'Crypt Jam': Unearthing the Crypt Keepers 1992 hip-hop hit

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Set us as preferred The Halloween season always comes with certain classic songs that turn any jukebox into a haunted house.From Boris Pickett’s “Monster Mash” to Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put A Spell on You” to, of course, “Thriller,” there are plenty of tunes to tap one’s toes with while trick-or-treating.

But this year, with “Tales From the Crypt’s” putrid pun-loving host the Crypt Keeper coming back from the dead to host AMC’s FearFest 2026, now feels like the perfect time to dig up his deep cut, “Crypt Jam.”When “Tales From the Crypt” debuted in HBO in 1989, it translated the spirit of the beloved 1950s anthology horror comic series into the realm of premium cable by combining the books’ narrators (“The Crypt Keeper,” “The Vault Keeper” and “The Old Witch”) into one haunting puppet voiced by “Star Search”-winning stand-up comic and stage musical veteran John Kassir.As the show and the character grew in popularity, the choice was made to take the Crypt Keeper out of the Crypt and into the many realms of Kassir’s talents.The Times caught up with Kassir at Minnesota’s horror convention Crypticon, where almost 40 years after the Crypt Keeper’s debut, fans are still having a frighteningly good time meeting Kassir and getting four decades worth of memorabilia signed, including some music releases.

“We’d already had a history of music with the show.Danny Elfman did our theme song, Walter Hill’s episode ‘The Man Who Was Death’ [the series pilot] had music from Ry Cooder, we had Hans Zimmer do music and all these different people.

It was a natural progression for the Cryptkeeper to be the next recording artist.”According to Kassir, “Crypt Jam” wasn’t the first hip-hop horror conjured for the Crypt.“Heavy D had been on the show and he wrote a song f...