The films

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Africa Addio

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

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Blacula

William Marshall plays it completely straight and almost saves it.

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Cannibal Ferox

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

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Carnival of Souls

Made by an industrial-film director for $33,000. Genuinely haunted.

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City of the Living Dead

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

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Four Flies on Grey Velvet

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

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Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster

The film where Godzilla becomes a hero. Three of Toho's monsters team up against a golden space dragon.

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Hercules Unchained

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

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Ichi the Killer

Miike hands out sick bags at the premiere and earns every one of them.

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Mondo Cane

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

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Shivers

Cronenberg's debut. A phallic parasite turns a luxury apartment tower into an orgy of the infected.

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Silent Night, Deadly Night

The killer-Santa movie that got itself run out of cinemas in a week.

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The Beastmaster

The one that is actually fun. Ferrets steal the film.

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The Brood

Cronenberg turns a divorce into monsters. Rage made flesh, and it is about his own custody battle.

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The Man Who Saves the World

Turkish Star Wars. Contains actual Star Wars footage. Not licensed.

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The Toxic Avenger

Troma's only good film, and the head-crushing is still funny.

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Two-Lane Blacktop

Almost no dialogue, almost no plot, and completely hypnotic.

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Alligator

Sayles again. A flushed pet in the sewers, and it knows how silly that is.

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Prom Night

Jamie Lee Curtis, a masked killer, and a decade-old secret. Halloween cashes in, disco included.

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The Cat o' Nine Tails

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

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Vanishing Point

A white Challenger, amphetamines, and an existential crisis at speed.

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A Tale of Two Sisters

Korea's classiest ghost story, and the one that actually rewards a rewatch.

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Blood and Black Lace

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

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Come Drink with Me

King Hu, Cheng Pei-pei, and the template for every wuxia since.

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Hercules

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

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Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS

Shot on the leftover Hogan's Heroes set. Nothing here is defensible; it's catalogued, not recommended.

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Bad Taste

Shot at weekends over four years by Jackson and his friends. Astonishing.

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Inferno

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

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I Walked with a Zombie

Val Lewton doing Jane Eyre in the Caribbean. Beautiful and barely horror.

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Maniac Cop

A dead cop stalks New York in uniform. Larry Cohen writes, Robert Z'Dar's jaw does the rest.

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Possession

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

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Salon Kitty

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

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A Bay of Blood

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

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Black Sunday

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

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Death Rides a Horse

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

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El Topo

Jodorowsky's mystical, violent acid western. It essentially invented the midnight movie.