Dani Filth’s Halloween Music Picks for 2024

As his fans know and outsiders can glean, Cradle of Filth frontman Dani Filth is a big horror hound. He once starred as a ghoulish character in a creepy anthology film called Cradle of Fear in 2001. Halloween, and indeed the latter half of the year, is his favorite time of year. He loves the transitional feeling of it.

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“It starts with my birthday on the 25th of July,” Dani tells American Songwriter. “Then you have August which is always really fiery and hot. Then I love the death of summer. We have an Indian summer over here in England. It gets cold, we have fake winter, then it goes back to being Indian summer where it’s hot for about two weeks. Then it slides into autumn. It’s so autumnal here. At the moment we’re having a few days that are really blustery and the leaves are everywhere, and it’s gray. Then the next day it will be bright sunshine, but it’ll be a crisp, sallow sun.”

Then, of course, comes Halloween.

Here are five pieces of music Dani recommends for Halloween 2024, including a plug for Cradle’s latest track “Malignant Perfection.” It’s the first single from their next studio album, which is due in spring 2025.

Halloween Theme” by John Carpenter from the Halloween soundtrack (1978)

“I would go for the obvious, which would be the theme music to Halloween by John Carpenter, because it’s Halloween, isn’t it? There’s a remix from one of the newer [films] that I saw just attributed to an Instagram post the other day that was slightly industrial. It was the same music, but it just had drum sounds to it, like percussive strikes. And I was like, ‘Ohhhh, hello.’”

Dracula – The Beginning” by Wojciech Kilar from the Bram Stoker’s Dracula soundtrack (1992)

“I love it. It’s one of my favorite soundtracks. In fact, apart from The Empire Strikes Back, it was literally the turning point where I went, I love soundtracks and just went on down a mind-bending career of buying soundtracks after that, culminating in the new Salem’s Lot soundtrack, which is actually really good. I listen to it [the whole score] as a big piece.”

The Oath” by Mercyful Fate from Don’t Break the Oath (1985)

“It’s nice and atmospheric. I love King Diamond. Don’t Break the Oath is literally the first album I heard when my friend gifted me a copy when I was 13. I saw the cover, I saw the back where he’s in shadow coming out of what looked like hell, and I was just gobsmacked. I literally thought the album was written by a multitude of ghosts and I just played it to death envisaging this. Me and my friend listened to it smoking cigarettes outside my bedroom window. We used to live in the countryside. We’d open the window during autumn, and I remember one time there was this great electrical storm raging outside. Everybody was out of the house, and we just had that [song] really loud blasting out my bedroom with a strobe light going. It was so bewitchingly atmospheric.”

Halloween” by Misfits from Halloween (Single, 1981)

“A Misfits track would have to be there, possibly ‘Halloween.’ But you could choose anything, ‘Ghouls Night Out,’ whatever [from] the original lineup, although I loved the lineup with Michale Graves as well. I love the kitsch value of it, the B-movie/”Vampira” essence of the Misfits. When I first heard a compilation of their songs around the time I was getting into crossover bands like The Accused, DRI, and Suicidal Tendencies, I was immediately and deeply smitten. It sounded very barren. It sounded very Goth and very Batcave era, sort of Siouxsie [and the Banshees-ish]. For some reason it just captivated me because it just had this huge Halloween vibe about it. It’s Americana, that’s what I’d say. It’s so different from European Halloween. We’ve got the true essence of Halloween here [in the UK], and it’s a bit boring because we don’t have that kind of vibe going on—sell, sell, sell—that America does. But I like that value of it, the fact that it’s celebrated in America. I don’t care if it’s cheap and cheerful and Wal-Mart has 20-foot skeletons. It’s great. I appreciate the effort that’s made.”

Malignant Perfection” by Cradle of Filth from their forthcoming album in 2025

“Can I put our new one in? It’s called ‘Malignant Perfection.’ And the chorus is literally:

On All Hallows Eve

Free the demons from my soul, untethered

Prise wide the rifts on All Hallows Eve

Be the conduit of screams forever

It’s a total Halloween song, and it was written with that in mind. And henceforth, the record company didn’t want us to release a single so soon because the album’s not coming out till April. I fought valiantly to push the first single this side of Halloween for that very reason. The video is fantastic and so Halloweeny. Kids are trick or treating and are being lured into this abyss by this very sensuous woman. Then it all goes tits up and demonic possession occurs. The video itself is a great passing nod to the dark festive season in general.”

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Photo by Venla Shalin/Redferns