A taste for horror: Treat yourself to 31 fearful films this Halloween

Ah, Halloween is upon us and we've got just the treat for you!

Thirty-one tasty flavors of fear made from the scariest movies in history.

To help me out, I summoned forth Buffalo Grove's Raymond Benson, novelist, film scholar and my partner for "Dann and Raymond's Movie Club" that has presented horror film programs at the Schaumburg Township District Library and the Arlington Heights Memorial Library.

We opted for a pure form of horror and avoided science-fiction/horror hybrids, so don't yell at us for forgetting "Alien" and "Night of the Lepus." We also sidestepped scary mystery thrillers such as "The Silence of the Lambs."

Most of our selections, listed in order from the most recent, are available on home video. If mainstream video stores don't have them, contact Facets Multimedia at (773) 281-9075 or facets.org. So let's get started with a frightfully happy Halloween!

1. "Dawn of the Dead" (2004) - Zack Snyder dares to remake George Romero's 1979 classic sequel about strangers stuck in a shopping mall surrounded by cannibalistic zombies.

Raymond says: "It reinvents the zombie genre with fast-moving, undead-on-speed."

Dann says: "The movie whisks us from a perfectly sedate, normal suburban morning to total chaos and Armageddon. And that's before the opening credits."

2. "The Ring" (2002) - Naomi Watts investigates a mysterious VHS cassette that kills its viewers seven days later.

Raymond says: "It tops the Japanese original thanks to Gore Verbinski fleshing out the story to make more sense and providing surreal, unsettling imagery."

Dann says: "Can't malevolent spirits afford DVDs?"

3. "Audition" (1999) - Famed Japanese horrormeister Takashi Miike tells a gruesome tale of a widower who chooses to date the wrong woman, an actress with her hinges way off.

Raymond says: "You think it's going to be a nice, sentimental romance between a lonely widower and a girl he's met. But then you find out he's picked the wrong date. Terrifying."

Dann says: "One of the creepiest films in the torture-porn horror genre. I wanted to take a shower after seeing it, but couldn't because of 'Psycho.'"

4. "The Blair Witch Project" (1999) - A film crew goes out to find the Blair Witch. The crew never returns. But someone found their cameras ...

Raymond says: "The shaky camerawork gave me a splitting headache. But one can't overlook the impact it had from a marketing standpoint."

Dann says: "An ideal horror tale for its time, and it's been influential in such movies such as 'Quarantine' and 'Cloverfield.'"

5. "Candyman" (1992) - If you say his name five times in a mirror, run! Based on a Clive Barker story, set in Chicago.

Raymond says: "A metaphor for the inner-city horror that was Chicago's Cabrini-Green at the time and the best 'urban myth' scary movie."

Dann says: "Tony Todd makes his mythical boogeyman a surprising object of pity and woe."

6. "Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn" (1987) - Sam Raimi's pumped-up sequel (almost a remake) to his own cutting-edge indie film "Evil Dead." An evil entity possesses young people trapped in a cabin.

Raymond says: "A horror-comedy that contains enough Grand Guignol to earn it a place on any serious list."

Dann says: "A messy, scarifying good time at the movies. This stands as a supreme example of what imaginative filmmakers can do with a zero budget."

7."Near Dark" (1987) - Modern-day vampires roam the American West undetected.

Raymond says: "An original take in which the vampires are presented realistically and sympathetically."

Dann says: "It's 'The Wild Bunch' meets 'Dracula.'"

8. "The Fly" (1986) - A scientist teleports himself across a room, not realizing a fly's DNA has been mixed with his.

Raymond says: "Horrifying indeed, but also a heartbreaking love story."

Dann says: "David Cronenberg's best work, and his most accessible tale of terrifying physical alteration, his favorite theme."

9. "Re-Animator" (1985) - Chicago theater director Stuart Gordon shot this low-budget gutsy tale between Thanksgiving and Christmas. A mad scientist creates a serum that can bring the dead back - with issues.

Raymond says: "H.P. Lovecraft had to have a place in this list, and the film is loosely based on his stories; gory but full of gallows humor, it's a gem."

Dann says: "A masterpiece of black comedy meshed with Grand Guignol excess."

10. "The Shining" (1980) - Jacks Nicholson slowly goes mad in a ghost-infected hotel.

Raymond says: "Stanley Kubrick changed Stephen King's novel into a singular, chilling and very cerebral exercise in style, suspense and supernatural ambiguity."

Dann says: "A superior example of building an atmosphere of palpable dread to drive audiences nuts with anxiety."

11. "Halloween" (1978) - John Carpenter shot to the top of the genre directors with this low-budget tale of an unstoppable maniac killer chasing babysitters in a small Illinois town.

Raymond says: "The best slasher film."

Dann says: "It initiated a decade of imitators that took the point-of-view of the killer, where traditional movies usually took that of the victims. The start of a very disturbing trend."

12. "Suspiria" (1977) - Master Italian filmmaker Dario Argento directs Jessica Harper in a story about a young woman who arrives at a ballet school run by witches.

Raymond says: "Either you love Dario Argento's work or you hate it, but there's no question that this one is important in the genre."

Dann says: "I spent most of my time exclaiming, 'What was that???' As freakazoidally scary as all get out! Whatever that means."

13. "Carrie" (1976) - Nasty high school classmates bully a psychically gifted Sissy Spacek over the edge.

Raymond says: "The first and one of the best of the film adaptations of Stephen King's work."

Dann says: "A near-perfect marriage of Brian De Palma's Hitchcockian manipulation with King's theme of youthful alienation."

14. "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974) - Tobe Hooper directs a rural-phobic nightmare about college students who stumble upon a strange house in Texas.

Raymond says: "You'll think you've seen a lot blood, but in fact, there isn't any!"

Dann says: "A horror milestone."

15."Don't Look Now" (1973) - A brokenhearted couple think they see their dead daughter walking the streets of Venice.

Raymond says: "Powerful direction by Nicholas Roeg and heartfelt performances by Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland."

Dann says: "Eeriness seeps into your bones like a viral cold."

16. "The Exorcist" (1973) - Chicagoan William Friedkin directs a fact-based horror tale visually inspired by "Citizen Kane." Authorities suspect a demon has possessed a little girl.

Raymond says: "With its no-holds-barred imagery, the movie is a compelling examination of faith and fear."

Dann says: "A superior combination of mystery, visceral scares, psychological trauma and religious affirmation. The greatest horror movie ever made!"

17. "Rosemary's Baby" (1968) - Roman Polanski's tale of satanic insemination stars a perfectly cast Mia Farrow.

Raymond says: "I give this devil movie the edge over 'The Exorcist' because Polanski's direction is more stylish."

Dann says: "Stylish and horrifically suspenseful to the last shot, to be sure. But I'll take 'The Exorcist.'"

18. "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) - George Romero's black-and-white indie scarefest centers around a group of frightened strangers trapped in a farmhouse by the cannibalistic living dead.

Raymond says: "Shocking and scary, it's the picture by which all other zombie movies are measured."

Dann says: "The little girl eating her mother's organs set a new high (low?) in explicit horror. Romero broke cultural ground by using a black hero, and ended with a downbeat twist that reflected America's dark mood during Vietnam."

19. "Repulsion" (1965) - A man-hating Catherine Deneuve goes slowly insane with hallucinations of rape and seduction.

Raymond says: "This might be my favorite horror film of all time. Roman Polanski's take on madness is so disturbing that it gets under your skin and stays there."

Dann says: "It's sexual-psychological horror at its zenith."

20. "The Haunting" (1963) - A research team stays in a haunted mansion to study the paranormal and they regret it.

Raymond says: "Very possibly the best haunted house story ever filmed: subtle, imaginative, and smart."

Dann says: "It is the best haunted house movie. Captured in gloriously composed black-and-white shots by director Robert Wise, editor of 'Citizen Kane.' Run away from the 1999 remake starring Owen Wilson!"

21. "Psycho" (1960) - Alfred Hitchcock's scariest movie was made cheaply with crews from his TV show "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."

Raymond says: "One of Hitchcock's greatest pictures that reinvented the horror genre."

Dann says: "Hands down the most influential horror film and a perfect marriage of music (Bernard Herrmann's all-string score) and imagery (black and white, to dampen the impact of red blood). The shower scene still shocks audiences who swear they see Janet Leigh's naughty bits and the knife slicing her skin. That never happens."

22. "The Curse of Frankenstein" (1957) - Great Britain's Hammer Films bought Universal's rights to remake the story, but it couldn't use Jack Pierce's makeup.

Raymond says: "The first and best of the Hammer horror series."

Dann says: "This full-color film comes complete with red blood and red-blooded women, and became the exploitive template for zillions of visceral Hammer-time horror films."

23. "Cat People" (1942) - Val Lewton's production, directed by Jacques Tourneur, had no money for effects, so it used ominous mood and unsettling suggestion to terrify audiences. Simone Simon won't have sex with hubby Oliver Reed for fear she will become a big, mean kitty.

Raymond says: "The power of suggestion is everything."

Dann says: "The best use of scary shadows since 'Nosferatu.'"

24. "The Wolf Man" (1941) - Bela Lugosi wanted the title role, but it went to Lon Chaney Jr., who went on to become the only actor to play the Wolfman plus all four of Universal's main monsters: Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy and Wolfman.

Raymond says: "Every element - direction, design, script, music and acting - are perfect."

Dann says: "It still holds up thanks to its smart, poetic screenplay and Chaney's sympathetic performance."

25."Bride of Frankenstein" (1935) - Original director James Whale has loads of fun with this horror "romance" about two monsters (Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester) just made for each other.

Raymond says: "It's a litle campy, but contains so many memorable sequences that it's priceless."

Dann says: "After 'Young Frankenstein,' it's tough to be terrified by this, yet it remains an undeniably iconic work."

26. "The Mummy" (1932) - The King Tut curse inspired this tale of obsessed love starring Boris Karloff as the title character, with superb aging makeup again from Jack Pierce.

Raymond says: "This is Boris Karloff's greatest performance."

Dann says: "Mandatory horror viewing."

27. "Freaks" (1932) - A beautiful trapeze swinger marries a carnival midget for his money, with horrific repercussions from his strange friends.

Raymond says: "Unsettling and nightmarish."

Dann says: "Only one thing freaked me out more than the 'One of us' dinner scene, and that was the ending."

28. "Frankenstein" (1931) - Genius makeup artist Jack Pierce created the iconic flat-top head with the neck bolts. Bela Lugosi screen-tested as the monster, but British actor Boris Karloff got the job.

Raymond says: "The first great horror film and the cornerstone of the classic Universal golden age monsters."

Dann says: "This is a pivotal monster movie classic, given extra dramatic weight by Karloff's sunken cheeks and sad eyes."

29. "Dracula" (1931) - Universal's 46-year-old superstar Lon Chaney died five weeks before shooting. Filmmakers replaced him with a Hungarian Broadway actor named Bela Lugosi.

Raymond says: "Lugosi created an iconic character. The film is much better with the recently added Philip Glass score."

Dann says: "Yes, the music helps, but the eerie atmospheric sets and Lugosi's exotic snake-like charm overcome this otherwise static production."

30. "Phantom of the Opera" (1925) - The great Lon Chaney's skeletal makeup (achieved with cotton balls on his cheeks and a concealed wire pulling up his nose) highlights this silent version of Gaston Leroux's novel and Universal's first official monster movie.

Raymond says: "The best extant sample of actor Lon Chaney's genius."

Dann says: "The classic 'unmasking' scene still slaps our eyeballs around."

31. "Nosferatu" (1922) - German filmmaker F.W. Murnau purloined Bram Stoker's "Dracula" story to make this silent masterpiece of shadows and suspense. Stoker's widow tried to destroy all copies of the movie. Fortunately, she failed.

Raymond says: "The best silent horror film: creepy, atmospheric, and an exquisite example of expressionistic German cinema."

Dann says: "An exercise in elegant creepiness, tinged with surprisingly suggestive sexuality."