Chills & Thrills

I'd love to be able to take a whole day and just watch spooky movies this time of year, but life has a way of interfering so that a plan like that just never pans out. I was thinking of old horror movies that I want to be sure to catch if they're on this year. Halloween, the original, is still great after all these years, even with all the sequels and remakes. You always remember where you were when you watched the great movies, and when I first saw that movie I was helping my future wife babysit at a neighbor's house. Strange house, kids in bed, everything dark except for the tv, Michael Myers popping out and slashing everyone... how could anyone forget that. Then there was Friday the Thirteenth parts 1 and 2 (which I don't really count as a Halloween movie, more of a summertime thriller) I saw at a drive-in parked toward the back of the nearly-empty lot, trying to act as macho as I could but secretly hoping that if Jason attacked he would come from my girlfriend's side of the car first so I'd have a chance to run screaming for my life to the concession stand before my head ended up atop one of those speaker poles.
My favorite Halloween movie - that I can think of right now - is one that's not really one of the scariest but I like it anyhow, Silver Bullet. It's just one that doesn't get boring to me to watch time after time. Another one that was on every Halloween when I was younger was Dark Night of the Scarecrow, which I believe was a made-for-tv movie but still worth watching for a fright or two, and growing up in the country with no street lights, close neighbors and a big, dark room to go to at bedtime it didn't take much to ignite the fear factor in me back then. Yeah, maybe I was kind of a wuss back then but now I'm all grown up and mature and stuff, so I can watch all the scary movies I want and not have to leave the light on at bedtime... or keep checking to see that my wife hasn't turned into a monster while my eyes were closed...or wake the kids up at 1 A.M. to go over their homework... or walk around the house with a crucifix and wooden stake. That's right, bring on the spookfest cause I'm ready!