SON OF THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF HALLOWEEN! DAY 21: THE ULTIMATE HALLOWEEN APP!

Okay, forgive me for a little false advertising in the headline there. "House of Horrors" is not a Halloween app, technically speaking.

It is, however, one of the best apps I've ever seen and perfect for the Halloween season, or just for those times before and after Halloween, when you want the horror to live on.

"House of Horrors" is an app available for both Android and Apple devices that allows you to watch up to 150 classic horror films that are all in the public domain. We're not talking some of the modern crap that's out there these days on Netflix and Redbox. These are true gems from days gone by, some in color and some in gorgeous black and white (my daughters hate black and white...what's wrong with them?!) but all well worth the time and the price of the app.

Screens from "House of Horrors"

We're talking truly classic horror stuff, though those of you who aren't horror movie fans might not have heard of some of them; films by directors like Hitchcock, Corman, Romero, and even Coppola are available on "House of Horrors." Here's a breakdown of the ones I think are well worth your time if you've never seen them:

Night of the Living Dead (the original and the one that gave birth to the current zombie craze we're currently experiencing!) Strangers holed up together in a farm house as hordes of the cannibalistic undead close in for an all you can eat buffet! This film still terrifies me today, as it implies much more than it actually shows and builds tension and dread like few films since have.

Carnival of Souls: a very creepy, yet also tragic film featuring "ghouls" that influenced the look of the zombies in Night of the Living Dead. The ending is straight out of the Twilight Zone or an M. Night Shaymalan flick, though this film proceeded both.

Dementia 13: Francis Ford Coppola's mainstream directorial debut, which debuted a few years after Hitchcock's masterpiece, Psycho. The Gothic atmosphere and axe-wielding precursor to the Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees of the future makes this a must-see.

House on Haunted Hill: one of the many Vincent Price classics available through this app, this movie features Price as a millionaire who offers five people $10, 000 (this was the 60s, mind you) if they can spend the night in his "haunted" mansion.

Nosferatu: Last but certainly not least is the 1922 German Expressionist masterpiece "Nosferatu." This is a movie I believe anyone who loves movie should see at least once, and it's always featured as a part of the "ambiance" at our annual Meauxloween parties. It's a silent film that adapts the story of Bram Stoker's Dracula, albeit with differently-named characters to avoid lawsuits from Stoker's widow. Actor Max Schreck's performance as Count Orlok remains one of the most unnerving and creepy performances in the history of cinema. I love this movie so much that I will often watch it on my Netflix app on my phone when I have time to kill and am I'm not near a computer or TV.


So how much will these grand collection of macabre masterpieces and terrifying treasures cost you? Only a paltry .99 cents! House of Horrors can be found in the iTunes app store and Google Play. If you have an iPad, you'll pay a dollar more, but it's well worth the price.