9 Movies To Watch in October

Every October for as long as I can remember I have always left my weekend evenings on reserve. This is so that I can be available to watch scary movies that are inevitably broadcast on television this time of year. Sometimes I think I'd like to be hypnotized so that I can be taken back to my childhood and determine where exactly this LOVE of suspense/horror movies comes from. I think I have an idea though.

I just thought back to my 16th birthday. My mom told me that I could have a sleepover at my home in celebration of Sweet 16! I invited a few girls over the Friday evening of my birthday. I remember my mom ordering pizza and making us popcorn. At some point that evening, we also rented movies from a family-owned video store up the street from our home. There was a small room in the back of the video store reserved for horror movies. My mom was always very strict about which movies we were able to view in our home. Nothing rated R was allowed. Most of the movies in the small room at the video store were rated R, so that room was mostly off-limits...until I turned 16 that is! I remember being in the aforementioned room at the video store and selecting "Halloween 5".

Once my friends arrived at my home we all gathered in our cozy family room, popped in the movie, and turned off the lights. I can still see the sleeping bags strewn across the floor as we all began munching on popcorn in wide-eyed, suspenseful anticipation of the movie. I can still remember the feeling I had...the rush of adrenaline. This feeling apparently stayed with me through the next morning; my mom took us all out to lunch and afterward to a movie theater. I decided on a movie called "Jacob's Ladder". I had no idea what it was about, but I remember thinking that the previews on television during commercials sure seemed scary. None of us enjoyed it very much and ended up leaving and browsing the other theaters to find something better to watch. We settled on the last-half of Child's Play 2, which had just been released the evening before. We agreed that it was not bad and gave us sporadic jumps and chills!

Whether it was the introduction to these movies and the emotional, mental, and hence physical (from an adrenal standpoint) reaction at the age of 16 (when hormones are just starting to settle down), or if it had more to do with the fact that I had my best friends over to share this great time with me, I believe that my love of horror/suspense movies was born that weekend. I don't even celebrate Halloween as an actual holiday at all. But I always get caught up in the movie (and candy) aspect of it. So beginning today, every Friday and Saturday evening this month I will choose one of my favorite suspense films to watch (and maybe throw in one I've never seen). That should total 9 movies for the month of October. Since I missed yesterday I will try to watch two this evening.

Kicking it off with "Scream" starring Neve Campbell and Courtney Cox. I will also watch the US remake of "The Eye" starring Jessica Alba. Those are definitely two of my faves to date.

Scariest moments in Scream:

When Casey Becker realizes that the person on the phone is right outside of her front door.

When Sydney locks herself "safely" in the police van only to realize seconds later that the killer is standing right outside the driver-side window dangling the van keys in front of her

When Randy is watching "Halloween" by himself at Stuart's house

When the real killer(s) are revealed