Top 5: Horror Flicks

Halloween is right around the corner and every magazine and Web site are listing their top 5 horror films, but I decided that it would be better to give you all a list of the most under-rated horror flicks for your morbid viewing pleasure. Sure you could see "Halloween" for the 10th time or try and scare your friends with "The Exorcist" again, but if you really want them to wet their pants with terror or unintentional laughter, it is time to dig deeper into the grave to find some horror that isn't on Elm Street.

5-"Suspiria" (1977) Italian director Dario Argento's masterpiece is one messed up film. A coven of witches run a ballet school with murders aplenty. The tagline to the movie: "The only thing more terrifying than the last 12 minutes of this film are the first 92" is pretty apt when it comes to this acid trip of a horror film. For those not used to Italian horror, this movie will freak you out.

4-"Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" (1986) John McNaughton directed this movie about real-life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. Unlike fluff films like "Silence of the Lambs," "Henry" takes a terrifying non-biased look into the psyche of a very troubled killer. The film is raw and unflinching. Twenty years later, this movie still manages to disturb most audiences.

3-"Night of the Comet" (1984) Thom Eberhart's 80s horror/ sci-fi bomb shows us what happens when a comet passes too close to Earth and leaves only two Valley Girls and a whole mess of zombies. "Comet" mixes equal parts "Omega Man" and "Valley Girl" to create a surprisingly entertaining movie that pays tribute to everything that came before it. If you love "Shaun of the Dead," then you will really die for the original romantic zombie comedy.

2-"Monster Squad" (1987) Directed by Fred Dekker, this cult classic is "Goonies" meets the Universal Monsters. And even though it is heavy on kids, it is also wildly entertaining and full of some good old-fashioned scares that are pretty rare these days. The film is finally on DVD after a 15-year wait and answers the age-old question of whether or not the Wolfman has nards.

1-"Night of the Creeps" (1986) This is another Fred Dekker classic that combines horror and comedy along with slug aliens, zombies and frat boys. Like "Night of the Comet," this film is an homage to the great horror/sci-fi films of yesterday, but any description fails to do it justice. This flick is a bloody gem, the kind of movie you find on late-night cable that makes it almost impossible to change the channel. It is the 80s gone totally wrong for all the right reasons.