Jason, Michael or Freddy: Who Has the Fright Stuff?

Halloween is almost upon us - Rob Zombie's remake of the John Carpenter classic, that is - and thus my (sometimes dark) thoughts have turned to the big screen's best bogeymen. I am not at liberty to "review" per se the new Halloween, which I had the opportunity to screen a few weeks back, but I will say that Tyler Mane (a past cohort of Zombie's, and X-Men's Sabretooth) makes for a most imposing Michael Myers. I always gave Michael a fair shake, as he does the most with the mentally wrong and silent type. One of the best screams came from Carpenter's original, when Michael, coat hanger still in his eye, propped himself up in the background, as an oblivious Jamie Lee Curtis cowered. Freddy Krueger of the Elm Street pics always had an unfair advantage over mute murderers, able to win over the audience with his clever barbs and puns so bad they themselves nearly killed you. Jason Voorhees, most memorably committed to celluloid in several of the Friday the 13ths by Kane Hodder (of the upcoming Hatchet), has to be admired for taking a licking and keeping on ticking, with warts and all (e.g., a half-cleaved head) to show for it. But who gives you the best "Boo!"? Pinhead? That corny leprechaun guy? Chucky? Share your thoughts on film's most frightful faces, and as Oct. 31 comes closer, I'll set up a poll where we can vote on this issue once and for all.