1.The Night Stalker (1973) -In spite of being made-for-TV, this movie about a flat-foot reporter trying to solve a series of bizarre murders is dead scary. And it should be as master storyteller Richard Matheson wrote the script. And the closet scene plays remarkably true.

2.Halloween (1978) – Horror works best when it’s stripped to the most basic elements, and that’s just what John Carpenter did for this masterpiece. By the end we all agree with Dr. Loomis’s answer as to what kind of monster Michael Myers really is.

3.Alien (1979) – Ridley Scott scared the space suits off audiences with this revisioning of 1958’s “It! The Terror from Beyond Space.” This movie evokes dread, fear and paranoia and a gore scene that’s still shocking. Sigourney Weaver stars as Ripley, up against one of the truly great movie monsters.

4. The Night of the Living Dead (1968) – George Romero’s shot-on-a-shoestring film wastes no time biting into its subject – people-eating zombies, but with relevant social themes. This is the one that started it all. And the black-and-white let’s a viewer’s mind fill in just how gory the swinging-light bulb scene should be.

5. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) – Easily one of the greatest horror films. Director Tobe Hopper’s documentary style draws viewers into this gritty and gruesome world. Even 32 years later it far surpasses the 2003 remake. This is scary and tough, and easy to see why moviemakers continue to rip it off.