Exploitation films

Possession

On the nasties list by pure bureaucratic accident. An actual masterpiece about divorce.

Tenebrae

Argento's coldest and cleverest. That crane shot earns its reputation.

The Beyond

Makes no sense whatsoever and is Fulci's best film. Dream logic, fully committed.

Phantasm

A flying silver sphere, a towering undertaker, and dream logic. Nobody has explained it since.

The Devils

A great film about power, finally restored after fifty-five years.

Zombi 2

A zombie fights a shark. Fulci's splinter shot is still the worst thing here.

Häxan

A 1922 documentary about witchcraft that is also a horror film. Way ahead of itself.

Deep Red

Argento's best. Goblin's score does half the work and knows it.

I Spit on Your Grave

The most argued-about film on this site. Read the glossary entry before deciding.

Scanners

The exploding head made Cronenberg bankable. The film around it is smarter than that scene.

The Hills Have Eyes

Craven's meanest. The suburban family turn out to be the better killers.

Braindead

Jackson before the trilogy. The lawnmower scene ends the argument.

Pink Flamingos

Divine competes to be the filthiest person alive. The most notorious act in film history closes it.

The Night Porter

A serious, much-argued-about film that producers immediately misread as a template.

The Wild One

Brando's motorcycle gang takes over a town. The film that invented teenage cool and terrified parents.

Dawn of the Dead

A shopping mall, four survivors, and Savini's finest hour.

Freaks

Killed Browning's career, banned in Britain for thirty years. Still unclassifiable.

Suspiria

Barely a giallo and barely a plot. Possibly the most beautiful horror film ever shot.

The Last House on the Left

Bergman's Virgin Spring, brutalised. Genuinely unpleasant and knows it. Tonally a mess.

Cannibal Holocaust

A serious film about media atrocity that committed real atrocity.

Mad Max

Made for nothing on public roads. You can feel every dollar missing.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Almost bloodless, and still the most upsetting film here. The heat is the horror.

Friday the 13th

Cynical, derivative, and it industrialised the whole form. Savini's finest hour.

The Evil Dead

Prosecuted in Britain. Actually a comedy, though it took years to admit it.

Night of the Living Dead

Made for $114,000 in Pittsburgh. Invented the entire modern genre.

The Exorcist

Plays it entirely straight and takes the theology seriously. Still works.