Boris Karloff in the Inner Sanctum

Two Inner Sanctum episodes featuring Boris Karloff in featured roles. The first, "The Wailing Wall," is sponsored by Lipton Tea! Karloff is Gabriel Hornell, who throttles his nagging wife and dumps her body in a hole in the basement wall. He seals up the hole and thinks he's done with her. But the cat saw everything. The seond episode is "Birdsong for a Murderer." Karloff plays Karl Warner, a homicidal maniac kept in check by the singing of his pet canaries. His past comes back to haunt him. Karloff is fine in both, as are the supporting cast and sound effects. The background organ music is a little distracting, though. Both episodes contain the usual Inner Sanctum pun-filled introductions and creaking door. Also included on the LP is a short thriller "The Black Chapel."

Roddy McDowall Reads the Horror Stories of H. P. Lovecraft

McDowall reads "The Outsider" and "The Hound," stories written by H. P. Lovecraft in the 1920s, in a crisp English accent. Listeners looking for cheap thrills and audio gimmicks won't find them hear. Deep dread and poetic eeriness will be found in these grooves. Liner notes about McDowall by Joe Goldberg, notes about Lovecraft by August Derleth. Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder, produced by Don Schlitten.

Tales of Terror, Nelson Olmsted, Dramatic Narrator

Record one includes six stories by Edgar Allan Poe including "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Masque of the Red Death" and "The Tell-tale Heart." The second record contains stories by Charles Dickens, Theophile Gautier, Ambrose Bierce ("An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"), Fitz-James O'Brien and and two stories by Robert Louis Stevenson ("Markheim" and "The Body Snatcher"). Olmsted's narration is fine, if perhaps lacking a little weight. Occasional sound effects help. Liner notes on "The Supernatural in Literature" by H. P. Lovecraft.

Drop Dead! An Exercise in Horror!

Written and directed by Arch Oboler, who produced a radio program "Lights Out" in the '30s and '40s and is perhaps best known for his film Bwana Devil, the first 3-D movie. Drop Dead! contains eight skits running the gamut from sick tongue-in-cheek humor to nail-biting-to-the-bone suspense. A great cast, and great sound effects. Nice use of stereo, too. A classic, and not for the squeamish.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents Muisc to be Murdered By

Alfred dryly and glibly introduces ten songs ("mood music in a jugular vein") such as "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You" and "I'll Never Smile Again." Also included is the "Alfred Hitchcock Televison Theme." The cover above is for the 1980 reissue. It was originally released in 1958 on Imperial Records. Click here for the back cover photo of Hitch.