Friday Top Ten: Halloween Edition

The first true horror movie I went to see at a theater was in 1989 at the tender age of 15. With a couple of my girlfriends, we went to see Pet Sematary at the local multi-plex. To say that I was scared is an understatement. I looked for Gage underneath beds for years after. In fact, I will occasionally still make a running leap onto my bed in fear. There's a reason Stephen King has sold about a billion books and had dozens made into movies. Dude is scary. Interesting tidbit: when I was waiting tables during the salad days of my early twenties, shortly after I had moved to Baltimore, I waited on Stephen King and his wife. He was a good tipper.

So in honor of this, All Hallow's Eve, I have the LoB Horror Movie Edition of the Friday Top Ten:

1. The Shining - All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. ad finitum. The twins in the hallway, the snowy maze scene, the woman in the bathtub, redrum. Jack Nicholson played a fantastic psycho. A little too good, methinks...

2. Jaws - An entire generation of kids frightened to go back into the water. Myself included. To this day, I can't go in murky water for fear of jaws. Ridiculous, I know, but then so's a giant animatronic shark. Still really freaking scary.

3. Poltergeist - "They're hee-eere." The scene where the boy's clown comes to life and wraps its arms around him ruined me forever for clown dolls. Sadly, my mom loves them and keeps giving them to me. (I'm 34.) I don't have the heart to tell her that I am forced to put them in little prisons so they won't attack me some stormy night.

4. Shaun of the Dead - Not quite a full on horror movie because it's just too darn witty, but not quite a comedy either and the horredy category is pretty slim. The scene where they beat the zombie to Queen is priceless. Simon Pegg is awesome. Period.

5. The Lost Boys - This was the movie that made me want to be a vampire. My best friend and I drank undiluted Hawaiian Punch syrup, pretending it was blood after seeing this at the movie theater seven times. No kidding.

6. The Blair Witch Project - I know this movie is a love it or hate it kind of thing. Obviously, I thought it was really terrifying. The scene at the end with the guy standing in the corner. Oh. my. god.

7. Se7en - I included this in my all-time list a couple of weeks ago because it transcends the horror genre. It's that good. And that scary.

8. The Silence of the Lambs - "It puts the lotion in the basket." To this day, I'm not sure who was scarier Buffalo Bill or Hannibal Lector.

9. Scream - Admit it, that opening scene with Drew Barrymore had you on the edge of your seat. And made you want Jiffy Pop.

10. The Ring - The faces of Samara's victims keeps me awake on dark nights. The way she moved, all herky-jerky out of the tv absolutely scares the bejeepers out of me.

What's your favorite scary movie?