12:35
- ABC News
- October 26, 2016
Best Scary Movies for Halloween
Peter Travers puts together his favorites.
Video by Peter Travers, Peter Travers, Peter Travers
12:35
But if zombies aren’t your thing, maybe vampires will do it for you.
“There’s a movie that you don’t know about that I want you to watch. It’s directed by Catherine Bigelow,” Travers said. “Yes, that Catherine Bigelow who won an Oscar for ‘The Hurt Locker.’ Before that she made a movie called ‘Near Dark,’ which is kind of a Western version of a vampire movie. It sneaks up on you and it just knocks you down.”
![](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/NearDark.png\")
Just how much fun can one have during the Halloween season without ghosts? Probably not much. Travers included several ghost movies on his list.
“Who can forget ‘The Sixth Sense’ where little Haley Joel Osment kept running around saying, ‘I See Dead People?’” Travers said. “And the truth is, he did. And that movie with Bruce Willis -- I think that was his last really great performance -- can still give you the chills.”
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/GTY_Sixth_Sense_MEM_161024_4x3t_384.jpg\")
Travers added, “Then of course there was ‘The Ring,’ which Naomi Watts was in when it was the American version. But all of you Japanese horror fans know that the best one is called ‘Ringu.’ I don’t want to say anything [more] because if you’re going to watch it, you’ve already seen Naomi Watts do it. Watch the Japanese version of it.”
Watch the “Ringu” movie trailer:
There's still another horror flick category that seems to have found a cult following.
“For the new world, we have a bunch of ‘Conjuring’ movies now, ‘Conjuring 1 and 2,’ which are actually quite good if you want to see a haunted house movie. ‘Amityville Horror’; never liked it, never will like it,\" Travers said. “But ‘The Conjuring’ gets what we need to get. “
![](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/TheConjuring.png\")
Over the years demonic figures like Jason Voorhees have become all the rage. And they've found a solid place in the scary movie lineup.
“You should all have this argument at home,” Travers said. “Which one of these demonic figures is the scariest? Freddie Krueger always got me because he had those slicy Edward Scissorhands kind of things going and haunted your dreams. But then there are all those ‘Halloween’ movies with Michael Meyers in it. He had that mask and it was, ‘Ooh’. And then we have a bunch of ‘Friday the 13th’ movies which has Jason Voorhees. The only one worth watching is the first one.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/HT_Freddie_Krueger_Michael_Meyers_MEM_161024_4x3t_384.jpg\")
Travers said there are some great scary movies most people have never heard of.
“There’s one called ‘Frailty.’ It’s with Bill Paxton and he basically is telling his sons that demons are roaming the earth and that they have to grow up and learn to kill them,” Travers said. “The man is crazier than anything I’ve ever seen in a movie.”
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/GTY_Frailty_MEM_161024_4x3t_384.jpg\")
“Don’t Look Now” and “Martyrs” also made it on the list.
“This is a dare to you. If you can sit through all of ‘Martyrs’ and not need some kind of bucket to throw up in, you get an award from me,” Travers joked. “If you really want to test yourself, that’s the one to do it.”
Watch the “Martyrs” movie trailer:
So what are really the best movies of all time that will work and that will still get you, the true classics? You may have guessed that “Carrie” makes the list.
![](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/Carrie.png\")
Be sure to watch the video above for Peter Travers’ full list of scary movies, including his Top 10 Classic Halloween films of all time.
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