8 Great Halloween Movies

I'm the biggest wimp when it comes to horror films, and have missed half the movies I've paid good money for by covering my eyes and cowering in fear in a darkened movie theater. Nevertheless, having a son who was born on Halloween means I had to force myself to watch scary movies during his formative years, especially at his birthday parties. So here are my top eight Halloween movie choices, all guaranteed to scare and delight you on the darkest of holidays! Scroll down to watch two scenes (neither of them scary) from my favorites. And don't forget to cast your vote in my movie poll!

If you're just dying to hear Jamie Lee Curtis scream yet again, it's time to dust off your copy of John Carpenter's "Halloween," released in 1978 and still scary as all get-out. Revisit the scary but determined Michael Myers as he wreaks havoc on the town of Haddonfield, Illinois, and your psyche. You won't sleep after this one.

If you can't make a traditional midnight showing of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," rent or purchase the campy film for a raucous good time on All Hallow's Eve. The film, starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick, is a cult classic. For even more fun, check out the three-disc anniversary edition that combines the anniversary edition of Rocky Horror with "Shock Treatment," the sequel. You'll get both films, audience participation tracks and video, some commentary from the stars, and lots of extras that feature the cast, crew, and some fans.

This 1996 screamer was one of my kids' favorites when they were teens. Director Wes Craven turned the horror flick inside out when he released "Scream", which stars Drew Barrymore, Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette. In this one, a serial killer does away with teen after teen while you cower. In one of the film's best scenes, a teen-ager watches "Halloween" on video while the killer appears behind him, ready to strike. Yikes!

I need smelling salts for this one, the classic slasher film. Release in 1984 and written and directed by the aforementioned Wes Craven, "Nightmare" will frighten the willies out of you as the beguiling Freddy Krueger (the guy with knives for fingers) pretty much slaughters everything in sight and along the way earns himself the title of most frightening bogeyman in film history.The "Nightmare on Elm Street Collection" includes all seven Freddy Krueger films made, plus some extras. Do you think the actor, Robert Englund, was forever typecast?

This one is a harmless kids' movie that's campy and fun. Starring Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker, "Hocus Pocus" was released in 1993 and my 10-year-old son must have watched the video 300 times. This one is about three witches were sentenced to die in Salem, Mass., who return to Salem on Halloween in the 1990s, fly around the town on vacuum cleaners and generally create havoc. Great fun.

Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice," released in 1988, is another fun film that will appeal to pre-teens and teens. The film, starring Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis, focuses on a newly dead couple, the Maitlands, and Beetlejuice, a gruesomely funny character who tries to exorcise the family who has just moved into the Maitlands' house. This film is classic Tim Burton, quirky and fun.

"The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a film we pull out of the DVD drawer at Halloween and again during the Christmas holidays. This 1993 film is an animated visual delight, its protagonist the delightful Pumpkin King Jack Skellington, who decides that he's bored with Halloween, kidnaps Santas Claus and takes over Christmas as his own holiday.This is a magical PG-rated film that can be enjoyed by all members of the family.

I hate to bring up Tim Burton again, but another Halloween favorite of mine is "Sleepy Hollow," most likely because I live right down the street from the title location. This film is a dark adaptation of Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleep Hollow," complete with the headless horseman. The film version stars Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci.

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