7 scariest Halloween movies you've never seen (poster slideshow)

October 27, 2:28 AMCulture & Events ExaminerRick Marianetti

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Cookers--an underrated, rarely-screened horror gem.
Fries Home Video

Don't look for Saw, The Exorcist, Halloween, or Night of the Living Dead on this list. What you will find are seven (for good luck) of the scariest, most-disturbing films ever made.

Top 7 Halloween Films you haven't seen (in alphabetical order)
Cookers (2001)
Couple steals load of crystal meth from gang, hide out in a dilapidated farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. When the chef starts cooking-up the drugs, their world starts getting spooky. A case of amphetamine-induced psychosis, or something less explainable? An underrated, rarely-screened gem.

Evil Dead Trap (1988)
Sam Raimi-influenced Japanese film about a reality show host who presents viewer-produced videos. After receiving a snuff-video, the host talks her colleagues into joining her in search for the killer in abandoned military base. Written by Takashi Ishii.

Last House on Dead End Street (1977)
The "making-of" backstory of LHODES is almost as twisted as the film itself. "Dead End Street" was shot around 1970 before hitting the grind-house circuit years later. Don't let its 1999 screening at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts fool you: "Last House on Dead End Street" is an excruciatingly nasty reel of celluloid.

Tetsuo (1989)
Man plagued by increasingly virulent growth of metallic artifacts within his body. Incredible percussive score by Chu Ishikawa equaled by direction and cinematography of Shinya Tsukamoto, who influenced Darren Aronofsky, Jan Kounen and Takashi Miike.

13 Tzameti (2005)
Struggling twenty-something immigrant overhears fragment of conversation tied to a discarded letter, which is just enough imperfect information to convince the kid he’s on a rocket to a big score. "13 Tzameti" feels like a movie Hitchcock would have made had he been born the same year as Quentin Tarantino. Nothing supernatural here, which makes the film all the more horrifying.

Videodrome (1983)  Early David Cronenberg film stars James Woods and Deborah Harry. Violent satellite broadcasts intrigue underground cable TV operator.

Wizad of Gore (1970)
Herschell Gordon Lewis' high-camp magnum opus about TV talk-show host who investigates string of murders and a magician who appears to be hypnotizing his audience. Lewis may have lost out to Ed Wood, Jr. for the Golden Turkey lifetime achievement award for worst director of all time, but WOG finishes with a surprising Twilight Zone-style flourish.

All films are at least R-rated.

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