by James Thornton

Created on: July 21, 2009

Today's horror films are dominated by "slasher films" or "torture porn". These films are more gross than scary. Cheap scares are scored by making the audience jump with surprise attacks. I call this the Boo Technique. Lull the audience into a false sense of security and then - Boo! Make them jump out of their seats. A great horror film continues to scare the audience long after the movie is over, and doesn't debase itself with cheap scares. True masterpieces of horror rely on plot and setting. Most of all, they make you afraid of everyday ordinary things. Here are five movies and an honorable mention that scared me. I guarantee they will scare you without the gore and make you think twice about watching that mysterious tape or skipping church.

The honorable mention is "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" (1959). This Disney movie is a family film set in early Twentieth Century Ireland. The main plot of the film centers on the loveable rascal Darby and his adventures with Leprechauns, which are not scary in the least bit. The really scary part of the movie is near the end and involves a Banshee, which is a female ghost and death omen. If you hear one you're certain to be dead soon - very soon. I saw this when I was about six years old, and after I saw it I slept with the lights on and listening for wailing until I was almost eight. This is a great film. The special effects are good enough to impress today's audience, and it is also one of Sean Connery's earliest films.

The rest of the list follows from scary to terrifying.

Scary - Dracula (1979) - This film is underappreciated and is hard to find in the video store. I haven't been able to catch it on cable or satellite. It received positive reviews from most critics back in the day, but was a box office dud thanks in part to an over saturated market. The earlier release of "Love at First Bite" starring George Hamilton made this movie hard to take seriously. "Dracula" stars Frank Langella as the Count. Women will love his performance. The movie also stars Lawrence Olivier as Van Helsing. The scariest scene in the movie involves a new vampire and a newborn baby. What makes this scene horrific is the notion that women nurture children; not the other way around. Some people who didn't like this movie had issues with the deviations from the novel. If you're really familiar with Bram Stoker's original story this film will either mildly surprise you or tick you off if you're

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