Tomorrow is Halloween, but that doesn't mean you'll be out. Maybe you're not in the mood to go trick-or-treating or to get all dressed up and go to a costume party. There's nothing wrong with that. But if you're going to stay home on Halloween, you should at least get in the spirit of things with a scary movie marathon.

Several local movie (and horror) buffs gave us their lists of the must-see scary movies. So lock the doors, turn out the lights and prepared to be scared.

Halloween - Eight years after brutally killing his sister, Mike Meyers returns to his hometown to stalk and kill a group of teens on Halloween night. Meanwhile, the rest of the town is blissfully unaware.

"It's on Halloween night, and everybody expects to have a good time," says Aaron Franklin, a master zombie at The Bone Factory, "but nobody expects anyone to get killed."

This movie made everyone's list, and all were quick to say you need to watch the original 1978 version, not the 2007 remake.

Nightmare on Elm Street

series

Years after a group of parents kill child murderer Freddy Krueger, he comes back to exact revenge by torturing their teens while they sleep.

Benny Hamilton of Deadmen Walking special effects company says it's the idea of someone getting you in your sleep that makes these movies so scary.

"Dracula and the Werewolf you can avoid, but you can't stay awake forever," he says. "You've got to sleep sometime."

The Omen and The Exorcist

Both were released in the 1970s and both deal with the devil. "The Omen" is the story of a young boy who's the son of Satan, while "The Exorcist" is about a young girl who becomes possessed by the devil. Bob Schultz, KQTV movie critic, says the movies' style is what makes them chilling.

"They're more close to the bone, realistically," he says, "so that when they have an element that's a supernatural element, it just kinds of sets you off."

Carrie

Stephen King's story about a young girl with telekinetic powers might have made a few teens rethink going to prom over the years. From blood-soaked Carrie destroying everyone at prom to the final hand-coming-out-of-the-grave scene, the movie "Just sticks in your mind," says Susie Dannar, who's starring in the locally-produced horror movie "Crush."

The classic

versions of

Dracula and Frankenstein

Mr. Hamilton credits film stars Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney with being the ones who started it all when it comes to scary movies. And the classics are scary, but not in a "blood and guts" kind of way, which makes them family friendly.

"You don't have to worry about the foul language, you don't have to worry about the gore, the nudity," Mr. Hamilton says.

Poltergeist

A suburban California family seems to have the perfect life, until they discover their house is built on an ancient burial site - and the spirits are very angry. This film scares because the family and the setting seem so normal to start out with, until the poltergeists come in.

"Anything that starts off in one area that's nice and sweet and goes into another arena (is scary)," Mr. Schultz says.

The Evil Dead

Mr. Franklin says this movie has the classic "teenagers out in the cabin and they get brutally massacred by evil, unseen forces" plot. The low-budget film features a group of college students vacationing in the woods who manage to unleash a force of evil spirits. It's the aspect of being isolate and having unseen forces after you that makes this cult classic worth seeing, Mr. Franklin says.

Lewis and Clark: Trail of Blood

Mr. Schultz says he'd be remiss if he didn't mention this locally produced film, which follows a group of geology students are traveling along the Lewis and Clark trail in search of geological formations and start suspiciously dropping off one by one. The film is available at Hastings, Blockbuster and on Netflix.

Lifestyles reporter Lacey Storer can be reached at lstorer@npgco.com