By Joe Hadsall

jhadsall@joplinglobe.com

Go ahead. Judge us for our unabashed, unashamed love for horror movies.

No other genre creates such compelling storylines and evoke emotional expressions. The characters from slashers, thrillers and monster movies etch themselves deeply into our memory — much more than some dumb ol’ chick flick.

Seriously: Ask people to name the movies featuring the characters Vivian Ward, Frances Houseman or Molly Jensen. They’ll be stumped, and won’t tell you the correct answers of “Pretty Woman,” “Dirty Dancing” or “Ghost.”

But everyone can identify Michael Myers, Carol Anne Freeling and Norman Bates.

Here’s a few of our favorite horror movies that still make us switch on the lights.

“Poltergeist” (PG, 1982): Though he has a reputation for moving, Oscar-winning stories, let’s not forget that producer Steven Spielberg has a history of scaring the pants off people. Though “Jaws” gets an honorable mention, “Poltergeist” is a chilling tale of a normal, everyday family that deals with a horrible paranormal entity.

When youngest daughter Carol Anne is abducted by a vicious ghost, the Freling family gets help from a pint-sized psychic and team of paranormal investigators. But the poltergeist taking residence in the house has no intentions of giving up its captive.

It’s a visual masterpiece with effects that still chill, 27 years later. But the suspense and horror — from Carol Anne’s conversation with the “TV people” to a brother’s battle with a stuffed clown — is heart-stopping.

“The Ring” (PG-13, 2002): Hard to believe that the guy responsible for “Pirates of the Caribbean” made such a terrifying mystery. But Gore Verbinski took a Japanese film and remade it as a compelling, intense thriller with a not-so-pleasant surprise at the end.

As a favor for a relative, a journalist investigates the death of a teenager and is led to a mysterious videotape, which kills the viewer seven days after it’s watched. When the journalist experiences visions and hallucinations, she buys into the power of the tape and pursues the mystery of who created it.

It’s hard to label a horror movie (especially one that features a tape filled with the disturbing images of a psychotic, little girl) as subtle, but the Hitchcockian pursuit is paid off with one of cinema’s greatest freak-out moments.

“The Descent” (R, 2005): Four women exploring a cave are terrorized by savage creatures dwelling in its darkened depths. Nothing groundbreaking with that set-up.

But what sets Neil Marshall’s film apart from the rest of the horror pack is that the director manages to create a sense of claustrophobia and desperation so thick and relentless that the creatures could almost be done away with altogether. The dark, dank tunnels that must be navigated through as the women lose their way in the cave are the film’s real star.

If there was ever a movie that should require a break for viewers to mop their sweaty brows and reapply a fresh coat of deodorant, it’s “The Descent.”

“Halloween” (R, 1978): We gave a lot of thought to putting “Nightmare on Elm Street” on this list, so that the slasher genre could get its due. But then we’d be ripping off the genre’s defining, trend-setting tale.

As a 6-year-old, Michael Myers’ night of trick-or-treating was ruined when he found his sister in a compromising position with her boyfriend. Fifteen years after killing her, Myers escapes from the mental institution where he was held and goes on a bloody rampage.

We could spout the usual praise about John Carpenter’s excellent use of dark spaces, or his perfect casting of Jamie Lee Curtis. But what makes this movie chilling is that it showed us that it doesn’t take a mad scientist or government experiment to make a horrible monster.

“Night of the Living Dead” (1968): Skip all the cheesy remakes, with their ultra-athletic zombies, computer animation and splattery excesses. George Romero’s original is a classic that still petrifies.

The plot is simple: Radiation from a fallen satellite reanimates the dead and makes them hungry for brains. A group barricades itself inside a farmhouse and staves off the ambling, moaning attack.

Virtually every review of this movie praises Romero’s dystopian vision and how he reveals that “the real monsters” are within. Whatever. What gets us is the impending dread that mounts every minute, to the final gunshot that confirms what we knew all along — there’s no happy ending here.

“The Exorcist” (R, 1973): Kids and horror movies are staples, because the contrast of childhood innocence and grisly violence is too good for writers to pass up. None personifies this more than “The Exorcist,” a controversial classic that was adapted from William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel.

When medical options are exhausted for 12-year-old Regan’s strange behavior, her mother calls in two priests to drive out the demon possessing her daughter. The priests quickly find out they are in over their heads.

Filled with disturbing imagery and shocking content, “The Exorcist” has scared generations with Linda Blair’s portrayal of an adorable little girl falling prey to a demon.

“The Sixth Sense” (PG-13, 1999): “The Sixth Sense” made household names out of director M. Night Shyalaman, child actor Haley Joel Osment, the phrase “I see dead people,” the twist ending and the color red.

A child psychologist works with a reclusive, shy boy and eventually learns that the kid sees ghosts. The doctor helps the boy face his fear and deal with his paranormal ability, only to find out something critical about himself.

Alas, things didn’t go so well for Shyalaman after his directorial breakthrough, as he tried to adapt his twist-ending formula to several other plots. His first is the best, and features a perfect blend of people finding beauty in the ugliest of situations.

“Psycho” (R, 1960): The master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, is best known for this masterpiece filled with iconic images, from a creepy roadside motel to a simple shower drain.

When Marion Crane steals money from her employer and takes off to start a new life with a new guy, she checks into the Bates Motel, staffed by a simple mama’s boy. But when she decides to step in the shower, she never leaves it.

“Psycho” is so good that when Gus Van Sant remade it in 1980, he used all the same camera angles. It was a flop, which goes to show that there’s no outdoing the master.

“Se7en” (R, 1995): Brad Pitt gets a lot of love for “Thelma and Louise” and “Legends of the Fall,” but his role in this gothic cat-and-mouse hunt for a serial killer is inexplicably forgotten.

Det. David Mills is new on the force and partners with the retiring Det. William Somerset, whose final case is to chase down a killer committing murders according to a Biblical theme. As the chase deepens, so do the stakes, until midway through the pattern when a puzzling surrender changes plans — and lives.

The brutal death scenes in David Fincher’s movie are nauseating and shocking. But outstanding acting from Pitt, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey make the movie’s final scenes chilling.

“Scream” (R, 1996): Horror movies usually follow a formula established by masters such as Wes Craven. Which means that only Craven could stick to the formula, dance around it and flat-out violate it so skillfully.

A psychopathic killer is coming after teenager Sidney Prescott and her friends. As the mystery deepens, she finds out exactly who and why in one of Hollywood’s greatest reveal sequences.

“Scream” is a joke that takes itself seriously, yet explains it to viewers patiently. While acting like a satire, the movie is filled with genuine suspense, scares and gotcha moments.