By: Wayne Frazier

It all begins with Orville Redenbacher’s movie theater popcorn! Get some Goobers for your chocolate fix and you’re halfway there (nothing like comfort food when watching a scary movie). Television is on, surround sound is ready and the Blu-ray player is set. The lights are down and my seat on the reclining couch is in the perfect spot to let the fright fest begin. Just one question: What the hell do I watch?

Annual tradition for All Hallow’s Eve dictates that I go with two of my favorite scary movies of all time. However, it’s time to switch things up and delve a little deeper this year. I started thinking hard, what are my favorite scary movies? Do I want to watch Frankenstein’s Monster, Freddy, Jason or the Jigsaw guy? Do I want to be scared or grossed out? Do I want mindless entertainment or am I craving the bad acting that happens more often than not in many horror films? I hope you are sitting down and not yet in the dark because I am about to share my top picks for scariest movies of all time.

As I break down my scariest Halloween movies ever, I think it’s important to have some set criteria. First and foremost, scary needs to be just that, scary. I need to be nervous with the characters, wondering what’s around the next corner. The story must envelop me (once again this cuts out more than half of the horror films to date). It helps if we actually care if Barbara gets eaten by a zombie or if Chief Brody is the main course for a shark.

5. The Thing by John Carpenter
This movie is about a group of scientists in the Antarctic who are confronted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of the people that it kills. Whew, this one keeps you guessing all the way to the end!

4. Alien by Ridley Scott
Coming in at number four, if you haven’t yet experienced Sigourney Weaver’s character fighting for her life against this creature, it is a must watch. Now it is getting seriously creepy. Don’t forget the chest scene, ouch!

3. Poltergeist by Tobe Hooper
I don’t recommend watching these all at once but if you are counting down, night two should start with Poltergeist. A missing Carol Anne, a tree that wants to eat a little boy and a freaky clown doll make this a night to hide under the covers. For the most part some special effects do not stand the test of time, but the acting pulls the audience in and makes us root for the good guys.

2. The Exorcist director’s cut by William Friedkin
The backwards spider crawl gets me every time. “The Power of Christ compels you.” If you deal with the devil, it can be quite problematic to say the least.

1. Scariest movie of all time?? It’s a tie! The original Halloween by John Carpenter and its superb musical score is the best (and beginning) of the true slasher films. It has all the right ingredients to suck you in and find your fear. Which brings me to The Shining by Stanley Kubrick. Written and directed with sheer eeriness, this movie will spill more than a few bowls of popcorn. Jack Nicholson is a mad man!

Do you agree? What’s your favorite scary movie of all time?