From Fear To ObscurityFrom Fear To Obscurity

Don't take another step! Perhaps you were about to grab Dracula, The Exorcist, Psycho, or another traditional horror flick off the video shelf. Nothing wrong with those, but this Halloween take a different turn and consider something off the well-trodden path:

Carnival Of Souls (1962)--A phantom figure follows a woman after her car crashes into a river.

Candyman (1992)--Academic researches the legend of an obscure serial killer.

Dawn Of The Dead (1978)--The second in George Romero's zombie trilogy is the perfect blend of gore, chills, and humor.

Dead Of Night (1945)--Guests at a country house trade spine-tingling ghost stories.

Evil Dead 2 (1987)--Humor meets gore as evil spirits hunt campers.

The Hills Have Eyes (1977)--Wicked little Wes Craven film about a family under siege from freakish cannibals in the desert.

Let's Scare Jessica To Death (1971)--Creepy rarity. A woman recovering from a nervous breakdown starts seeing things during a retreat.

The Night Stalker (1971)--Smart-aleck reporter investigates bizarre murders in Las Vegas. Later turned into a TV series.

Nosferatu (1922)--Eerie silent German horror film about the fanged one.

Phantasm (1979)--Teens discover a surreal world occupied by the "Tall Man" and his flying spheres.

Rabid (1977)--After life-saving plastic surgery, a woman develops a thirst for human blood. From David Cronenberg.

Salem's Lot (1979)--Stephen King adaptation about vampires in a small town.

Sisters (1973)--Margot Kidder plays separated Siamese twins, one of whom may be a homicidal maniac. Great stuff from Brian De Palma.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)--Not nearly as bloody as its sounds--though painfully believable--this nightmare has a group of youngsters running from a family of murderers.

The Thing (1982)--Antarctic scientists unleash terror after discovering an alien spaceship. John Carpenter's remake.

Don't forget to turn the lights off.