Birds are our friends, right? You might not think so after you see Alfred Hitchcock’s avian horror story. Watching it is scary enough—imagine being Tippi Hedren and having all those live birds tied to your outfit, take after traumatizing take. Yikes. Special features: All about The Birds, deleted scene, the original ending, Storyboard sequence, Tippi Hedren's screen test, The Birds is coming (Universal International newsreel)

You might not remember this, but when the movie first came out it was hyped as being REAL. Real as in, three real students wandered into the woods to make a documentary about the Blair Witch, filmed the whole time, then someone found the movie and their sound equipment under an abandoned building. Now, watch this movie and pretend you’re one of those first people who saw it—it’s real!

Director William Friedkin’s movie may be almost 35-years old, but it can hold its own among the disturbing movies of the last 5 years or so. We’re all quite familiar with the image of possessed Reagan MacNeil (Linda Blair)’s head spinning around and spewing the demonic version of split pea soup, but that scene’s pretty tame compared to some others. Paramedics had to attend to fainting, vomiting and hysterical theater-goers when the film was released, so be warned!

A totally scary movie that makes the most of its limited budget and minimalist production and direction. Forget Sarah Michelle Gellar and The Grudge (also directed by Takashi Shimizu) and be prepared to sleep sitting up, with the lights on for quite some time. Ghosts have never been this scary.

George Romero’s classic zombie film has defined zombie films for almost 40 years. Without this little indie horror number we wouldn’t have the great wealth of zombie or slasher flicks that emerged in the late 70s and early 80s, Night of the Comet, Return of the Living Dead, Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street all owe their existence to the film-maker who was inspired to make horror movies after filming a segment for Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.

Here’s another movie that owes a debt to George Romero. This British romantic-comedy/zombie film put the folks who brought us this summer’s Hot Fuzz on the map. It might not scare you, but Halloween isn’t just about being scared, you know. It’s also about candy. The DVD is chock-full of awesome extras.

Have you seen this movie?! Ten bucks says you haven’t. You might argue that this South Korean film is a little more sci-fi than horror, but I say that anything that makes you jump in your seat from suspense and surprise counts for this list. Plus, it’s got a giant mutant sea-monster that reaches onto dry land to grab its victims and drag them to their watery graves. Awesome!

This movie version of Clive Barker’s story “The Forbidden” takes place in Chicago’s infamous Cabrini-Green—a place that was scary enough on it’s own in the 90s without Virginia Madsen wandering around summoning the Candyman by chanting his name in the mirror. Thanks, Virginia. And hey, please don’t watch this movie by yourself. Or with bees.

This is by far the best horror movie ever. I will rumble with anyone who begs to differ. Seriously. If you have not seen Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece of madness then you must do so IMMEDIATELY. Drop what you’re doing, come to the library, rent this movie. We have it on DVD and in VHS so you have no excuse whatsoever. If both copies are checked out, you are allowed to come to my office, hold up your index finger and say “Danny isn’t here, Mrs. Torrance.” I will give you a piece of candy.