Well, as you can tell by the influx of promotional products there’s another holiday on the way - Halloween! As we head into the big night it’s always fun to pull out a good scary movie or two and get into the spirit of the season. It's also a great excuse to snuggle-up next to your date in a dark room! I’ve put together a list of my Top 13 movies for this time of year (get it? 13? cuz it's a scary number…). If you want to go a little further you can check out the drive-in movie for two date idea for suggestions about parking somewhere secluded to watch or even viewing it outdoors.

1. The Thing (1982)
   This one's set in an Antarctic research station where Kurt Russell and crew are really worked over by an alien creature that takes control of any humans it infects. You don’t really know who to trust and the movie has good tension, plus a walking spider head! Some gross parts although I wonder if they look fake nowadays.


2. The Shining (1980)
   Jack Nicholson slowly goes crazy during the winter while he and his family are taking care of the Overlook Hotel, a hotel with a dark past (AAaaahhhh!). Some people think Jack overplayed his character in this film, but I loved his performance and still have nightmares about those creepy little twin girls. Redrum.


3. Alien (1979)
   Such a great film. A spaceship stops at a planet to investigate a distress signal and picks up a very unwelcome passenger that proceeds to slaughter them. This first in the series doesn’t have the overt violence and action of the later films, but a quiet, suspenseful fear that there's this creature out in the darkness just waiting for you. And you get to see the classic scene where the alien explodes out of John Hurt’s stomach!


4. The Ring (2002)
   The Ring is a remake of a Japanese horror film called Ringu. The idea is that people who watch a certain videotape are going to die in seven days. Naomi Watts investigates the story after her niece's strange death and watches the tape herself. She soon finds out the curse is real and that watching the tape probably wasn't such a hot idea. This gives her just seven days to solve the mystery and save her skin. Some people think the movie's a little hokey in places, but I liked the pacing and atmosphere. There are definitely a few terrifying scenes, like creepy-crawly, hand-walking well girl (AAaaahhhh!!).


5. Halloween (1978)
   Michael Myers is an escaped mental patient who killed his seventeen-year-old sister with a knife when he was six and has returned home to hunt down Jamie Lee Curtis. A little bit of movie trivia here, Michael Myers' mask is actually a Captain Kirk mask spray-painted white with the hair removed.


6. Psycho (1960)
   The mother of all slasher flicks, Psycho is still pretty scary to this day. Anthony Perkins plays a momma's boy and the proprietor of the Bates Motel, where young women have a tendency to go missing. Everyone should see this movie once.


7. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
   Freddy Krueger has returned from the grave to finish off the children of Elm Street while they sleep. Plenty of great 80’s cheese in this one along with a solid concept of getting hunted and killed in your dreams. We're all going to sleep...forever...(AAaahhhh!)


8. The Haunting (1963)
   A group decides to investigate paranormal activity at Hill House and ends up wishing they’d left well enough alone. One of the classics with great atmosphere and tension. Avoid the 1999 remake, was terrible.


9. Poltergeist (1982)
   A family in suburbia starts experiencing supernatural phenomena and their daughter (the adorable Carol Ann) is sucked into the spirit realm soon after. Some great scares as you watch the family unravel, like the disgusting bathroom scene, and man, that clown? Note to self, do not build house on top of dead bodies.


10. The Exorcist (1973)
    A young girl gets possessed by a demon, condemning poor Linda Blair to a lifetime of knockoffs and sequels. AAaaahhhh! The Exorcist is a classic horror film but I'm not convinced it holds the big scare factor it once did. I guess it had to make the list though.


11. 28 days later (2002)
    This one completely reinvigorated the zombie genre by making them fast and contagious. I mean crazy contagious!


12. Friday the 13th (1980)
    A group of young counselors travels to Camp Crystal Lake where they pretty much all die horribly. Yay!!! I mean…Aaaahhh!


13. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
    An FBI agent must get information out of a psychotic prisoner in order to stop a string of killings. I almost didn't list this one because it doesn't seem that Halloweenish (that's why Jaws missed the cut), but the acting is fantastic and it provides some great scares.

And for those of you who like the Halloween atmosphere but aren’t really into the scary stuff, here are a few less serious choices.

Light-Hearted Halloween Movies

1. Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
   A comedy horror (very light on horror) that involves the Frankenstein Monster, Dracula, and the Wolfman. I loved this one when I was younger.


2. Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
   A Halloween character tries to take over Christmas to learn about the Christmas spirit. Great art direction and music.


3. Evil Dead II (1987)
   An over-the-top horror comedy about a couple in a forest cabin fighting off demonic attacks. A cult classic.

What'd I miss?