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Ever wondered how some folks (like Cinematical's Scott Weinberg) can watch each and every little second of any horror film ever made with one hand in a tub of popcorn and a smile on their face, while some of the rest of us either stay far away or watch with our eyes half shut? Is it because those who love watching horror films are just one movie kill shy of becoming complete lunatics? Not according to a new study published in the scientific journal Behavioural Neuroscience (via the Telegraph), which claims a "particular variant of the 'COMT' gene affects a chemical in the brain that is linked to anxiety."

Yup, and it seems that people who have two copies of one version of this gene are the folks who "are more easily disturbed when viewing unpleasant pictures ..."(ie: wimps like myself who can't stand gory horror flicks). On the other hand, "those who had one copy of the gene and one copy of another version" found it much easier to keep their emotions under control (ie: hardcore like Weinberg). According to the Telegraph, 96 women participated in the study and were shown three different sets of photographs, with each progressively getting creepier.

So now when my friends make fun of me for not wanting to go see Saw V because of all the icky stuff, I'm blaming you mom and dad! How are you with horror? Love it, despite it, somewhere in the middle?

If you have a teenager in your house, you already know they think everything their parents suggest is lame. Pop one of these flicks in the DVD player on family movie night, though, and you just might up your cool quotient a notch or two. Your teen is probably familiar with the more recent horror flicks that have come down the pike, but a marathon night of some of these films will show him that mom and dad know horror, too. Besides, every horror fan should have a basic knowledge of some of the old-school stuff. (And yeah, I know there are a lot of films I left off this list, but I could only pick seven, and these are my personal faves ... what are yours?)

Scream -- I can't say I'm a real horror girl, but if Scream had come out when I was a teenager, my friends and I would have watched it over and over again. It's fun, it's creative, it has (like so many great horror flicks) a scary killer in a mask. Who could the killer be? Half the fun of Scream is that the killer could be anyone -- after watching this film, your teen might just re-evaluate her own friends. Which of them might have the potential to be a psycho killer? You just never know.

Filmmakers dabbled in horror during the silent era, but it wasn't until the 1930s that studios realized how much money was waiting to be made in the genre. The short period between 1931 and 1934 heralded a mini-horror renaissance, highlighted by several potent new stars (Karloff, Lugosi, etc.) and by extraordinary black-and-white cinematography and set design. Two things happened to eventually kill it. Will Hays came in and began regulating morals in Hollywood movies, no longer allowing the more intense factors that made horror films interesting. And producers got greedy and began repeating successful formulas, cranking out increasingly anemic sequels to the dark originals. To be fair, I decided to choose only one film each from the era's two masters, Tod Browning and James Whale, otherwise they could have engulfed the entire list. I regret not being able to include anything by the great cinematographer-turned-director Karl Freund, whose The Mummy (1932) and Mad Love (1935) are key works of the era. I also regret the exclusion of two underrated Bela Lugosi works, White Zombie and Island of Lost Souls (both 1932). That said, let the old-timey scares begin.

1. Vampyr (1932, Carl Theodor Dreyer)
Oddly, the best and spookiest film of this era came not from Hollywood, but from a Danish filmmaker working in Germany. Baron Nicholas De Gunzburg helped finance the film and plays the lead role (appearing under the name "Julian West"). A traveler arrives at a quaint chateau and checks in, only to find himself in a world of nightmarish occurrences. The plot has something to do with a vampire preying on women, but the main thrust of the film is its quiet, eerie effects, such as a shadow moving of its own accord, or a man unexpectedly appearing in a corner of a room. It's one of the best films ever to capture a dreamlike state, and indeed it's so intangible and elusive that you might remember things you didn't actually see.

2. The Old Dark House (1932, James Whale)
This is the least known of Whale's four masterful Universal horror films -- the other three are Frankenstein (1931), The Invisible Man (1933) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935) -- but it's my favorite. Whale had a unique sense of humor combining the ghoulish with camp, and this collection of disparate characters forced to spend the night in a creepy house during a storm allowed him to use the full range of his skills; it moves from great quotable dialogue ("have a potato") to moments that are chillingly off-balance. The cast is superb: Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Gloria Stewart (later in Titanic), Ernest Thesiger, Lilian Bond and Raymond Massey, but Boris Karloff stole the spotlight from them all. As the twisted, mute butler, he impressed everyone as a master of makeup and transformation.

I slept with a cross in my hand for a month after watching The Exorcist. I did. I swear. I was terrified after seeing the film -- I think I was thirteen at the time -- and definitely old enough to be able to handle such a film. Well, apparently not. I might have benefited from attending a support group for people terrified by fictionalized stories of horrifying situations (do those exist?). What I didn't realize was that filmmakers of horror films had a support group of their own.

Horror film directors have made it a mission to reinstall the bloodiest and most gruesome situations in this cult favorite genre. To be honest, the last film that I saw of this type was The Descent -- which I very much enjoyed and only ragged on the acting abilities of the cheating husband once -- but think that amount of blood may be all I can handle. Films such as Saw and Hostel, I think, go beyond what I find as an audience member to be pleasurable to watch. These films are different in the sense that they are borderline NC-17 flicks and mostly revolve around endless torture of hapless victims. In Variety's article they describe a scene where a victim's face is blow torched off and the torturer then clips off the victim's eyes (not exactly something I want to think about while eating lasagna at Christmas dinner).

This group of filmmakers has been dubbed the Splat Pack. I must say, I do love the name even though my stomach can't handle the majority of what they're making. Give me Dawn of the Dead or any zombie movie for that matter, but the torture genre I just can't take. Even though I can't bring myself to buy a ticket to see their films, I love knowing that the Splat Pack has been offering up a great deal of support for one another as they do face issues with ratings; inspiration to go further with gruesome ideas, and even funding films. Rob Zombie and Quentin Tarantino have become the godfathers to many up and coming horror filmmakers. Tarantino was described as "showing the ropes" to Hostel director Eli Roth. Horror films definitely have an audience -- the films often times gross more than large blockbuster films -- therefore the work will continue to be made. They just need the backing of each other to make sure that the ratings board doesn't take a chainsaw to the final cut of their films.

Happy Halloween, Cinematical readers! We know you've got lots to do, what with digging through that bowl of candy for the trick-or-treaters to hunt out all the Snickers and peanut butter cups, carving those last minute jack-o-lanterns, and, of course, putting the finishing touches on your costume so you can enter our spooktacular Halloween Costume Contest. You don't have time to poke around the internet hunting out all the cool Halloween stuff out there. But we do! Just for you, to help you get in that Halloween spirit, here's a roundup of some of the coolest Halloween tricks and treats we could dig up for you. Happy Halloween!

Who doesn't love a good vampire flick? Get out your garlic necklace, because over at the Film Experience Blog, they've got more vampire posts than you can wave a bottle of holy water at with their Vampire Blog-a-Thon. In addition to a blood-tastic rundown of his own fave vampire flicks, Nathaniel has compiled a list of other blogs with vampire-related posts ranging from Eddie Copeland's piece on why Fright Night is the best vampire film ever, to Modern Fabulosity's tribute to Klaus Kinski as Nosferatu, to The Boob Tubers pondering something I myself have spend many a sleepless night contemplating: Spike -- or Angel? (Actually, it's not much of a contest for me -- Angel is hot, but he's such a goody-two-shoes -- and I'd definitely pay to go see a good Spike movie on the big screen). Want more? Get thee over to Film Experience and check out the full list of entries in the Blog-a-Thon.

More after the jump ...