In the spirit of Halloween, BereaOnline posed the following question to some folks around town: What is the scariest movie you’ve ever seen?

Sandra Bolin:
The scariest movie I ever saw was "The Thing" back in the 1950s. I was very young, and the thought of being in an isolated place with a strange and scary ice creature on the loose was terrifying to a little kid. I've seen other scary movies, of course, but that was the one that impressed me the most. In my work with children and the courts, I wish I could make people realize what a big impression early experiences have on children, for good or bad

Larry Shinn:
I used to be a horror show, murder mystery, and science fiction "freak." Hence, there have been many movies that have scared me thoroughly (from Friday 13th and Psycho to The Shining). But the first movie that really scared me was Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds." The thing that was most scary was that a natural phenomenon (i.e., birds) was "out of control" and for a teenager who was not sure anything was dependable, that was scary!

Ken Gastineau
One of the scariest movies I have ever seen was "Portrait of Dorian Gray." It seemed so realistic and plausible. It has definitely kept me on the straight and narrow. For a movie to be scary to me there has to be some element of reality and plausibility. My favorite is "The Ring." Kind of makes you wonder what you are putting into your VCR. For sheer reality, the absolutely scariest movie I have ever seen is "Saving Private Ryan." If that movie doesn't make you appreciate our veterans, then nothing will.

Dee Hudson:
I have always thought "The Birds" was a scary movie, especially as it related to the school children.

Jennifer Rose Escobar:
It was actually the result of a mistake a friend and I made at the video store while we were in college. We rented what we thought was the Broadway show, "Phantom of the Opera," and planned to ditch our dorm accommodations and stay up all night at her mom's trailer at the edge of town to watch it. The movie we rented was not, however, the Broadway show. It was a graphic suspense/horror flick based on the original "Phantom" story, complete with detailed scenes of the Phantom removing skin from...well...recently deceased vocalists to sew pieces onto his own decomposing face. I think God had a good laugh at us that night, because there was an uncommonly loud thunderstorm that started almost as soon as the movie was over.

Janice Gabbard:
“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” I don't think I watched the movie all the way through, but I thought the previews were scary enough!

Hannah Billings: “I don’t watch scary movies, they scare me!”

Chad Hembree: I think the scariest movie ever made was “The Birds” followed by “Psycho”. This notion was reinforced when I visited Universal Studios in Orlando where scenes from “The Birds” have been converted to 3D. I think Alfred Hitchcock was a genius, I can only imagine what he could do with today’s technology.

Andy McDonald: “The Last Man on Earth,” starring Vincent Price. Price plays a scientist who is the sole survivor of a devastating global plague. He suddenly finds himself surrounded by a bizarre host of freaks and zombies. No, wait – I must be thinking of my last trip to California.

Written by Andy McDonald - BereaOnline.com Contributing Editor