance to receive it.”
Michael-Leon Wooley is no stranger to voice recognition (my heart will always be with Impossibear from Bravest Warriors, personally), but he jokes that he sometimes forgets that the average person hears his voice all the time in scary movies, making his voice on this album “a match made in heaven.”
(He also says that he gets messages weekly from friends and fans recognizing his voice in something by sending him videos at the theater, and he always replies, “TURN OFF YOUR DAMN PHONE.” This doesn’t add anything to the discussion about the album, but it’s a sentiment I support wholeheartedly and wanted to include it on principle.)
“I don’t know if my voice will stick in people's minds, but it certainly is cool to imagine that someone is watching a film or hearing a song and gets chills down their spine,” David Dastmalchian says. “If I am the cause of those chills, then that’s pretty dang cool.”
And it’s not just the vocal contributions that are worth celebrating; legendary composer Christopher Young was asked to write instrumental and electronic prologues, interludes, and accompaniments. “The wonderful thing about writing non-vocal music is that there are no lyrics, so nothing specific is communicated,” he says. “This allows the listener's imagination to wander anywhere it wants. I try to write music that brings aural definition to the invisible world where the fear and awe of horror rises.”
“This album is the moment Sam stops being a Halloween go-to on a spooky playlist and becomes a whole world with a full cast and a mythology, and the hope is nobody treats this as the finale; it's just the beginning,” explains LVCRFT. With a mantra of “spooky never sleeps,” Halloween isn’t one night of celebrating for this group; it’s a way of life.
“And the win is if a spooky music lover finishes the record and wants to know what stories Sam will tell next in the anthology series. Stay tuned!”
