So you and your man are staying in this Halloween, but that doesn’t mean you want it tame. For a cozy night of popcorn, arm gripping and being scared half to death, these are the movies that you’ll love to hate from my top ten list of all time horror movies. 

1.  Poltergeist(1982)  This continues to be my favorite scary movie ever.  The church-esque lady and her voice, “They’re heeeeeeere…” sends shivers up my spine just thinking about it.  Paranormal happenings of the creepy kind take over a house when a family moves in and comes to a head when the youngest daughter is abducted.  A group of parapsychologists are called upon to get her back from another dimension where “The Beast”  has a hold on young Carol Anne. 

2.  The Shining(1980)  This was just on cable two weeks ago and I had to stop and watch on a Saturday afternoon.  This movie still holds up thanks to Jack Nicholson and an inspired cast.  Another wonderful adaptation from the King of Horror himself, Stephen King.  If “Redrum, redrum” doesn’t get you, then the reveal of what good ole Jackie has been writing the whole time in this hotel of horror will.   A family is hired as caretaker to a closed and haunted hotel over the winter, which puts dad into a psychotic spree of violence while psychic son tries to disentangle himself and his mom to safety. 

3.  The Exorcist(1973)  Can’t say that I saw this movie all the way through, it was that scary.  This movie is supposedly based on the story of a possessed boy in the 1940s and his well-documented exorcism.  In the movie, Linda Blair famously plays the young girl possessed by a demon while her mother (Ellen Burstyn) elicits the help of two priest to perform and exorcism.  Apparently nothing upsets a demon more.  Oh, it doesn’t go well.  This movie earned ten Academy Award nominations.  Good and scary, not often seen! 

4.  The Omen (1976)  The first time me and my girlfriends decided to watch this, a few guys got wind of it and decided to scare the crap out of us.  The combination worked and has still to this day been the scariest moment of my life.   It’s just your average story of boy meets girls, boy marries girl, girl has baby who dies at birth and stupid dad lets a priest talk him into switching dead baby for newborn whose mom died at birth too… for the “mental well being of his wife.”  Oh, and this new baby… happens to be the anti-christ.  Adapted from the book by David Seltzer who aptly named the child Damien.  This child will scare the crap out of you!   

5.  Scream (1996)This slasher film is best known for its all star cast (David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Drew Barrymore, Rose McGowan  and Skeet Ulrich), its director Wes Craven (with a last name like Craven how could he have not become a horror film director?) and its stellar script by Kevin Williamson (Dawsons Creek and The Vampire Diaries creator) that turned this genre on it’s head. In this movie, a high school teenager becomes the target of a killer named Ghostface.  As Ghostface begins killing her friends, the satire begins as the characters become aware of the cliches of horror film yet can’t stop themselves and Ghostface  from doing them. Both scary and funny, Williamson is a genius at that. 

6.  Night of the Living Dead (1968) This was the start of the zombie genre directed by George Romero.  In this cult classic, the dead return to life as zombies and they are thirsty… bloodthirsty.  The movie follows the story of seven characters trapped in a remote farmhouse by the zombies.  Because of the success of this original movie, 6 sequels where produced and directed by Romero, plus two remakes.  Might seem a little funny now in it’s original black and white, but it’s one to watch for sure. 

7.  The Ring (2002)Based on the Japanese film “Ringu”, this is one disturbing mothaeffa!  Starring Naomi Watts, the plot centers around a cursed videotape where anyone who watches the tape will die in seven days.  Watt’s character begins investigating the tape after her young cousin dies after watching it.  Having watched the tape through, she is lead on a gruesome wild goose chase to save herself and her son, who has mistakenly watched it too. 

8. The Texas Chainsaw  Massacre (1974)  Based on real life murderer, Ed Gein, when the movie was first released it was banned in some countries and some movie theatres here in the U.S. due to its violent content.  The story centers around Leatherface, who wields a chainsaw, and his band of cannibals who lead a group of teenagers into their backwoods den of terror after they pick one up as a hitchhiker.  Filmed in that grainy docu-style that has become so popular with horror filmmakers, this movie is gruesome.  Only for the strong-stomached!

9.  A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)  Is there a person alive who doesn’t know who Freddy Krueger is?  Another Wes Craven classic – Freddy, a dead child murderer, seeks revenge against the people who killed him.  He comes after their teenagers in their dreams and then the nightmare follows them into their waking life where eventually they really do die.  ”Whatever you do. Don’t.  Fall.  Asleep!”  This movie and it’s rave review sparked a whole series of sequels, but this is the one to watch. 

10.  Halloween (1978) If guys wearing creepy masks who happen to be serial killers are your thing, then this is the movie for you!  Jamie Lee Curtis makes her film debut here in this classic horror film director by John Carpenter that created and paved the way for all slasher films to come.  A psychotic maniac named Michael escapes from a mental hospital and is unleashed on a group of unsuspecting teenagers in a small, suburban town where he grew up.   

Missing from the list:  Blair Witch Project and Amityville Horror.  Didn’t find either scary.  Actually, found them amusing and dumb.  Go figure.  (Now the book of Amityville Horror, on the other hand, scared the bejesus out of me!  Slept with my sister for a week after reading that as a teen!  Book on tape with boo?  How creepy would that be?!  All 6 1/2 hours is available for $13.96 at audible.com)