A blog by Cameron and Shannon

I’m by no means what you’d call a horror movie expert (in fact, there are some horror movies I refuse to watch altogether - I’m looking at YOU Hostel and Saw) but I feel confident in saying that I’ve seen, well, a LOT.

So here are my Top 10 Awesome Horror Movies, which you should be watching at Halloween. Or at any other time of the year. They’re not really in any particular order.

1. Silver Bullet. I think I rented this about once a week growing up, and it has my #1 stamp of approval for werewolf movies. It’s a remarkably good adaptation of Stephen King’s work (which, come to think of it, is a whole other list.) Also, Gary Busey is in it. And Corey Haim. And Anne of Green Gables (or, you know, the actress that played her). And don’t even get me started on the church scene.

2. The Howling. Another werewolf flick, but there’s enough scary stuff in the first 10 minutes to give you at least one nightmare - and they haven’t even shown you a werewolf yet.

3. Phantasm. I just watched this for the first time, and wow. You definitely have to stick with it, but it’s the perfect balance of campy and actually creepy.

4. Near Dark. In my opinion, the best vampire movie ever - and no one even says the word “vampire” in the entire movie. Awesome performances by Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen, and you can watch it for free on hulu.

5. The Lost Boys. 2 Coreys + vampires = awesome. That is all you need to know.

6. Candyman. My parents didn’t let me watch this one as a kid, but I made it halfway through it at a sleepover once. Recently we watched in on On Demand and crimeney, this movie is SCARY. Also, it gets bonus scary points for being filmed at Cabrini-Green.

7. The People Under the Stairs. You could argue that at times the dialogue borders on the ridiculous, but this movie has always and will always creep me out. I don’t know if it’s the idea that someone could actually do something like that, or a dilapidated but inhabited house, or that the werewolf from Silver Bullet is in it, but it just gives me goosebumps.

8. Jacob’s Ladder. Easily one of the top 3 scariest movies I have ever seen. Classic corner of your eye, did-I-see-what-I-just-thought-I-saw weirdness.

9. The Fly. I’m talking about the Cronenberg adaptation from 1986. Jeff Goldblum gives me the willies even when he’s being normal, but the transformation from human to fly is just horrifying. I can’t even look at the screen during parts of this movie.

10. The Monster Squad. Another one I rented practically every weekend when I was a child - kind of like The Goonies, but with classic monsters, and without the truffle shuffle.

And that’s it. I know I didn’t list some of the more obvious ones (like The Exorcist and Nightmare on Elm Street - the others of my “top 3 scariest”) because, well, everyone is already watching them on Halloween.

What’s everyone else watching? Or am I the only one who camps out in front of the TV at this time of year?