13 Days of Halloween: Which (obscure) scary movie to see?

Somehow I missed Drag Me to Hell when it played in theaters earlier this year, but I caught up with it last night. It’s smart and nasty in all the right ways, while being totally icky — it could just as easily had the title Don’t Put Stuff in My Mouth. Director Sam Raimi seems to be having more fun plaguing Alison Lohman’s loan officer than he did in all three Spider-man movies combined. This weekend it’s playing at GSU’s Cinefest if you’d rather see it on a big screen in a dark room for Halloween.

For scares at your local multiplex, you can still find ultra-violent Zombieland and the lo-fi sleeper hit Paranormal Activity (which outgrossed Saw VI last weekend). Two other lesser-known horror flicks have been highly touted, but I can’t vouch for them (yet). Critics like the 80s-retro bloodfest The House of the Devil, which hasn’t yet opened in Atlanta. A cult following surrounds the Halloween anthology flick Trick ‘r Treat, which was long-shelved but has recently been released on DVD:

Nearly every horror film that’s off-beat or extreme in some way has champions, even dreadful ones, so it’s hard to separate the superior from the shlock. Here’s a list of more chilling choices from the darker corners of the video store, as well as intriguing ones that I’ve been meaning to see.