I really liked Nathan’s Chillers list and it got me thinkin’ of my favorite type (don’t think there’s a “spooky” genre) of movie — that is, a movie that’s spooky, sometimes scary, suspenseful, thrilling, mysterious and many times pure fun! Here in no particular order (though you should know that The ‘Burbs is my favorite movie of all time) are my top spooky movies-

Calvaire (The Ordeal)

The Others

Sleepy Hollow

Rear Window

The fabulous Wait Until Dark (1967) starring Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman who levels the playing field with her attackers.

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken

The Shining (classic), The Thing (1982), From Hell (greatest conspiracy theory movie outside of Conspiracy Theory the movie?)

Ravenous

The Lost Boys (Kiefer Sutherland vs. Cory Feldman = everyone wins), Poltergeist, Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, The ‘Burbs (it’s personal and personally the entire cast and crew have NEVER been better.)

Young Frankenstein

Shadow of the Vampire

Clue. I’m really worried about the rumored remake; after all  the original is already the best movie ever adapted from a board game!

Halloween (1978)

The Frighteners (Michael J. Fox)

What do you think? Who makes your list? What genre would you put my list in?

Recently I asked you who your favorite big screen werewolf was and that got me thinkin’ about some other popular characters portrayed by multiple leading men in the movies. This discussion must always start with the character of agent 007 James Bond, best played by Sean Connery. Other popular Bonds were Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore while Timothy Dalton and George Lazenby aren’t

remembered so fondly for their portrayal of the famous secret agent. Currently carrying the torch and ordering shaken martinis is Daniel Craig who seems to make a lot of people happy; I prefer him on the other side of the law as he was in Layer Cake and Road to Perdition.

Then there’s Dracula, or vampires in general. The list of actors who have played a vampire on film is a long one. So here are a few that come to mind, please remind me of any as I’ll most definitely leave some out – Leslie Nielsen (Dracula: Dead and Loving It), Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise (Interview with the Vampire), Willem Dafoe (Shadow of the Vampire),  Robert Pattinson (Twilight), Bela Lugosi (Dracula), Gary Oldman (1992′s Dracula), Frank Langella (1979′s Dracula), Christopher Lee (1970′s Count Dracula), and Kiefer Sutherland (The Lost Boys). Needless to say, all of these guys suck, but who is your favorite?

Second in big-screen adaptation popularity to Dracula is  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes who, along with Dracula, has been in the movies since the very beginning. Personally I’ve got a John Barrymore’s Sherlock Holmes (1922) waiting for me on my DVR, which I recorded after seeing Robert Downey Jr. play the part this past Christmas. I also watched a slew of Sherlock films from the late 1930s into the 40s starring Basil Rathbone, the man most of us think of when we imagine Holmes. Robert Stephens played the part of Holmes in what I consider to be one of the worst Holmes films The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Probably the most popular Holmes story The Hound of the Baskervilles has seen many leading men including Peter Cushing (1959) and Peter Cook (1978) in the role of Holmes. My favorite Holmes adaptation is Disney’s The Great Mouse Detective (1986) starring Barrie Ingham’s Basil of Baker Street as a Holmes-like mouse.

Another Hollywood mainstay that’s been around almost as long as Sherlock and Dracula is Robin Hood. Russell Crowe will be slinging arrows this May in theaters as Robin Hood. My favorite Hood is a tie between Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Disney’s foxy 1973 adaptation voiced by Brian Bedford. Douglas Fairbanks first wore the tights and feathered cap in 1922′s Robin Hood followed by Errol Flynn in 1938′s Robin Hood. Mel Brooks didn’t play the part but he did direct Cary Elwes as he had fun with the part in Robin Hood: Men in Tights. One Hood adaptation that I’ve not seen and as a native Texan am dying to see is Gene Autry’s 1947 Robin Hood of Texas! I can only imagine…

Honorable mention goes to Batman and Superman, both qualify for this discussion but I really don’t think either are very interesting as the best/worst in each case are pretty black and white. Don’t agree with me? Say so!

So what is the big fuss about this movie? The Soundtrack is garnering a solid following already and the Twilight Trailer has been viewed over 5 million times on my space alone. I guess there are a lot of goth vampire freaks out there in myspace land. Honestly I don’t get the whole myspace thing but oh well.

Twilight is the 1st in a series of books written by Stephenie Meyer and has become a underground phenomenon that is soon to become mainstream. I do have to admit when trying to find a new book to read I pondered on Twilight prior to any announcement of a movie or what not. I put it back and opted for something more sound.

I am a very vampire loving geek, but this looks like a teen crush type of flick to me. I won’t fully judge this without seeing the movie or at least picking up the book. With that said my new flavor of the month is True Blood, I must say is a guilty pleasure, and one of my favorite movies of my childhood would without a doubt be The Lost Boys!

Twilight will hit theaters November 21st and we will see a many theater full to the brim with little teenage girls.

Listen to the Twilight Soundtrack here.

Watch the Twilight Trailer on Atomic Popcorn.