People like to be scared at the movies or in the comfort of their home theaters. Maybe it's because because horror films magically put them in the shoes of the people they're watching in peril, yet can enjoy the comfort of knowing that after a couple of hours the thrill is over with and they can go back to their normal lives.
And while horror movies are available all year-round -- it's never a surprise when a film like Rob Zombie's remake of "Halloween" or the latest vampire flick, "30 Days of Night," open at No. 1 at the box office -- movie fans clamor for them come Halloween time, while movie reporters come up with their annual lists.
The hardest thing for me to do to come up with this comprehensive list this time around was to separate myself from my first movie love -- the monster movie genre that Universal Studios brought to life in the early 1930s.
From "Frankenstein," "Dracula" and "The Mummy" to "The Wolf Man" and "The Creature From the Black Lagoon," I loved how these glorious black-and-white gems relied on shadow techniques and suspense -- proving that there's nothing scarier for a movie fan than a scene where you have to use your own imagination to draw a conclusion.
In considering other films for the list, the key I looked for was originality. Past original horror gems such as "Friday the 13th" and "Nightmare on Elm Street," you can only take so many movies that find dumb teens in peril at every turn. And while I'm sure you won't consider all of these "the best," here are a few recommendations to put on your Halloween rental list.
10. "The Mummy" (1999): Writer-director Stephen Sommers re-invigorated the classic monster movie genre with his enormously entertaining re-imagining of "The Mummy," which combined elements of the classic tale about the High Priest Imhotep searching for his long lost love and the action sensibilities of the Indiana Jones movies.
Brendan Frasier brings a wonderful balance of whimsy and macho swagger to the role of Rick O'Connell, an imprisoned French Foreign Legionnaire who's hired by librarian (Rachel Weisz) and her hapless brother (John Hannah) for an archelogical expedition at the ancient Egyptian city of Hamunaptra. But after they accidentally awaken the mummified Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), the game is on.
Sommers' take on the genre has all the granduer atmosphere of the "Mummy" films of old, but instead of one lumbering bandaged creature, he trots out a gaggle of speedy ones instead. The special effects are mindblowing as well -- particularly the ones involving sand.
9. "Child's Play" (1988): Thanks to "Trilogy of Terror" and some "Night Gallery" and "Twilight Zone" episodes, I'm not big on living doll movies. But my curiosity over the wisecracking, redheaded Chucky doll in "Child's Play" was too much, so I took a leap of faith and eventually rented it.
The film, about a killer whose soul finds temporary residence in a kids' "Good Guy" doll, is spooky, no doubt; but Brad Dourif's "Jaaack Nicholson"-like vocal performance is frightening and funny at the same time. Chucky dispatches his victims in a brutal manner, but his one-liners bring some much-needed comic relief.
8. "Sleepy Hollow" (1999): If you can't get enough of Johnny Depp being a cut-up as Capt. Jack Sparrow in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, then "Sleepy Hollow" is a must-see. Depp is brilliant as the bubbling coroner Ichabod Crane, who is dispatched to the upstate New York village of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a grisly series of beheadings.
Twisted, dark and funny, "Sleepy Hollow" features the classic stylings of filmmaker Tim Burton -- and better yet, it hearkens back to the daunting atmosphere of Britain's classic Hammer Horror films. The film also features Hammer Horror favorite Christopher Lee, to boot.
If you love the dark imaginings of Burton but want to be spared the blood and gore, there are two ghoulishly entertaining alternatives that are also suitable for younger viewers -- the filmmakers' stop-motion animation gems "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Corpse Bride." Both, of course, employ Burton's twisted humor, but for the most part are harmless. Plus, they're both musical in nature, which tends to lighten the mood considerably.
7. "Shaun of the Dead" (2004): The British trio of director Edgar Wright and actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost turns the zombie movie genre on its ear with this gut-busting horror-comedy that finds an appliance store manager (Pegg) and his slacker buddy (Frost) whimsically battling the undead as a mysterious virus takes over England.
While the gore is as prevalent as its zombie predecessors, the irreverent humor separates "Shaun" from all the rest. It's a pleasant horror movie surprise.
6. "Dawn of the Dead" (2004): Sure, the recent remakes of horror maestro George A. Romero's "Dead" films have maintained the filmmaking legend's artistic integrity, and there's no really no beating his original.
However, the remake of the second in Romero's "Dead" trilogy -- "Dawn of the Dead" -- comes close. Before he conquered theaters with his Spartan epic "300," director Zack Snyder gave a huge shot of adrenaline to the zombie genre by turning his ghouls from aimlessly wandering dopes into speed demons who will stop at nothing to get their prey.
The setting again is a shopping mall, where a small group of survivors of a worldwide plague (including Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Webber and Mekhi Phifer) of a worldwide plague seclude themselves from hordes of flesh-eaters. But when the zombies eventually breach the complex, the group finds themselves in a run for their lives in an intense, heart-pounding conclusion.
5. "Jaws" (1975): The clothing styles in Steven Spielberg's breakout are far outdated, but the idea of a great white shark lurching under your local beach waters is just as scary today as it was in 1976.
Watch any frame of that film before you go to the beach and it's almost guaranteed that you'll think twice about stepping into the water. If you can't get enough of the original, its sequel, "Jaws 2," was an admirable follow-up. The third and fourth "Jaws" installments were disasters, though, so steer clear.
4. "The Bride Of Frankenstein" (1935): Any number of the classic Universal monster movies could have made this list, but "The Bride of Frankenstein" has always been my favorite. Sure, the shocked hair of the Bride (Elsa Lanchester) is unforgettable, but what I love about this movie is the theme that runs through many of the early Universal monster storylines: The monster (Boris Karloff) is misunderstood.
Tragic humanity aside, "The Bride" doesn't always walk down a dark path. Director James Whales intersperses irreverent humor throughout, mainly because of the delightfully sinister Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger). Dr. Frankenstein (Colin "It's alive -- alive!" Clive) is back, too.
3. "The Evil Dead" (1981): Long before the "Spider-Man" movies made him an A-list director, Sam Raimi redefined the horror film genre starting with "The Evil Dead," a far more frightening "lost in the woods" movie than the much-ballyhooed "Blair Witch Project."
The trilogy follows the exploits of the wisecracking, square-jawed anti-hero Ash (the always-entertaining Bruce Campbell), who finds himself in a heap of trouble when he and his friends happen upon an ancient "Book of the Dead" in a remote wooded cabin.
The first, with its gore, wild camera movements and faces of demonic possession, is undoubtedly the scariest. Raimi and Campbell went back to the woods in 1987 with "Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn," which threw Three Stooges-type comedy into the mix, and revisited the "Dead" one more time in 1992's "Army of Darkness" -- which playfully catapults Ash back to medieval times to fight a gaggle of wiseacre skeletons known as "Deadites."
2. "The Shining" (1980)/"Halloween" (1978): If you think Jack Nicholson is scary in Martin Scorese's "The Departed," then you haven't seen his most terrifying role as Jack Torrance, an author who thinks that he'll finish up his novel while watching over a remote, snow-covered hotel resort during a desolate winter with his family in "The Shining."
Based on the Stephen King novel and directed by the late Stanley Kubrick, this film has an incredibly daunting atmosphere: You're not only watching it, you're feeling it all the way down to your chilled bones. Heeere's Johnny!
Then, of course, there's "Halloween," director John Carpenter's groundbreaking "slasher" movie that introduces us to Michael Myers (Tony Moran), a demented murderer institutionalized since childhood who escapes from confinement and goes on a killing spree.
Even though it's gruesome, the film's biggest scares come from its scenes of spine-tingling suspense. Silent and deliberate, the most frightening part about Myers is that iconic, expressionless mask -- a mask, oddly enough, that bares the likeness of Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner. Now that's scary.
1. "The Exorcist" (1973): Linda Blair is horrifying as the devil-possessed teen Regan MacNeil, and thanks to the low grumbling voice, the decaying face, the spinning head, and last, but not least, the spewing green vomit (in addition to a string of vile unmentionables), I'll never watch it again.
If a clip shows up on the tube, I turn the channel immediately. It's not worth the nightmare. Dare to rent it and tell me I'm a wimp. And if you do call me a wimp, I don't care. It's arguably one of the scariest movies ever made.
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