The 13 greatest horror movies you've never seen

With October 31 rapidly approaching, what better way is there to get prepared for Halloween than taking a trip down the horror aisle of the local video store?

The answer is: there is none.

There is nothing quite like a good scare to get into the spirit of the season, because as everyone knows, horror movies and Halloween go together like hatchets and hockey masks. When it comes to horror movies, many people will watch the same flick over and over again, jumping at all the same scares and knowing exactly when to cover their eyes in order to miss the more…"messy" scenes.

Well, this Halloween, rather than picking out a movie you've already seen a hundred times before, why not take a trip off the beaten path and rent one of these masterpieces of shock cinema? Who knows, these films very well may be…The Greatest Horror Movies You've Never Seen. After all, isn't the unknown always more frightening?

1.) An American Werewolf In London- After surviving a grisly attack by a mysterious animal on the English moors, and the gruesome death of his best friend, an American tourist, played by David Naughton, is haunted by more than just bad dreams, as he is repeatedly visited by the continually decomposing corpse of his friend, who warns him of the ungodly horrors that will be unleashed with the coming of the next full moon.

Key Scene: Set to Sam Cooke's "Blue Moon" and shot in a fully lit room, special effects mastermind Rick Baker delivers the greatest, most realistic and painful looking werewolf transformation scene ever captured on film.

2.) Army Of Darkness: Picking up where the first two Evil Dead films left off, Ash (Bruce Cambell), the ultimate horror-movie super-hero, finds himself trapped in 1300 A.D., joining forces with a medieval king and his knights to battle an army of the undead. In order to find his way home, he must retrieve the Necronomican, or The Book Of The Dead, and use it to lead one final assault on the forces of evil.

Key Scene: When the army of the Deadites breaks through the kingdoms defenses, a shot-gun wielding Ash leads a counter attack…from behind the wheel of his Oldsmobile.

3.) Day Of The Dead: By far the darkest of George A. Romero's Dead quadrilogy, Day Of The Dead follows a small band of soldiers, scientists and civilians who have taken shelter in a massive underground military bunker. Unfortunately for them, the horde of the flesh-hungry undead on the surface isn't their only problem, as several members of the rag-tag group are beginning to slip into the clutches of madness.

Key Scene: When base security is inevitably compromised, and the walking dead begin to pour in from all directions, the ruthless Lt. Rhodes decides that it's time to split…literally.

4.) Demons: On the opening night of a Berlin movie theater, the audience is treated to more than complementary tickets as a deadly force quickly spreads through the theater, transforming its patrons into drooling, blood thirsty demons. Anyone not transformed must fight for survival, using anything and everything at their disposal to battle their unholy assailants.

Key Scene: A motorcycle riding movie patron turned demon-slayer tears through the theater on his bike, laying waste to the undead with use of a samurai sword.

5.) Dog Soldiers: When a squad of British soldiers heads into the woodlands of Scotland for a routine exercise, they find themselves up against an enemy much deadlier than the Special Ops team they were scheduled to face. Under the light of the full moon, the soldiers take refuge in a small farmhouse and prepare for an all out war against the pack of ravenous werewolves stalking them from the shadows of the forest. They have their weapons, and they have their wits, but will it be enough to survive until sunrise…?

Key Scene: After a nasty run-in with one of the razor-clawed 7ft. tall lycanthropes, the grizzled Sgt. Welles, played by Sean Pertwee, continues to battle alongside of his men, guns blazing, his insides on the outside.

6.) Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III: In this, the third and most underrated of the six Texas Chainsaw films, two college students are traveling through the heart of the lone-star state on their way to Florida when they fall victim to a trap set by the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface and the rest of his cannibalistic, redneck family, who are just dying to have the unlucky duo for dinner. Luckily for them, a rough and ready survivalist, played by Ken Foree (who horror fans will recognize as the hero or the original Dawn Of The Dead), is on their side and is packing plenty fire power. Can he save them, or will they all end up as the main course in the family's sadistic supper?

Key Scene: In an all out hand-to-hand-to-power tool brawl, Foree goes up against Leatherface and his cross-dressing brother, played by a pre-Lord Of The Rings Viggo Mortensen.

7.) Near Dark: It's your classic case of boy meets girl, girl bites boy, boy is forced to join up with girl's bloodthirsty family of nomadic, RV-driving vampires. Enough said.

Key Scene: In an attempt to entice their newest recruit to feed, the family, which includes Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen, stops at a roadhouse for a little midnight snack, much to the dismay of the bar's patrons and staff.

8.) Phantasm: After the death of their parents, and young boy and his older brother must find the strength to carry on with their lives. However, they both soon realize that there are some fates worse than death after they cross paths with The Tall Man, who, with the help of his killer flying spheres, reanimates the corpses of a local mortuary and turns them into undead slaves.

Key Scene: When one unlucky individual sneaks into the Tall Man's mortuary, we see the killer spheres in action, latching onto the unfortunate intruders face and drills into his skull, creating quite a large mess.