Exploitation films

From Beyond

Stuart Gordon and Jeffrey Combs do Lovecraft again. A machine that lets you see what should stay unseen.

Opera

Needles taped under the eyes so she cannot look away. Argento's last truly great film.

Africa Addio

Not staged, which makes it far worse. A repellent document.

Cannibal Ferox

Lenzi chasing Deodato with none of the argument. Real animal deaths, no defence.

City of the Living Dead

The drill scene. Otherwise thin, but the atmosphere is thick.

Four Flies on Grey Velvet

Argento's third. Unavailable for decades, and worth the wait for the last shot.

Hercules Unchained

The sequel that turned one Hercules hit into an entire industry.

Mondo Cane

The original. Oscar-nominated song, colonial gaze, half of it staged.

The Cat o' Nine Tails

Argento's least favourite of his own films. He is roughly right.

Blood and Black Lace

The template, and still the best-looking film on this list.

Hercules

Steve Reeves, a Mr Universe title, and the start of the Italian genre machine.

Inferno

Argento's sequel to Suspiria. Even less plot, even more colour. A building that is alive.

A Bay of Blood

Bava invents the slasher a decade early. Friday the 13th copied two kills outright.

Black Sunday

Bava's debut as director. Barbara Steele and a mask full of spikes.

Death Rides a Horse

Revenge, Van Cleef, and a score Tarantino lifted wholesale.

Orca

The whale wants revenge and has a plan. Morricone score, oddly moving.

Phenomena

Insect telepathy, a Swiss boarding school, and a straight-razor chimpanzee. Argento off the leash.

Salon Kitty

Nazisploitation with a real budget and Tinto Brass's dirty fingerprints. Ilsa was the knock-off.

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.

The Colossus of Rhodes

Leone's actual debut, three years before the westerns.

My Name Is Nobody

The spaghetti western attends its own funeral, cracking jokes. Fonda, Terence Hill, and Leone's fingerprints everywhere.

Sabata

A gadget-toting gunfighter blackmails a whole town. Lee Van Cleef, having an obvious blast.

Zombi 2

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

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

Argento's debut, and the film that made the giallo an export.

Deep Red

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

The Night Porter

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

Dawn of the Dead

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

Django

A coffin, a machine gun, and mud everywhere. Banned in Britain until 1993.

They Call Me Trinity

The comedy turn that ended the cycle by making it impossible to take seriously.

Suspiria

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

Duck, You Sucker

Leone's revolution film. A Mexican bandit and an IRA dynamiter blow up the establishment together.

Cannibal Holocaust

A serious film about media atrocity that committed real atrocity.

A Fistful of Dollars

An unlicensed Yojimbo remake. Toho sued and won. Started everything.

For a Few Dollars More

Van Cleef arrives and the formula locks into place.

Once Upon a Time in the West

Fonda cast against type as a child killer. Leone's masterpiece.