Halloween – Scare Yourself with Classic Horror Movies

Each year, I watch the lists of "scariest movies," and I usually don't agree. But what do you personally expect from your Halloween-type movies. Are you bingeing the slasher category this weekend? Or are you into suspense? Or magic spells? This year, you might want to remember (or discover) the horror classics. The atmospheric spookiness of the silent "Nosferatu," for instance. Or the breakthrough films from Universal Studios in the 1930s, including the original Frankenstein, the original Dracula, the original Mummy and the original Wolfman. But if you want "jump out" scares, come into the future with the sci-fi classic "Alien" - among the scariest things you'll ever see on screen. It's a haunted house in space. "The Exorcist" is in a horror class all its own, though there's a hallway scene in "The Exorcist 3" that always creeps me out. Monster movies of the 1950s were fine efforts - including the original "The Thing from Another World" and the giant ant movie "Them." More recent films include slasher films like "Halloween" (the first one) and "Friday the 13th." And one of the funniest movies in history "Young Frankenstein" is on the opposite end of the horror spectrum.

However, above them all, I still think the creepiest movie on my list - with all the elements that make this season scary - is the 1962 "The Haunting." The book was great - the movie was a classic. Watch it with the lights out. The dialogue is dated and there is absolutely no blood and gore, but the "things" that you and the movie's characters can only imagine will stick with you long after the film is over. Happy Halloween!