A masterpiece of mood and a layered film of complex themes and interpretations, The Innocents (1961) is one of the most influential and quintessential horror films of the era. Directed by Jack Clayton (who also directed the underrated Disney classic: Something Wicked this Way Comes (1983)), the film has been an influence on countless horror movies since including most recently, Del Toro’s Crimson Peak (2015) – Del Toro actually puts The Innocents in his top 10 favorite horror films of all time.

Deborah Kerr (known for The King and I and other classics) gives her career-best performance as a governess, tasked with watching over two children in an old, lonely, gothic mansion when she begins to learn of sinister goings on in the past and starts to see ghosts. In addition, the children exhibit increasingly disturbing behavior that forces the audience to wonder if what they’re seeing is real or the ravings of a crazed mind.

Themes of repression, psychological horror, and the curious actions of creepy little children build to a dramatic conclusion that’s both unsettling and intriguing. This is a film that rewards multiple viewings because of its depth. The cinematography is gorgeous, every frame beautiful, the lighting, the shadows, it still looks great in glorious black & white today. The perfect Halloween night movie.

Slither is basically, a huge mash-up of horror movie references (not unlike Guardians of the Galaxy’s sci-fi references) in a fast-moving and fun horror / comedy. Written and directed by James Gunn (who also wrote and directed Guardians of the Galaxy, Slither is nonstop fun & thrills.

Nathan Fillion stars as a small town sheriff, faced with the landing of an aggressive space alien bent on taking over every human (similar to The Blob and other creature from outer space movies) and of course, Fillion’s trademark sarcastic humor is on full display. Gregg Henry gives a laugh out loud performance as the sleazy town mayor whom you should hate but due to the terrific one-liners and cowardly personality, can’t help but cheer on. And Elizabeth Banks (yes, the director of the awesome Pitch Perfect series) stars as the heroine. Michael Rooker (best known for his turn as Merle in The Walking Dead) plays the perfect monster.

There’s 1970’s love songs interspersed over gore to hilarious effect, ridiculous creature effects, zombies, and quite a few great one-liners but bottom line, this is just super entertaining.

Anyone who’s read Stephen King will immediately recognize his influence in every character and every scene. But whereas director Frank Darabont was able to elevate King’s material to something transcendental in both The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile (and to a lesser extent in The Mist), director Daniel Attias (who only directed this one film) keeps all of King’s lovable, trashy characters largely as is.

And that’s not a bad thing by the way. There’s definitely something to be said for this kind of straight adaptation with King written all over it. It helps that an amazingly young Corey Haim exudes charm and charisma and a constantly drunk Gary Busey (who also did all his own stunts in this film) adds craziness to everything. Also look for a great turn by David Lynch-favorite, Everett McGill.

Considered by some to be nostalgically the best werewolf film ever made. While I’m not going that far, it is a ton of fun and if you love Stephen King’s style, this is one of his best adaptations.

Shot completely on location in Salt Lake City, Utah and much of it shot in the ruins of the Saltair Resort, Carnival of Souls is a landmark film in psychological horror. Originally a box office failure, late night TV showings gained the film a large cult following and it is now highly regarded by many horror fans. It follows the story of a woman who survives a horrific car accident only to be haunted by a ghostly man. The ghoulish man is actually quite disturbing, even today.

There’s a strange, otherworldly feel to the film. Part of this has to do with the all-organ soundtrack playing constantly in the background but also the surreal camera work which reminds me of an early David Lynch film. The film poses many interesting questions and doesn’t talk down to the audience, leaving lots of things up for interpretation.

There’s a moment later in the film where Mary (the protagonist) gets on a greyhound bus only to find it full of devilishly smiling ghouls. Super disturbing. That scene alone is worth the price of admission but there’s many more great moments as well. Worth checking out if you’ve never seen it.

Supposedly, Eli Roth (maker of torture/gore films like Hostel) is on record as saying that Dead Alive is the first film he ever saw that satisfied his lust for on screen blood. And boy does the blood flow. But the whole thing is played for tremendous laughs which come as fast and free-flowing as the gore.

There’s a bizarre, manic creativity on display here that showed early on, just how brilliant Peter Jackson’s director’s eye is. Although, he’s gone on to do much more main stream films like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, part of me wishes we could get more Dead Alive type films from him. The insanity on display is such a blast.

Dead Alive was originally titled Brain Dead when first released. It’s part zombie picture, part creature / monster flick, and all comedy. There’s an especially great standout scene with the protagonist chasing a demon baby through a park that is all kinds of crazy brilliance. If you like comedy horror mash-ups like The Evil Dead 2, Dead Alive is just as good (and in some ways even better). So much fun.

This is probably the seminal 1980’s slasher film. Every convention of the genre is present: Secluded summer camp, teens hooking up, a mysterious murderer on the lose who always stages his bodies to be discovered in the most ridiculous ways, ingenious murders. The Burning has it all. In fact, it’s downright derivative in every way but contrary to popular belief, this script predates even Friday the 13th (even though everyone says this movie ripped off Friday the 13th).

It’s true, The Burning was released after Friday the 13th but that was only because of production timelines. So credit has to be given here. Of course, how much credit depends on how highly you respect the storyline of teenagers in the woods being killed by a psychopath. The script doesn’t fit together that well, especially the ending that tries to tie in the beginning but because none of the characters would actually know that information, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Still, there’s not a ton of logic to slasher in the woods films anyway so who cares?

Brilliant makeup man Tom Savini provides the gore effects (which are much better than many other films of the era) and the script was written by the Weinstein brothers (their big break into Hollywood). The creature makeup for “Cropsy” is pretty awesome and the glimpses of his severely burned figure work well. Whereas Friday the 13th and Halloween have genuine scares though, The Burning plays more like Meatballs (1979) until the bloody conclusion. Look for career launching roles by Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) and Holly Hunter (The Piano). Because it so completely reflects the genre, this is worth checking out.

Would you believe there was a little-known mockumentary from 2006 that in between laugh out loud black comedy, has some of the most insightful and ingenious deconstructions of the horror slasher genre?It’s called Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. It follows the story of a serial killer / slasher who is trying to “launch” his career by planning a killing of teenagers. The whole thing is a play on the classic conventions of the teenage slasher genre.

A documentary crew follows the killer “Leslie Vernon” as he explains his tactics to attack the kids in an upcoming night. This is cleverly done while also explaining themes in the genre and the whole thing is done in a comical way.

There’s tons of references to classic horror films throughout including: little girls jump roping just like A Nightmare on Elm Street, music playing in the background (same music as the end of The Shining), Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) playing an old psychiatrist (just like Donald Pleasence in Halloween), and many more. It’s a real treat for horror fans.

It’s rare that a remake is able to: 1) Capture the essence of the original. 2) Tell the original story but with a clever twist. 3) Improve on nearly every aspect of the original. The Blog (1988) does all three admirably and that’s saying something considering the original The Blog (1958) is a horror classic.

The creature effects are the best part of the remake, giving real threat to the blog of gel that is overtaking the town and killing people. There are deformed humans trapped in the blog, decaying inside, ingenious severed limb tricks, and some awesome makeup effects. The acting isn’t bad either with Shawnee Smith having a nice little character arc as a cheerleader turned monster killer and Kevin Dillon doing his best bad boy turned good impression.

There’s an undercurrent of humor (typical of many of the best 1980’s horror films) that keeps things fun despite all the dying and dismemberments. This one’s a late 80’s gem. A campy horror film that’s both an homage to the original drive-in horror movies and yet still holds up quite well today.

The Stuff (1985) is an entertaining horror comedy with a superb underlying subtext about American consumerism and freedom of thought. Don’t be fooled by the playful horror and cheesy acting, this film is smart, keenly aware of exactly what it’s doing every step of the way.

Sure the script flow is questionable with shaky internal logic, character interactions, and dialogue but it’s because everything is in the service of the overall theme and social commentary. And frankly, things are so fun along the way that you don’t care when characters who have never met suddenly know each other or when people meet in random places that make no sense. Doesn’t matter.

Some of the action & special effects are an editing disaster in a beautifully hilarious way. A 1980’s B-movie classic.

It’s tough to mix horror and comedy without going too far in one direction or the other. One of the best tricks of The Final Girls (2015) is its ability to strike a pretty good balance. The plot is tough to describe without giving too much away. It takes a ridiculous premise of some modern-day kids being transported into a classic slasher film but its more than that. There’s tons of references to especially the Friday the 13th series, twists on the common cliches, and clever character updates.

The core of the film revolves around a teenage girl reconnecting with her mom (who is a character in the classic slasher film) and it’s handled quite well. The acting is campy but on purpose and it works. Special credit has to go to Malin Akerman who gives an awesome performance as the virgin mother stuck in the past. Because this is horror comedy, no one will notice (except the fans) but she’s really great. Excellent little slasher-parody that’s also a love letter to the genre.