Elvira Presents Haunted Hits

Elvira Presents

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: 1988
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B00000334K
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #166,076 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
If you made a list of people who could create the perfect Halloween soundtrack album, chances are pretty good that the Mistress of the Dark would rank mighty high on it. This collection--which not only bears her name but also closes on her performance of "Full Moon"--brings together a passel of Elvira-sanctioned holiday favorites, tinged with spooky subtext and powerful as a sugar high. Early rock classics like "Haunted House" by Jumpin' Gene Simmons (not the Kiss fella but a bluesman who's even older) and Screamin' Jay Hawkins's "I Put a Spell on You" comprise the bulk of the set, but folks like Alice Cooper (whose "Welcome to My Nightmare" is included) also pop up like skeletons from the closet. --David Sprague

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I got mine autographed!, October 31, 2004

By	Johnny Heering "trivia buff" (Bethel, CT United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This CD features some great horror themed songs. Classics like "Monster Mash", "Haunted House" and "The Purple People Eater". Plus great lesser known songs like "The Creature From The Black Lagoon", "Halloween Spooks" and "Voodoo Voodoo". The only bad song here is "Full Moon", sung by Elvira herself. In fact, if it hadn't been performed by Elvira, it wouldn't have been considered good enough to be on this CD. The other problem I have with this CD is that it only has 17 tracks, while the LP and cassette versions had 23 tracks. The CD is only 54 minutes long, so it's not like there wasn't room for the 6 extra tracks. For the record, the missing songs are: "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes", "Little Demon", "Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman", "King Kong", "The Creature" and "Martian Hop". But this is still probably the best horror themed music compilation available.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Excellent Halloween CD, June 21, 2008

By	H. Richmond - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This CD will be a great addition to your Halloween Party! Several songs on this CD are pretty unique. Some of my favorites from this CD are: Haunted House, The Blob, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Welcome to My Nightmare, Twilight Zone, Dead Man's Party, and Voodoo Voodoo. GhostBusters of course is an Awesome Halloween song, but you can find that song a lot of places. (same thing with Monster Mash), but if you get your hands on this CD you'll have a few popular well known songs plus new songs too. The song I Put A Spell on You is a really great song, but find the original Nina Simone version! Some of these songs are kind of silly, and depending upon your party or tastes, you might not find them appropriate for your party (they'd be better for a kid's!) but there are some great songs here, and something for everyone.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE ORIGINAL Recordings for your Halloween Pleasure..., April 20, 2005

By	Marcus H. Smilfer "mercer-" (Chicagoland, USA) - See all my reviews

How am I the first person to review this cd? How do so many other cds get all the publicity? I don't know, but here we go...
My name is Marcus H. Smilfer, usually a purveyor of cultural junk, but this time I am here to convince you to buy a great cd for your next Halloween (or Walpurgis Nacht) blowout.

"Elvira Presents: Haunted Hits" probably had nothing to do with the curvy Mistress of the Dark (and I don't mean Vampira), until she insisted that her picture and her song, the last one on this cd, be included. Well, leave it up to producers Mark Pierson and Eric Gardner to do an awesome job with something they could have easily phoned in. You get a great collection of Halloween songs on this one cd: "Out of Limits" by the Marketts (sounds like a surf music take on the theme to the old TV show "Outer Limits"; cool!), "The Blob", "The Addams Family" theme, an orchestral take on the "Twilight Zone" theme, "Dead Man's Party" by Oingo Boingo, the super-cool "Horror Movie" by the Skyhooks (must be heard to be believed), the classic "I Put a Spell on You" by crazy-man Sceamin' Jay Hawkins, great & bluesy "Voodoo, Voodoo" by LaVern Baker, the often imitated but never equaled "Halloween Spooks" by L, H, & R (cool song!), requisite "Purple People Eater" & "Ghostbusters" (which have always been stupid songs), the excellent "Creature from the Black Lagoon" by Dave Edmunds (I love this song!), but MOST IMPORTANTLY the ORIGINAL versions of: "Haunted House" by Jumpin' Gene Simmons (lots of horrible re-dos by Gene are floating around) and the classic that set off the whole Monster-Song extravaganza: "MONSTER MASH" by Boris Pickett!!!!!

Yes, you see Gene & Boris apparently recognized that their two big hits were being played again and again in the original versions and decided to re-record them. Well, the re-recorded versions are never listed as such by most Halloween compilations, and they are VERY different from the originals that you remember. So, if you buy another compilation and listen to it and think, "hey this sounds different than I remember..." that's probably because...IT IS! This cd has the ORIGINAL versions of the songs and, to the best of my knowledge, is the ONLY cd which has that distinction. ALSO, it has the amazing song "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" by the Cramps, which will blow your mind. If you are looking for a "gateway" Halloween cd, folks, this is it and it is worth any price you pay to get it. Buy it, open up the coffins and few Schaefer beers and howl at the moon...Halloween was never so good...