Published: October 22, 2009 10:46 pm         

Halloween is in the air

The familiar fall chill is in the air, Halloween decorations are adorning the doors and scarecrows are at the ready for judging for Scare on the Square. With just one week to go before Halloween, now is a perfect time to take in one of your all-time favorite horror movies!

Participants on the Enidnews.com Web site forum recently ran down their lists of their favorite scary movies. Here are some of the top picks, most of which focus on suspense, drama and good old-fashioned creepiness.

A few favorites of our forum readers include:

• “The Excorcist.” Made in 1973 and starring Linda Blair as a possessed young girl, the movie is loosely based on a real-life exorcism.

• The original “Halloween.” Made in 1978, it started Jamie Lee Curtis as the victim of a psychotic murderer institutionalized since childhood who escapes and returns to his hometown on Halloween.

• The original “Friday the 13th,” made in 1980. Another flick of the Halloween genre, this movie is about a group of young camp counselors who are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant.

• “The Shining.” The original version was made in 1980 and starred Jack Nicholson. A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future.

• “The Haunting.” Both versions, one made in 1963 and the other in 1999. A doctor doing research to prove the existence of ghosts investigates Hill House, an eerie mansion with a history of death.

— Cindy Allen, managing editor