The year is winding down, and it's time to look back on 2009 with our favorite spooky, scary, bloody moments on television.  Some of them are the usual suspects, like Dexter and True Blood.  Others are a little unlikely.  Read on for our list presented in alphabetical order and let us know if you agree...

Castle – “Vampire Weekend”
Firefly hero Nathan Fillion pays homage to the role that made him sorta-famous when his Halloween costume is "Space Cowboy" – something his daughter reminds him was something he wore "five years ago" and “it’s time to let it go.”  He and Beckett look into the murder of a young “vampire” (complete with fangs) who has been staked through the heart.  This of course leads to the inevitable Buffy jokes, making this episode an all around fun homage to Joss Whedon.

Criminal Minds – "The Performer"
While not one of the strongest episodes of this dark, twisted procedural (think Saw meets CSI), this episode has the distinction of starring Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale as an aging rockstar who is weary of his vampire stage persona.  Kids keep dying after his concerts, and all have been drained of their blood.  The BAU must step in to find the killer – it is just too easy an answer to blame it on the rock star.  Gavin also does a wicked version of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart.

Dexter – "Living the Dream"
The season premiere showed Dexter adjusting to family life, which is scary in a totally different way.  The stand out moment for me was watching John Lithgow as the Trinity Killer take his victim.  I am more accustomed to Lithgow in comedic roles, but his turn as the somber murderer who strips down naked, climbs into the bath with his victim and holds her as he lets her bleed a slow death was positively chilling.

Harper’s Island
Sadly, this summer series did not get enough eyeballs to get picked up, because it was a fun and fairly innovative show.  Guests gather on a remote island for a wedding celebration.  But the island has a dark past, once the scene of a brutal mass murder.  The nightmare is renewed when members of the wedding party start dying off.  Set over the course of about 10 days, this 13-episode series killed off at least one main character every episode, whittling down a cast of about 25 down to about three.

Psych – "Tuesday the 17th"
Psych is not really known for being scary – it’s a one-hour comedy about a fake psychic with real talent as a detective.  But this clever spoof on Friday the 13th is equal parts creep and comedy. Shawn and Gus’s old summer camp buddy (cleverly named Jason Cunningham - if you can’t figure out the origins of that name, you are dead to me) buys an abandoned campground and plans on opening it back up, but when one of his counselors goes missing, the guys come in to help.

The Simpsons – "Treehouse of Horrors XX"
This Halloween tradition had been lackluster in previous years, but this, the 20th installment, is the best we've seen in a long, long time.  The segments are witty and as scary as The Simpsons get, with each story pivoting on a horror theme (as opposed to a vaguely sci-fi one). Dial M For Murder or Press # To Return To The Main Menu is an homage to Hitchcock thrillers.  Don’t Have a Cow, Mankind sees a new Krusty Burger unleash a zombie plague throughout Springfield.  There’s No Business Like Moe Business is a musical spoof of Sweeny Todd, when an accident leads Moe to serving bloody beer to thirsty patrons.

True Blood – "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'"
Season finales are expected to be big, and this one delivered.  Evil Maryann is finally taken out in a literal orgy of sex, blood, violence, and bulls.  After Andy and Jason trick the revelers into believing Sam has been killed, he returns as a bull.  Maryann believes this to be the god she has been waiting for, but it is Sam, who impales her violently in one of the literally goriest scenes of the series.

Vampire Birth Certificate
From the small screen we go to the very small screen – the computer screen.  There are a lot of average web shorts out there, but Vampire Birth Certificate is not one of them.  If you thought dealing with the county clerk was hell, try doing it as a vampire.  This clever short shows that even a creature of the night is no match for the overworked, underpaid city employee when he tries to request a copy of his 150 year old birth certificate.

The Vampire Diaries – "Haunted"
In this pivotal episode, Vicki, a main character dies.  But she doesn’t go quietly.  She had spent the last few episodes dealing with “the change” which left her frantic with confusion and bloodlust.  Stefan desperately tries to help her through the transition, first by trying to prevent her from going full-vamp, then by trying to teach her that a diet of only animal blood is possible.  But when Vicki’s bloodlust gets out of control and she brutally attacks Elena, Stefan shocked Vicki and viewers alike by staking her.

Check back for our final Top 9 lists including our Top 9 Disappointments and Surprises of 2009.