Halloween is over now, but since I celebrate Halloween for several weeks by watching all my favorite scary and just plain Halloweenish movies I thought I would talk about some of my favorites, mostly old school. They are in no particular order.

The original “Halloween” movie with Jaime Lee Curtis has been scaring me from a very young age. I don’t really like any of the “Halloween” movies that followed it and although the original seems a bit out of date and silly at times, it brings back fond memories.

The Sixth Sense and The Others are some recent movies that I like. The Sixth Sense is the better of the two being that I didn’t have it completely figured out by the end, but still I thought The Others was rather creepy and good too.

The Exorcist. For the sheer entertainment value of watching Linda Blair’s head spin around earns a place on my list. I also must admit being more scared by this movie when I was around 14 than any movie I had seen since The Wizard of Oz.

Dracula, the Francis Ford Coppola version. I love this movie. I am not sure this is the best Dracula movie ever, but I love the filming, sets, costumes and cast.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Another that brings back fond memories to me. How many Saturday nights did I spend at the midnight movies, dressed as various characters is a mystery, but enough to make this movie a big part of my life.

Carrie. For a middle school aged girl this is absolutely the scariest movie you can see. It has very little to do with the paranormal stuff going on, but more with the horrible High School rejection that Carrie is dealing with. Also, there is nothing better than seeing it for the first time when that hand pops out of the grave at the end.

Ed Wood. Not a scary movie, but still a Halloween movie in my opinion and one of my very favorites. If we didn’t know it all really had happened pretty much the way shown in the movie, it would be unbelievable. The story of a cross dressing, heterosexual, horrible film maker who manages to talk a church congregation into funding his Scifi/horror movie. What plan did he follow? Plan 9, of course.

The Hunger. This probably would not be on anyone else’s list of favorite Halloween movies, but it makes mine. Though Whitley Strieber’s book is far better, the movie has something the book didn’t - David Bowie. I am a huge David Bowie fan so this is a must for my Halloween viewing.

Sleepy Hollow. Nothing is better than that kiss Christopher Walken gives to Miranda Richardson at the end before he takes her away with him. Could Tim Burton have chosen anyone better to play the headless horseman? No.

Rosemary’s Baby. A satanic cabal impregnates Mia Farrow with the son of Satan. Through most of the movie she is horrified, running around and trying to get away from these people. Then the little devil is born. Does she scream insanely with horror seeing it’s little cloven feet and claw hands? No, it is her baby after all and nothing is stronger than the love of a woman for her child.

The Shining. Yes, I know Stephen King was not the least happy about this movie because he didn’t feel it followed his book well enough. Too bad! Kubrick did a wondrous thing with this. He took a great book and turned it into a great movie. Just because something is a great book doesn’t mean it translates well to cinema, he took some artistic license and made sure that it did. Probably the most memorable horror movie ever made. You already know Jack Nicholson is insane so when his character is chasing people around with a ax you can totally believe it.

There you have it. Pretty much anyhow. There are probably a couple movies I totally forgot about because they are not yet in my collection so I don’t watch them at Halloween. I have a couple honorable mentions too that didn’t make the list of twelve, but that I really like and that would M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Village” and Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare before Christmas,” which can be a Halloween movie and/or a Christmas movie.

Hope everyone had a wonderful, fun Halloween!