My Picks of the Ten Best Horror Movies of All Time-Count Down

I am quite an afficionado of horror movies. I remember as a child and an adolescent, watching horror movies on late night Saturday television. I enjoyed watching actors such as Vincent Price, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, and Barbara Steele enthralling and scaring me to sleep with the lights on. When I was a child, I watched a movie so horrific that I had nightmares of demons and running abruptly to my parents' bedroom to sleep with my mother.

As an adult, I am no longer scared of horror movies. In fact, I am fascinated by them, owning a vast DVD collection of them. Many times, I simply fall asleep to the sound of horror movies on my portable dvd player with my headphones on. I love horror movies and find them to be fascinating alternatives to sickening sweet, maudlin romantic movies. Buckle up and hold on to your seats!

Now, here are my picks of the ten greatest horror movies of all times.

10. BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA (1992)- I loved this version of Dracula with Gary Oldman as Dracula and Winona Ryder as Wilhelmina Murray, his love interest and the reincarnation of his lost love, Elisabeta. I loved the dark theme of the movie. In the fifteenth century, Vlad Dracula, Romanian prince, fought valiantly for his country. Besides loving Romania, the other love of his life was his wife, Elisabeta. While Dracula was at war against the Turks, a message was sent to Elisabeta, informing her that Vlad Dracula was killed in battle.

Upon receiving the letter, Elisabeta believed that she was left with no other choice but to commit suicide. This she did by throwing herself in the river below the castle. Dracula returned to his castle and the priests informed him that his wife committed suicide and her soul was damned. Dracula became incensed and decided to regress to his dark side, losing his soul. He became a noncaring, demonic vampire.

Four centuries later, to make the story short, Dracula decided to go to London in order to met Wilhelmina Murray because she reminded him of Elisabeta. However, in order to met Elisabeta, he kept Jonathan Harker, Wilhelmina's intended, imprisoned in his castle in a weakened state. Dracula enlisted his three beautiful and demonic brides to constantly drain Mr. Harker's blood. While Dracula was in love with Wilhelmina, he used Lucy Westernra, as an object of his lust. However, the movie nded on a positive note with Dracula's redemption as he was reunited with Elisabeta who was in Heaven.

9. THE SHINING(1980)- This is a terrific horror movie to watch alone on a very eery, cold winter's night. The movie stars Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers and Danny Lloyd. This movie is about a writer, Jack Torrance, a schoolteacher, who was left as a caretaker of a hotel in Colorado. Mr. Torrance was asked by the management of the hotel to be a caretaker during the winter months. He accepted the offer and took his wife and psychic child to Colorado with him. His son has a premonition of what is going to happen at the hotel.

Mr. Torrance seems normal at first. However, as time progresses, he becomes unhinged and act as if he was possessed by some supernatural force. There is a scene where his wife asked him what he was typing and he became incensed and used expletives to her, instructing her never to interrupt him while he is writing. Mr. Torrance became more and more erratic and decided to take a break to go to the bar where he met a former caretaker who instructed him to kill his family.

Mr. Torrance became the devil, stalking his wife and son in order to kill them. The most memorable movie scene is Heeeere 's Johnny which Mr. Torrance uttered demonically. I am not going to tell you how the movie ended; however, Mr. Torrance got his comeuppance so to speak.

8. HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL(1958)- The movie stars Vincent Price, Richard Long, and Elisha Cook. This movie is full of surprises and twists and turns. Frederick Loren, a millionaire, invites some people to his mansion and maintained that if they stay the night and are alive the next morning- they receive a bounteous reward! Let the games begin and they do! Heeeheee!!!! The main courses of the film are the floating skeleton and the crazed gray haired lady with the cloudy eyes!

7. HOUSE OF WAX(1953)- Vincent Price stars as a wax sculptor and painter. He is in partnership with an unscrupulous partner who wants out and wants to get paid for this deal. Two businessmen approached Price and indicated that they are willing to pay him for his sculptures but after they return from vacation. However, Price's partners wants the payment immediately and decides to destroy all of Price's sculptures in order to get paid. This he did and all of Price's wax sculptures went up in smoke so to speak! When Price attempted to salvage the sculptures, he became disfigured and vowed revenge against his partner.

A new revamped Price decides to add some flavor to his sculptures. That's right. He decides to kill people and to use their dead bodies as part of the wax sculptures. His wax museum became a great success with accomplices such as Igor portrayed by Charles Bronson. This movie is exciting with various twists and turns! The movie becomes even more macabre towards the end!

6. HORROR HOTEL or CITY OF THE DEAD (1960)- This movie stars Christopher Lee, Venetia Stevenson, Patricia Jessel, and Valentine Dyall. In 1692, in Whitewood, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Selwyn devilishly portrayed by Patricia Jessel, was burned at the stake for practicing witchcraft and indulging in other nefarious acts. Her accomplice was Jethro Caine, devilishly portrayed by Valentine Dyall with his deep melodious voice. Upon Elizabeth Selwyn's death, she placed a curse on Whitewood.

Two centuries and sixty-eight years later, at a college class on witchcraft, Professor Driscoll discussed Elizabeth Selwyn's burning at the stake and how unjust it was. One of his better students, Nan Barlow, wants to do more research on witchcraft as her interest was piqued in this class much to the chagrin of her boyfriend and brother, Professor Barlow, who is a scientist.

Nevetheless, Ms. Barlow, upon the suggestion of Professor Driscoll, decided to go to Whitewood to do more research on witchcraft in seventeenth century New England. Countless people warned her not to go to Whitewood as the town is very ominous. Even the minister warned Ms. Barlow to immediately leave Whitewood. However, she elected to stay at Whitewood.

Mrs. Newless who is actually Elizabeth Selwyn and her accomplice is carefully eyeing Ms. Barlow as a potential sacrifice. There are foreboding signs that Ms. Barlow is about to be a sacrifice. Part of her jewelry is gone and there is woodbine on her window sills. Ms. Barlow decided to become curious and to go downstairs! Curiosity is good but sometimes curiosity can be very, very, very bad! As Ms. Barlow proceed to go downstairs into a mysterious cavern located underneath the hotel, she is caught by thirteen witches with Professor Driscoll as one of the witches! Surprise! Surprise! Lo and behold, Mrs. Newless reveals that she is Elizabeth Selwyn and proceeds to kill Ms. Barlow.

Since Ms. Barlow is presumed missing by Professor Barlow and her boyfriend, they decide to go to Whitewood to do their own investigation. Professor Barlow comes into contact with the minister's granddaughter. She has an inkling about the nefarious doings of Whitewood. She too is slated for sacrifice by the coven. Professor Barlow and Ms. Barlow's boyfriend decide to destroy the coven and this they do by carrying a cross. Upon seeing the cross, members of the coven go up in flames. In the end of the movie, you see Elizabeth Selwyn burnt to a crisp.

5. SWEENEY TODD-THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET(1999)- This horrific movie stars Johnny Depp as the nefariously demonic barber and Helen Bodham Carter, as his equally nefarious demonic accomplice. The story starts off with Sweeney Todd being left an orphan at a very early age in Victorian England. As an adult, probably because of the abuse he endured as a child, he sublimated his rage and anger to be a barber albeit a very bloody barber.

Subsequently, he met his accomplice who decides to make delectable dishes of the corpses. Mr. Depp exhibit some great pipes in this film as he used to be a rock and roll singer before he become a very well renowned actor. Mr. Todd continued on his regression to a psychological abyss continuously killilng people oftentimes out of revenge which he could not escape from until he met his untimely death!

4. BARON BLOOD(1972)- This movie stars Elke Sommer and Joseph Cotten. A scion of a noted Austrian family decide to discover his roots. Somewhere in his ancestry was a nefarious baron. This young man wants to know who the baron is. During his sojourn, he encounters a graduate architectural student portrayed by Elke Sommer and they both decide to summon the baron. Much to their surprise and horror, the baron is summoned and with horrific results.

When the baron is summoned from the grave, he is deformed and very hideous. The baron goes on a killing spree. The young man and the architectural student want to return the baron to his grave however, this is very difficult to do to say the least. They then go to a psychic who recite the incantation to get rid of the baron but to no avail.

At an auction, a well dressed older man suddenly appears and buys the castle. This man seems eerily familiar. He invites the couple over for dinner. As the couple become friendlier with the well dressed stranger, it is revealed that he is the bloody baron. He ties the couple up and proceed to torture them; however, the architectural student unties herself and help the young men. They both recite the incantation to destroy the baron and they run from the castle.

3. ROSEMARY'S BABY(1968)- What a great year! This movie is the all time, sophisticated Gothic horror movie. This movie was set in the Dakota Apartments which is located in the Upper West Side in New York City. This delightful horror movie stars Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, the inimitable Ruth Gordon, Patsy Kelly, Elisha Wood, Maurice Evans, and a host of oldtime Hollywood notables. Rosemary Woodhouse and her husband, Guy Woodhouse, an unsuccessful actor, decide to rent an apartment at the Bradford, an apartment complex with a sinister reputation much to the chagrin of Hatch,their former landlord.

Well, let the fur fly! Days upon moving into the apartment, Rosemary encounters a young lady in the laundry who stated that she was staying with the Castevets. A couple of days, this young lady was discovered dead by suicide. Minnie Castevets expressed horror at the suicide and indicated that she could not believe that the young woman would commit such an act.. The Woodhouses offered their sympathy to the Castevets and Mrs. Castevets decided to invite them over to dinner.

The Woodhouses and the Castevets become fast friends. However, Guy Woodhouse became very close to the Castevets. On one cold evening, Minnie Castevets decided to pay a visit to Rosemary armed with her famous chocolate mousse containing a secret ingredient. As Rosemary consumed the chocolate mousse, she became dizzy and was taken downstairs to a secret place. Rosemary, in her stupor, was offered to Satan(it is rumored that this role was portrayed by Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan) to father a child.

Rosemary realized that she was being raped by Satan. Buckle up, folks, everything goes downhill from here. Rosemary has a very difficult pregnancy in which she loses weight and looks worn and haggard. Their former landlord who expresses concern is suddenly hospitalized and subsequently dies. The most revealing movie scene was the New Year's Party which Mr. Castevets stated that it was the year 1 for the year 1966.

At the funeral of the landlord, Hatch's friend, Grace Handry, present a book on witchcraft to Rosemary, further instructing her that something is amiss with the Castevets. When Rosemary was doing a wordgame, she discovered that Mr. Castevets was the son of a nefarious leader of a coven. Rosemary was innately suspicious of the Castevets but now she has evidence. When she informs Guy of this, he merely scoffed at her and discarded the book.

Rosemary becomes increasingly apprehensive, knowing that she is surrounded by satanic witches. This includes Dr. Sapertstein, her medical doctor. Towards the end of Rosemary's pregnancy, the nurse at Dr. Saperstein's office divulged that he was wearing tannis root which indicated that he was part of the same satanic cult that the Castevets belonged to. Rosemary became more apprehensive and abruptly left the office to contact Dr. Hill, her former physician, who then contacted Dr. Saperstein. Dr. Saperstein, portrayed by Hollywood great Ralph Bellamy, informed Rosemary that she should stop being paranoid or she would be placed in a mental institution.

Dr. Saperstein and Guy, her husband, grabbed her and dragged her home. Rosemary suddenly broke away from them and got into the apartment. Dr. Saperstein, Guy, and the satanic cohorts cornered Rosemary with Dr. Saperstein injecting a mild sedative in her. When Rosemary awoke, she was informed that she "lost" her baby. However, this was not the case as she later discovers! The ending of the movie is very climactic and I will not reveal it here!

2. BLACK SUNDAY(1960)- This deluxe, Gothic horror movies has many imitators; however, this movie is clearly an original masterpiece of horror. The film stars Barbara Steele, John Richardson, Arturo Dominici, his daughter Germana Dominici, Ivo Garrani, and Andrea Checchi. Ms. Steele portrayed Asa, a seventeenth century Moldavian princess and witch and her descendant, Katja Vajda. Asa was tried for witchcraft along with her accomplice, Igor Javutich. Her brother, Prince of Vajda, conducted the Inquisition. The penalty for Asa was to be burned at the stake. However, before this punishment was carried out, the Mask of Satan was to be nailed to her face. Before being burned at the stake, Asa placed a curse on the family and descendants of the Prince of Vajda, her brother. She vowed that the curse would continue throughout the nights of time.

It is now the nineteenth century and two doctors, Thomas Kruvajan and Andre Gorobec, was en route to attend a medical convention in Moscow. However, Dr. Kruvajan, the older and more experienced of the doctors informed Andre Gorobec not to be in a rush and that he wanted a respite at an inn in Moldavia. Before stopping at the inn, curiosity got the best of Dr. Kruvajan. He and Dr. Gorobec decided to stop at the chapel. As they entered the chapel, they saw the grave of Princess Asa. Curiosity again got the better of Dr. Kruvajan and he decided to lift the Mask of Satan from Asa's face.

As Dr. Kruvajan studied Asa, he was attacked by a bat drawing some blood which dripped on Asa slowly resurrecting her. Dr. Gorobec left Dr. Kruvajan to assist the driver to repair a wheel. Dr. Gorobec returned to the chapel and Dr. Kruvajan decided that it was time to leave the chapel. Dr. Kruvajan took as a souvenir an icon. As they left the chapel, they both encountered Princess Katja who informed them that the chapel is cursed.

Meanwhile at the Vajda castle, Prince Vajda and his children, Katja and Constantine were gathered together. Prince Vajda noticed something awry with the portrait of Asa and Katja concurred with Prince Vajda. Constantine stated to Katja that the portrait always affect her which she replied that oftentimes she was deathly afraid of it. Prince Vajda had a premonition that he was about to die when he stated that his soul was tired and instructed Constantine and Katja to go to bed as he wanted to be alone.

Prince Vajda's servant, Ivan, bought him a drink. As he put the cup to his mouth, the mask of Satan appeared. Alarmed, Prince Vajda suddenly dropped the cup, informing Ivan that he was frightened. Ivan assured Prince Vajda to have the cross near him at all times to protect himself.

At the hotel, Drs.Kruvajan and Gorobec were having a good time. Then Dr. Gorobec dismissed himself and decided to go to bed. Dr. Kruvajan informed Dr. Gorobec that he would alert him when it is time to go to the convention in Moscow. Dr. Kruvajan decided to go outside for a respite.

The innkeeper instructed her daughter to milk the cows. However, the innkeeper's daughter was apprehensive as the cowshed was near the haunted cemeetery and she did not want to go. However, Dr. Kruvajan informed the girl that there was nothing to be afraid of. As the innkeeper's daughter milked her cow, there was immense thunder and lightening. Then there is the climactic scene where Asa summons Igor Javutich to rise from his grave. This is one of the most scariest scenes in the movie.

Igor Javutich is played convincingly by Arturo Dominici. As Javutich slowly rises from his grave with the devil's mask, he surveys the area and abruptly tears off the devil's mask from his face. His face looks very menacing. Javutich then proceed towards the Vajda castle. Suddenly, there is a stirring in the Vajda castle as if there was some invisible force was there. Prince Vajda is awake and hears this noise. Suddenly, his bedroom door opens and then is Javutich. Javutich starts to menacingly progress toward Prince Vajda and he becomes more frightened. Then Prince Vajda presents the cross to Javutich and he abruptly leaves the bedroom.

Prince Vajda screamed and his children come to what was wrong. Prince Vajda screams that something evil is here and that he is doomed. Prince Vajda starts to go into shock and Katja summons Boris to get the doctors that are at the inn. Oh, oh, here it comes! Somehow, Igor Javutich hears of the situation and inform Dr. Kruveyan to come with him to the castle as Prince Vajda is ill. Dr. Kruvajan goes with Javutich and gets into the coach. Now, you see Javutich driving the coach as if all hell breaks loose. As Dr. Kruvajan arrives at the castle with Javutich, he is temporarily derailed from seeing Prince Vajda but instead is steered downstairs to the chapel to Asa.

Asa has quite a surprise for Dr. Kruvajan. Her casket breaks open and she is breathing maniacally, instructing Dr. Kruvajan to come closer. Asa informed him that he will die but he will be alive in death. Dr. Kruvajan suddenly appears at the Vajda castle but not to care for Prince Vajda but to kill him. Things start to go awry at this moment. When Constantine sees his father, he is dead and instructs Katja not to see him. When Katja sees her father, she screams. Dr. Gorobec is summoned to the castle and Constantine indicated that his colleague was a neglectful doctor.

Dr. Gorobec expressed surprise at this because this is not in Dr. Kruvajan's character. It is discovered that Boris, the coachman, is dead. The townspeople and peasants were gathered at the castle. Dr. Gorobec summoned the innkeeper's daughter and inquired what happened. The innkeeper's indicated that the coachman was not Boris but Javutich. Katja dismissed this notion, indicating that Javutich is long dead.

Dr. Gorobec then consulted the village priest, indicating the weird occurrences at the castle. The priest became alerted when Dr. Gorobec mentioned Javutich. The priest maintained that Boris would be buried. Later that night at the castle, Javutich instructed Dr. Kruvajan to find Katja and bring her to him. As Katja was preparing for bed, she saw two hands reaching for him. She become frightened and summoned Constantine and Dr. Gorobec. As Dr. Gorobec went into his room, he saw Dr. Kruvajan who warned him not to be concerned with things that do not affect him. Dr. Gorobec wondered where his colleague was. When Dr. Gorobec showed Dr. Kruvajan the icon, he abruptly left the room. As Dr. Gorobec pursued Dr. Kruvajan, it was discovered that he left through the fireplace and that the dogs were bleeding to death.

In the interim, Dr. Gorobec started to fall in love with Katja and instructed her to leave the castle for her own wellbeing. However, things will get worse before they get better. The fireplace door opened and there was a naked portrait of Asa practicing witchcraft. Dr. Gorobec wanted to find the whereabouts of Asa. Constantine intended to go with Dr. Gorobec and informed Ivan to stand guard. Ivan was strangled by Javutich.

Dr. Gorobec saw the priest who informed him that Dr. Kruvajan is actually a vampire doing the bidding of Asa and Javutich. Meanwhile at the Vajda castle, Katja was praying over the grave of her father. As it became nighttime, Prince Vajda awoke, informing Katja that he was no longer her father and that he wanted to drink her blood. Javutich put a stop to this, throwing the prince into the fireplace where he slowly burnt to death. He then carried Katja to present her to Asa who would be resurrected through her. However, this would not be the case. Asa was discovered by the townspeople who put her to a second, final death.

1. THE EXORCIST(1973) - By far, this movie is the scariest movie of all time. People have remarked that they slept with the lights on after viewing this movie. There are two versions of this movie- the one that was seen and the other that was not seen. I suggest that you purchase the one that was not seen. I would not divulge the reason why but just purchase the movie. This movie stars Linda Blair, Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Jason Miller, and Lee J. Cobb.

An archaeologist, Fr. Merrin goes on an excavation of artifacts in Iraq where he discovers a demonic stature, Pazuzu. Then the scene switches to Washington D.C. on Halloween. Ominous events start to occur which includes the desecration of the Virgin Mary in a Roman Catholic church.

Meanwhile at the MacNeil house, Chris MacNeil and her daughter, Regan, were using the Ouija board to ask some questions. Then suddenly there was an answer from the Ouija board to which Regan replied that the response was not nice. Things start to worsen. One night, there was rumblings in the house and Ms. MacNeil informed the staff to look into it and one of the staff replaced that there was nothing going on.

Then Regan slept with her mother because the bed was shaking. Regan's behavior started to become more erratic and Ms. MacNeil started to seek help from specialists but to no avail. The medical specialists could not find anything physical nor mentally wrong with her. However, Ms. MacNeil realized that Regan was becoming progressively worse and she contacted Fr. Karras, a priest who specialized in psychiatry. Fr. Karras, who has some issues of his own, informed Ms. MacNeil that Regan has a psychiatric disorder to which she become incensed, stating that she knew that something with wrong with her daughter and she needed help beyond medical help.

Fr. Karras decided to investigate the situation and Fr. Merrin was contacted to perform an exorcism on Regan. Fr. Merrin's faith was unshakeable and he instructed Fr. Karras to remain steadfast in performing his task. Regan was exorcised of her demons but at a cost. Fr. Karras decided to take the demon which eventually killed him. There is my take on the ten scariest movies of all times. I am now going to watch THE SENTINEL, another horror movie that I enjoy. Peace to all and enjoy the daylight.