By Erin Lashley, MoreHorror.com

When Michael Calls - 1972
Helen begins receiving phone calls from a troubled child who claims to be her nephew Michael. The problem is that Michael died fifteen years ago.

Phone calls from beyond the grave are bad enough, and these sound mighty eerie, if you are affected by sounds in horror films the way that I am. But what really has the potential to be chilling is the idea that, if it’s not a ghost calling, then someone has to be absolutely batshit crazy to perpetrate a hoax like this. Not only that, but they’ve managed to coerce a living child into making the phone calls.

Michael Douglas is here in an early role, and if you’re a fan of Falling Down then you know that he does disturbed characters very well.

When Michael Calls stars Ben Gazzara, Elizabeth Ashley, and Michael Douglas, and is directed by Philip Leacock.

Don’t Go to Sleep - 1982
Did you ever hear the urban legend of the kid who tied his sister’s shoelaces together in the car while she was sleeping, and then when the car crashed she was left behind to burn to death because she couldn’t run away with the rest of the family?

That story was either started or perpetuated by this movie, and the movie adds on the bonus that the dead sister’s ghost has now returned to the family home for murderous revenge. Unless, of course, it’s an evil spirit just pretending to be her.  Either way, it makes for a macabre movie that terrified an entire generation of young TV fans.

Don’t Go to Sleep stars Dennis Weaver, Valerie Harper, and Ruth Gordon, and is directed by Richard Lang.

The Woman in Black – 1989
For once, I’m not exactly knocking the remake, but I still believe that the TV movie version of this one is the version that got it right.

Arthur Kidd goes to a remote seaside town to handle the sale of a dead woman’s house, and finds that the people in town are terrified beyond rationality of both the house and the ghost that haunts it.

It’s rare to find a no-frills ghost story that works as well as this one, but there is no doubt that the big confrontation between Arthur and the ghost will not be easily forgotten by most who have enjoyed this version.

Stars Adrian Rawlins, Pauline Moran; directed by Herbert Wise.

A Cold Night’s Death - 1973
This is a claustrophobic horror/mystery story about two scientists in an isolated mountaintop post.

Suspicious of each other, and finding their work overshadowed by the unexplained deaths of their predecessors in the snowbound lab, the men soon find that they are not in fact the only sentient beings around.

This is most remembered for Robert Culp’s acting, especially a tense and harrowing sequence during which he is locked outside in a blizzard.

Also notable for Gil Melle’s sinister, insane-sounding electronic score, the movie stars Culp and Eli Wallach and is directed by Jerrold Freeman.

Ghostwatch – 1992
Although it was disclosed ahead of time that Ghostwatch was a mockumentary, the use of both news cameras and TV presenters playing themselves fooled many viewers into believing that it was real. It also scared people so badly that it has never been re-broadcast in the UK.

The movie takes us with a TV crew into the home of a young mother and her two daughters who are being terrorized by a ghost they named “Pipes.”

Unfortunately, during the filming Pipes becomes even stronger and things don’t turn out too well for anyone involved, even the folks back at the TV studio.

Directed by Lesley Manning. With Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, Mike Smith, Craig Charles.

The Stone Tape – 1972
A group of scientists who are renovating an old building get more than they expected when it turns out to be haunted. The focus of their experiments turns to the haunting, and, as we see so often in these types of stories, the ghosts become more powerful because of all the attention.

Jobs are lost, lives are lost, and no one learns a darn thing until it is too late. The title refers to the building itself, which is made of stone, being a recording device for psychic energy.

The Stone CD or The Stone Drive wouldn’t work as well, I don’t think, although it would be interesting to see an update;  this is a movie whose obsolete special effects you have to overlook in favor of the story and the acting.

Part of the BBC’s Christmas ghost story series, The Stone Tape stars Jane Asher and Michael Bryant and is directed by Peter Sadsy.

The House of Clocks -1989
This is the only entry on the list that contains any gore. The gore is appropriate since the movie was directed by Lucio Fulci, but I have to admit I was surprised in a “wow, I can’t believe they can show that on Italian TV” kind of way.

Three scummy teenagers attempt to rob a pair of rich old people who just happen to be evil psychopaths themselves. When the old people are accidentally killed, the clocks in the house bring them back to life (don’t ask) so they can get revenge. And then things really get weird.

Many people don’t seem to like this movie simply because it’s not Zombi or The Beyond. I think it’s fun and gruesome, with a good dose of dark humor.

With Keith Van Hoven, Karina Huff, Paolo Paoloni, Bettine Milne, and Fulci favorite Al Cliver.