Halloween, the scariest night of the year, filled with pranks, costumes and best of all, horror movies! There are thousands of horror movies, but only a select few are worthy of being part of Fright Night. These are the movies I will be watching, and I believe you must always start with the classics.

1. Halloween — Starring Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, the long lost sister of Michael Myers. A little boy who killed his older sister and her boyfriend has broken out of a mental hospital to kill Laurie and anyone who gets in his way.

All of the Halloween movies are must-sees, but be sure to watch at least the seven original films through H20: Halloween 20 Years Later, the last one that had any quality. Resurrection is a big waste of time and an insult to the legacy.

2. Psycho — The mother of all slashers, Psycho stars Janet Leigh as Marion Crane — a young woman who stole $40,000 from a client and is on the run. She stops at a deserted hotel run by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), who has a serious case of momma’s boy.

3. A Nightmare on Elm Street – The story of Freddy Krueger, who haunts the dreams of the children on Elm Street. There are seven Nightmare on Elm Streets and then Freddy vs. Jason.

4. Friday the 13th — Another charming mother and son tale. When Jason Voorhees drowns at Camp Crystal Lake while the counselors were … distracted (yeah, let’s go with that), Mrs. Voorhees curses the camp, saying that any camp counselors from then on will die. There are 11 Jason movies; it is up to you how many you indulge in. I think it gets a little ridiculous when Jason goes to Manhattan and outer space.

5. Pet Sematary – Based on a Stephen King novel. A man is shown a sacred Indian cemetery that has the power to bring the dead back to life. When Creed’s toddler son Gage is killed when he wanders onto the highway, his father takes his body to the pet cemetery. The thing that comes back is not Gage but something evil. To be honest, I am still too afraid to watch this movie; it gives me nightmares just thinking about it.

6. The Shining — A family moves into a hotel to be its winter caretakers. The evil spirits slowly drive Jack mad and persuade him to kill his family. This movie is awesome and incredibly scary.

7. It – Based on another Stephen King novel about a killer clown that lives in sewers and preys upon children. Twenty years after the children thought they had killed the monster, “It” is back and tormenting them, leading them back to the small town to finish them off.

8.  The Amityville Horror — Much like The Shining, a man is driven crazy by voices in a house, and they persuade him to kill his family. The scariest part is that it is based on a true story.

9. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre — A man with a skin disease and his family, who live in a deserted town, survive by killing and eating people who pass through the town. The man uses their skin to make body suits to cover his mangled flesh.

10. Scream trilogy — The classic teen scream flick unfolds different secrets about Sidney Prescott’s mother, who left Sidney to pay for her sins. This is one of the only movies that will scare you and make you laugh.

11. Trick ‘r Treat — Four interwoven stories about Halloween that confirm all of your Halloween fears. The fear of razorblade candy, monsters, serial killers and the pumpkin man come to life in this movie.

Lastly, there are remakes of some movies that are just as scary as, if not scarier than, the originals. They are: Rob Zombie’s Halloween 1 and 2, Samuel Bayer’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, Andrew Douglas’s The Amityville Horror, Marcus Nispel’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th.  I hope this helps with your Fright Night scary movie selection. Happy Halloween, everyone!