Earlier today I posted my version of the 25 Random Things meme to my Facebook profile. Seems everyone's doing it, so I had to be cool, too.

One of my "random things" reads as follows:

21. There are few things better than a great horror movie. However, there are probably less than 10 great horror movies in existence, and there are few things worse than a not-so-great horror movie.

A colleague posted a comment asking what my favorites were, so I quickly compiled a list. It wasn't hard. As I noted in the list, I don't actually think there are a lot of great, or even good, horror movies out there. But, boy, do I love these.

Here's what I came up with:

1. The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)
Shot and edited more like a drama than a horror film, this movie somehow gets scarier on repeated viewings.

2. Dawn of the Dead (George A. Romero, 1978)
The second installment in Romero's zombie series follows a few survivors as they seek shelter in a shopping mall. Perhaps the only horror movie that successfully combines laughs with all out terror (sorry, Scream).

3. The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982)
Carpenter at the absolute top of his game. The monster could be present in any scene taking the form of any character, and that fact alone added a layer of tension seldom seen in movies.

4. 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle, 2002)
I usually like my zombies slow, but I'll make an exception for Boyle's British zombie flick. Simply terrifying.

5. Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991)
How often can you say that the imprisoned killer in a movie is more terrifying than the one at large? Just once.

6. Session 9 (Brad Anderson, 2001)
Thanks to this little-seen gem, the phrase "asbestos abatement" still sends shivers down my spine.

7. The Descent (Neil Marshall, 2005)
This tale of a group of women on a caving expedition gone horribly awry might be the only movie that ever kept me awake afterwards. For three nights.

8. Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)
If Star Wars had been a horror movie, it might have been half as scary as Scott's claustrophobic sci-fi nightmare.

9. Night of the Living Dead (George A. Romero, 1968)
Romero's first zombie flick set the bar pretty high, and the fact that there is no explanation whatsoever for what's going on makes this even more frightening.

10. Ringu (Hideo Nakata, 1998)
Far superior to the tame American remake, the Japanese original has one of the most convincing false endings in cinematic history. Even once we realize the movie isn't over yet, we still aren't prepared for the terror awaiting us.