Scariest movies of all-time | Steve Eighinger | whig.com – Herald-Whig

Whats the best part of Halloween for you?

The costumes? No doubt, those can be entertaining.

The treats? Yeah, there are few things better than a bag full of Milky Ways, Snickers, Kit Kats and Reese Cups.

The scary movies? Bingo! For our family, October is always the month we resurrect our favorite gorefests. If you cant sleep after an evening of scary movies, you know it was a quality October night.

For the perfect fright night, here are my five leading selections. Ive seen them all multiple times, and I can honestly say each still holds a special place in the pit of my stomach that tends to draw tight just before a zombie takes a chunk out of someones neck or a chainsaw separates an arm from a torso.

1. Dawn of the Dead (1978): For all of you who enjoy The Walking Dead and its offshoots, this is the movie that truly gave birth to the modern-day zombiefests we now enjoy. I once referred to this film as director George A. Romeros magnificent tribute to mayhem and separation of flesh from bone. More than 40 years later, it remains a masterpiece.

This was the film that really kick-started the modern zombie craze. Most of the film is set in a shopping mall, which opens up all sorts of unique zombie-esquepossibilities.

One movie critic said Dawn of the Dead possessed some of the goriest scenes ever committed to film. The movie was once banned in 17 countries.

Dont bother with the 2004 remake. It pales in comparison to the original.

2. The Saw movies (2004-10): Listing the entire franchise is a must. How can you separate such gorific magnificence? Daughter Kaysi and I made it a family ritual to attend the new Saw movie each Halloween and then spend hours afterward sorting through the labyrinth of clues and hints we had just witnessed and how they helped explain previous Saw elements.

I always classified the Saw movies as thinking mans horror but make no mistake, each film had several passages that made you want to crawl under your theater seat and hide.

3. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974): Im not sure, but it may have been Leatherfaces human flesh mask that put this grisly gorefest over the top. This is not repeat, not a film to watch if your squeamish factor is on the low side.

The late, great Roger Ebert, the award-winning movie critic of the Chicago Sun-Times, once wrote, I cant imagine why anyone would want to make a movie like this, and yet its well-made, well-acted and all too effective.

And surprisingly, the script is surprisingly underrated and often goes unnoticed because of the presence of Leatherface and his nasty chain saw.

Special mention: The Blair Witch Project (1999), documentary was a classic made on a budget of about $750,000 and grossed $249 million; Island of the Lost Souls (1933),and all you need to know are three phrases animal men, house of pain and no anesthetic..

Special mention II: Shaun of the Dead (2004) because sometimes we need a little levity when it comes to flesh-eating zombies. This film gave us a classic back-and forth. Question: Dead? Answer: Dead-ish.

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Scariest movies of all-time | Steve Eighinger | whig.com - Herald-Whig