My Top Ten 'Scary' Movies

I don't do scary movies.  At least not what people today consider scary.  I'll leave those to my sister.  Nope, I like a good old fashioned flick or one with some humor involved.  So here are my choices for this scariest of months (not really in order because I can't pick which one is my absolute favorite)...

1. The Frighteners - starring Michael J. Fox as a con man who uses his ability to see ghosts as a way to make a little jack.  He uses his ghost friends to 'haunt' people and then he shows up to eliminate the ghosts.  And it's going pretty well until a real nasty ghost shows up...  I love the humor in this movie, but I also love the reality of Michael's character - his pain, his angst, and even his anger.  Plus, Dee Wallace in it harkens back to the horror movies I watched with my sister way back when. 
2. Final Destination franchise - Yeah, this is about as close as I get to enjoying a modern scary movie.  This franchise fascinates me and I spend every one of them waiting on the edge of my seat to see how each person is going to die. 
3. Silence of the Lambs - This one for me is more about the suspense than the actual scary, but yeah, Hannibal Lecter can be pretty scary.
4. Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy - I loved these guys when I was growing up and this movie is the bomb around Halloween.
5. Frankenstein (1994) - A stark and beautiful retelling of Mary Shelley's masterpiece.  This one sticks pretty close to the book, and hey, you can't go wrong with Kenneth Brannagh.
6. Godzilla - I love this remake of my old favorites from Japan.  When I was a kid, I think I saw just about every Japanese monster movie they released here in the states.  This one is probably the best attempt to redo all that - even if this Godzilla doesn't have a smidgen of the Japanese Godzilla's charisma.
7. The Blob - What can I say about this classic?  I just love it.
8. Carrie - The original version, of course.  And it's the original catharsis for any girl who's ever been picked on.  This one doesn't scare me - it has me rooting for Carrie.  Yeah, I cheered when she took out John Travolta and his trashy girlfriend.
9. The Raven - A movie based on Poe's poem starring Vincent Price and Peter Lorey.  This was awesome.  
10. The Alien franchise - Man, I could watch these for hours.  They don't scare me so much as startle me... well, except for the one with the creepy half-alien/half-Ripley thing.  That one creeps me right the hell out.

Honorable Mentions:

Young Frankenstein - It's Mel Brooks, so natch.  Plus, with lines like 'Werewolf!'  'There.  There wolf.', how can you go wrong?

Manhunter - Also in the Thomas Harris 'Hannibal Lecter' franchise, but made way before Silence of the Lambs and starring William Petersen from CSI.  This one was based on the book Red Dragon (and remade into a movie of that name).  Personally, I think this version is way more suspenseful than the new version and the portrayal of Hannibal Lecter by Brian Cox is totally creepy.

Hocus Pocus - which has Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimi as the Sanderson sisters - witches from back in the time of real witches.  (And yes, my enjoyment of the movie increased when I realized we share a last name now).  It's funny and it's quirky.  Plus, it's got some real emotion behind it.  Especially with the cat who is really a boy and how he just wants to be with his sister.  (And if you didn't know it, the cat is played by the same guy who plays Tim McGee on NCIS.)