"What's your favorite scary movie?"

When I was in eighth grade, I had a long list to answer this question. My best friend and I had massive movie marathons of what we considered the cheesiest -- but perhaps greatest -- slasher movies of all time.

I can honestly say I've never seen any of the Halloween movies, A Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday The 13th. Call me crazy, but during my middle school years, I was too preoccupied with movies made during my generation.

Our absolute favorite of these killer movies was Urban Legend. Back then, and especially the first time I saw it, I thought it was terrifying. These days, even though I don't think Urban Legend is scary anymore, it still has a soft spot in my heart, and it's still entertaining.

Not surprisingly, the movie is based around a bunch of college kids with a killer in their midst. True to the title, the killer attacks his victims in the form of urban legends.

For example, one of the most famous legends begins with a boy and girl making out in a car in the woods. The boy leaves the car to relieve himself among the trees.

While his girlfriend's waiting, she starts to hear scratching noises on the roof of the car. She gets out to investigate and discovers that her boyfriend has been hung from the tree, and his feet were making the scratching noise.

The movie uses this legend, although the details of it are altered. Even though it's almost laughable at times -- I mean, the killer wears a parka -- the movie is still spellbinding from beginning to end.

Another classic, one that I'm sure all of us have seen, is Scream.

Ever since this movie was released, Halloween night has been overrun with preteens in long black outfits and white plastic "ghostface" masks. It's instantly recognizable attire, and it's funny, considering director Wes Craven found the mask in a costume store while location scouting around California.

Although I think the premise of the movie is less original than that of Urban Legend, Scream still has great characters, and some of them return in the first and second sequels.

Courtney Cox Arquette and David Arquette make a great pair, as they constantly move back and forth between hating and loving each other.

Another great thing about the movie is all the ad-libbing. Toward the end of the movie, one of the killers accidentally bashes the other in the head with a phone, and that guy yells an unprintable four-letter word. The director decided to keep this moment in the film because of its authenticity.

Another ad-lib happens when Billy was stabbed by the sharp point of an umbrella. It was supposed to hit a pad on Billy's chest underneath his shirt, which it does the first time.

The second time, though, the umbrella slips and actually hits him in the chest. The director also decided to keep this scene in the movie because of Billy's reaction.

Another movie we've all seen and make fun of is I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Surprisingly, it's based on a book by Lois Duncan, who said he hates the movie because of its slasher nature. The book wasn't written that way. Regardless of their differences, both are still entertaining.

The plot of this one is maybe a bit more original than that of Scream, but it's far-fetched. A group of kids driving around wildly one night hit a guy crossing the road. They decide, stupidly, that the best course of action is to dump the body into the sea. I find it hard to believe that the police never catch on to these kids throughout the course of the movie and the sequel. Then again, if the police got involved, it would take away from the killer's power over the kids.

The list of great horror movies continues on. Although '90s teen slasher movies are cheesy and I haven't thought they're scary since eighth grade, I still love them.

Maybe it's because they remind me of all the marathons when my best friend, and I stayed up until 4 a.m. and watched them one after the other.

Maybe it's just because the archetypal characters and crazy plots make the movies entertaining, even if they aren't nail-biting.

Whatever it is, I know that whenever I get bored, I can put one of these movies on and lose my sense of reality for two hours.