• Alien (1979) - I was such a sci-fi junkie as a kid that I never thought about this one in terms of it being a horror movie until years later, but the elements are all there.  I don't care how far in the future you go, horror will never be supplanted either as an emotion or a genre that exploits it.

• Aliens (1986) - Even though this one is more of an all-out action film than the first one, there are still a lot of moments that are straight out of a horror film.  Rather than one "bug" this time, we have a hive full of them.  There are great moments when Ripley and company are literally swarmed by these giant roaches, and it's as many times creepier than they are bigger than anything in the real world that could climb all over you.

• The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Some hate this one.  I think it's because it worked too well.  If you've ever been lost in the woods, this movie will make you hyperventalate.

• Changeling (1980) - This is a terrific suspenseful film that never relies on special effects to be effective.  If you've seen "The Ring," you're going to hate that movie for having unapologetically lifted chunks out of this one.

• Children of the Corn (1984) - The idea of getting lost into a town controlled by a cult already has terrific potential.  That there's more to it than that is just bonus.

• Dawn of the Dead (1978) - Unlike the other relatively plotless films in the original trilogy, this is such a great concept and is effective as both a horror and an action movie.

• Edward Scissorhands (1990) - I like the humor Burton found in the juxtaposition of a horror film character (albeit a sympathetic one) into a suburban context, but the beginning and ending of this one have some beautiful gothic sets that distill all the best features from nearly a centure of horror films.

• Event Horizon (1997) - The set design is terrific, but the second they start delving into the supernatural, they lose credibility.  Much the way religions do.

• Hellraiser (1987) - Although the budget wasn't nearly sufficient to make this a fantastic movie, the underlying mythology and a concise setting (i.e., almost everything occurs in one house) make this a damned fine film.

• Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) - Much like with the "Alien" series, the second one shifted from horror to a larger, more action-oriented story, but it still employs great horror elements to make this a classic.

• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) - If you could distill a pure emotion and bottle it, this would be the film equivalent of freshly squeezed paranoia.

• It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! (1966) - I hated this one when I was a child.  The reason is simple: It isn't for children.  When I was a kid, I was as anxious to see "The Great Pumpkin" as Linus was.  He built the naive youth audience up for it the same as he did Sally.  Adults get this.  They aren't disappointed at what kids see as a cruel anticlimax.  Grown-ups get the joke.  Kids think one has been played on them.

• Jacob's Ladder (1990) - I'm not going to try and explain it.  It's a good one.  The deleted scenes are great and for the most part should have been left in, however.

• Jaws (1975) - Possibly one of the best monster movies ever made, and one that continues to generate fear to this day.

• The Nightmare Before Xmas (1993) - I think it's a little bit short of a classic, but it's such a near-miss that it has grown on me.

• The Omen (1976) - Great horror movies work best with great casts, not great special effects spectaculars.  This is an example of a great recipe.

• Phantasm (1979) - This movie has such an odd premise that it manages to be very original while still maintaining a level of creepiness that keeps up your interest.  I don't want to give too much away here, but there are some terrific surprises in this one.

• The Shining (1980) - It is difficult to find movies that establish a certain creepiness for the appropriate scenes.  This one does so and never, EVER lets up.

• Sixth Sense (1999) - Oh, you've seen this already, so I'm not even going to bother.

• The Thing (1982) - John Carpenter's version of this story is incredibly effective.

• 28 Days Later... (2002) - Possibly the best zombie movie ever.  The second act of the film sort of suffers from a lack of where to go next, but overall I enjoyed this one a lot.

In general, if it's a film series, you can skip it.  It's less a horror film than a horrorible film.  These series increasingly depart from the elements that made the originals work and typically forego continuity or any other aspect of consistency in the process.

• Child's Play - What can they do to drag out this series beyond it's one-joke appeal?  How about add another doll?

• Friday the 13th - Can you tell me what's different between any of the first handful?  Out of desperation we ultimately end of fighting Freddy and sending Jason to the far future.  Even then the gimmicks were transparently just that.

• Halloween - I'm probably the only one who thought Part III was any good.  That was only one without the incredibly boring Michael Meyers who thoughout the series doesn't even do his trademark Scottish accent or Austin Powers character.

• Nightmare on Elm St. - I challenge you to name the plot of any two movies in this series and tell me how they're different.

• Hellraiser - The first couple films in the series are great (and the fourth one wasn't bad either), but the rest are a joke that have little to do with the mythology of the box or the Cenobites other than to capitalize on a (now-tarnished) brand name.

• Phantasm - Once again, continuity suffers in the quest for something original to put on the screen.  In general, I think these movies are more interesting than average, but the series does go downhill pretty quickly.

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