I need some suggestions from you. It’s October. Halloween is coming. I’m in the mood for a scary movie. However, there are a few complicating factors. Despite being afraid of all kinds of weird things, I’m not afraid of movies. The only pieces of entertainment that have managed to scare me are a couple of X-Files episodes (“Irresistible” and “Roadrunners”). Aside from that, though, most horror movies are just bad, with lame writing and terrible acting.

I liked The Exorcist, but it didn’t scare me. Same with Carrie. I saw Rosemary’s Baby last year and found it interesting but a little hokey. I was really disappointed in The Blair Witch Project– I was amazed by how not-scary it was. I couldn’t get into 28 Days Later and turned it off, bored, halfway through. I do like the Scream movies, but mostly because they’re funny and self-aware. Halloween, on the other hand, I found hilarious because the characters are so flipping dumb. I hated Final Destination. The Birds wasn’t scary and was pretty anticlimactic. Psycho is only scary if you don’t know about the shower scene (and who doesn’t?).

Now for the getting-a-little-warmers. I liked Identity, mainly because of the twist in it, but didn’t find it scary. The Others caused me to jump in a few places and had a good ending. I feel the same way about The Sixth Sense, Signs, and Panic Room. The Shining was genuinely creepy, but didn’t keep me up at night. And I really liked The Ring.

I tend to find humans scarier than any kind of intangible force, so there’s one clue for you. I also like twist endings and genuine surprises. Do any of you know of any scary movies out there that fit the bill?