Cue the "Tubular Bells" and fetch the pea soup.

"The Exorcist" has been voted the best horror movie franchise in a poll commissioned by cable network AMC. Worst horror movie? "Leprechaun 2," followed by "I Know What You Did Last Summer."

The Harris Interactive poll was conducted in conjunction with AMC's 10-day scare-a-thon. William Friedkin's terrifying 1973 film, starring Linda Blair as a girl possessed by the devil, was followed by: "A Nightmare on Elm Street," "Halloween," "Poltergeist" and "The Ring."

Scariest moment was, predictably, the shower scene in "Psycho," with the girl crawling out of the TV in "The Ring" a very close second and Jack Nicholson's devilish declaration of "Here's Johnny" in "The Shining" third.

As far as celebrities biting the dust, this is who participants wanted to die in a horror movie: Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Simon Cowell, Kevin Federline and Tara Reid.

The top "death match" pairing was between Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck from "The View," edging out Freddy Krueger vs. Michael Myers and Heather Locklear vs. Denise Richards.

Stuff magazine, meanwhile, polled 100-plus Hollywood insiders about scary movies and "The Exorcist" topped its list, too. The results are in the November issue and include these critiques:

"Helter Skelter," No. 23 -- "Prison Break" star Wentworth Miller confesses, "When I was 12, my parents ... let me stay home by myself. I spent the entire night with the covers pulled up to my chin, waiting for some hippie to jump out of the shadows and slash my throat."

"Night of the Living Dead," No. 14 -- Late-night host Conan O'Brien saw the preview "and it burned a hole in my brain."

"Rosemary's Baby," No. 2 -- Julianne Moore, whose next film is "Children of Men," said, "It's all about the power of suggestion. You actually see very, very little in that movie, but it's executed brilliantly."

"The Exorcist," No. 1 -- CBS star Charlie Sheen reveals, "I was 9 and shouldn't have seen it. The images still haunt me to this day."

Gospel of George

The author of a book titled "Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero's Visions of Hell on Earth" will be at the Barnes & Noble at Monroeville Mall at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Writer Kim Paffenroth will talk about the movies at the store near where the original "Dawn of the Dead" was filmed. That was the installment in which zombies roamed the mall.

His book, published by Baylor University Press, examines the moral and theological significance of zombie movies. Romero's movies provide sophisticated insight into human nature and theological concepts such as sin and redemption, according to Paffenroth, known for studies of St. Augustine and Flannery O'Connor.

Paffenroth examines four Romero films -- "Night of the Living Dead," "Dawn of the Dead," "Day of the Dead" and "Land of the Dead" -- along with the 2004 "Dawn" remake.

He contends the filmmaker, who helped to put Pittsburgh on the movie map, "illuminates a ghastly side of our consciousness, the side that believers call sin. Or, in purely secular terms: hubris, ignorance, selfishness, violence and hatred."

And here you just thought you were grooving to the ghouls.

Clowning around

The Oaks Theater in Oakmont will show "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" at midnight tonight and tomorrow. Show up in clown makeup or mask and get $1 off the regular admission of $5.

The 1988 release touches several horror bases with its blood-drinking alien clowns. The theater also will be selling cotton candy at the concession counter if you have a hankering for the sugary treat.

'Avalanche' of work

Katelyn Pippy, 13, is back home in Moon after eight days of shooting "Small Avalanches" in San Luis Obispo and Laguna Beach, Calif.

It's a dramatic short film based on the 2003 short story of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates. Katelyn plays Nancy, a girl bored with her life in rural America and intrigued by the attention of an older man from the city.

Katelyn, a student at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter Schools in Midland, also appeared in another short film called "Maybe It's in the Water" and in the off-Broadway production of "Captain Louie." Her TV credits include "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" and "Monk."