After scaring off the last of the trick-or-treaters tonight and dimming the outside lights, many of us will round out Halloween by watching a scary movie.

Although the horror genre has experienced a resurgence in recent years, Journal readers who responded to a request for their picks for scary movies were decidedly old school, selecting such horror classics as "The Spiral Staircase," "The Thing" and, of course, Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho."

According to the Redbox Halloween Thrillers survey, scary movies are an inherent part of Halloween, second only to trick-or-treating. Even though 70 percent of people surveyed said they will watch a frightening film this Halloween, less than half said they will do it alone, according to Redbox, an automated DVD rental company.

Journal readers' tales of terror follow.

Scary spirals

When I was about 9 years old, I liked the actor-hero George Brent. I went to the movies often because it was only 20 cents. I went to see the movie "The Spiral Staircase" with Dorothy McGuire as a young woman unable to speak and George Brent as an author-employer. About half an hour into "Staircase," three handicapped women had been murdered. Everyone suspected George Brent's brother until we, the moviegoers, discovered wonderful George Brent was the murderer. How horrible to discover this!

Dorothy McGuire runs around the large mansion, trying to escape from George. She tries to telephone her doctor friend, but no words come. Dorothy continues to struggle (to speak) into the telephone. I was so frightened for that helpless female.

"Spiral" is in black and white with many shadows. In one scene, Rhonda Fleming is strangled to death in dark shadows. What the movie audience does not see makes the imagination run wild in terror and violence.

Alas, the loss of the hero, George Brent. He gets his at the end.

- Anne Fauvell

Favorites from the '60s

"Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte" (released December 1964) starring Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotton and Agnes Moorehead and "Wait Until Dark" (released October 1967) with Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. These two movies beat any of the current slasher genre for scary--hands down (pun intended)!

I haven't seen either of my "scariest movies" for a very long time. They came out in the mid-'60's when I was only 11 or so, and maybe that's what made them so scary for me.

Let's face it, Bette Davis was just a scary woman to begin with, but especially when she was a bit crazed!

My favorite part of the film was the theme song: "Hush, hush sweet Charlotte-hush now, don't you cry. Hush, hush sweet Charlotte … I'll love you till I die" (which, of course, was the whole point since her lover didn't last long in the film!).

I think the "Wait Until Dark" movie seemed so scary because Audrey Hepburn portrays a defenseless blind woman who uses her heightened senses to outsmart "the bad guys." I remember being on the edge of my seat during the final scenes.

- Shelli Vallis

Hitchcock pick

I pick "Psycho!" The music was also scary. … The shower scene, stabbing scene, was gruesome. The way Anthony Perkins was acting the mother, talking in the house, made you wonder. The drama was through the entire movie, and of course, Mother herself in the end was a shocker. I watch it when it's on TV. It was a good Alfred Hitchcock show.

- Arno Selberg

More 'Psycho'

For its time, I pick Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho."

You didn't have a clue to the upcoming horrible stabbing, and even when it focused on her bleeding body and went to her eye it was scary, and of course, the images of all that had happened. The rest was scary, too. I found when she turned the mother around in the rocking chair scared me, too. The music went along, too. It made it scary. After I saw that

movie, when I took a shower, I constantly looked out into the bathroom for years. At the time that was released, I don't ever remember a scary movie that scared me like that. I liked the ending when he said, "They will think I won't even hurt a fly." I had a friend that wouldn't take a shower unless someone stayed in the bathroom with her.

- Gerry Selberg

I am 78 years old. When I was 7 years old, I went to the movies alone. It was in the Majestic Theatre in Sturgis. The movie was "The Smiling Ghost." Glenn Ford was the only actor that I remember. The parts I remember most vividly took place in the mausoleum of a big cemetery. It frightened me so badly that I didn't go to another movie until I got into Sturgis High School. It was a big disappointment to my mother, since that was one of the few times that she could have completely to herself without worrying about my whereabouts. The image of a face looking through a crack is still vivid in my mind. The scene would shift to a casket, sometimes with a body in it and sometimes it would be empty. 1937 was the year that I took in that movie. To this day, I am still not a movie fan.

- Ralph Soelzer

Fish food

My favorite scary movie is "Piranha" (1978). It scared me because it wasn't like "Jaws," because "Jaws" was in salt water. And I'm really far away from salt water. And "Piranha" was in freshwater, and I swim in lakes and rivers. So when I swam at Coldbrook, I was afraid that a little fish or catfish would come up and bite me! Because they ate people, really fast!

- Reed Langer, 11

Creature feature

The original "The Thing," with James Arness as the creature. I remember seeing this movie at the Garlock Theater in Custer when our family lived at Blue Bell Lodge in Custer State Park. I was only about 10 years old at the time, and my dad drove the four of us to Custer to watch the movie. Imagine! After the movie, driving back to the park from Custer-dark, spooky forest, isolation of our lodge in the wintertime. Scariest of all - trying to find a bed big enough for the whole family to sleep in that night. My younger brother and I had nightmares for weeks after seeing that one.

- Tom Wilson

Top 10 scariest movies of all time

1. "The Shining" (1980)

2. "The Evil Dead" (1983)

3. "Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984)

4. "The Haunting" (1963)

5. "Halloween" (1978)

6. "Alien" (1979)

7. "Dawn of the Dead" (1979)

8. "Dead by Dawn: Evil Dead 2" (1987)

9. "Psycho" (1960)

10. "The Exorcist" (1973)

Source: www.boxofficeprophets.com

Top horror flicks of the past 10 years

1. "28 Days Later" (2002)

2. "The Descent" (2005)

3. "Grindhouse" (2007)

4. "Shaun of the Dead" (2004)

5. "Dawn of the Dead" (2004)

6. "28 Weeks Later" (2007)

7. "Zodiac" (2007)

8. "The Sixth Sense" (1999)

9. "Slither" (2006)

10. "Saw" (2004)

Source: www.thecriticalcritics.com