It's incredible to think that Bob Clark, the director of Baby Geniuses and Porky's, once made two of the most important and influential horror films of the 1970s: Deathdream and Black Christmas. Like Brian De Palma and Dario Argento, and Mario Bava, Alfred Hitchcock and Jacques Tourneur before them, Clark expressed an interest in using the sensation of horror to gauge the wear and tear to the body politic. In response to the anti-war sentiment and progressive movements of their time, the horror films of the '70s were fearless in their willingness to take the pulse of the nation. It was a serious philosophical and aesthetic agenda most critics were unwilling to consider. Indeed, is there any other genre of film this in tune with the prevailing politics of its time? Even in the '80s, when a good horror film was a dime a thousand, obscenities like Slumber Party Massacre, Sleepaway Camp and My Bloody Valentine still evoked the regressive climate of fear, oppression and sexual paranoia instigated by Reagan's rise to power. Yeah, the films sucked, but so did the nation. Today, horror films may be lighting up the American box office, but you have to look hard to find ones with a discernable care in the world: Cabin Fever is the film Friday the 13th should have been, and it's David Cronenberg's eXistenZ, Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Pulse and Kinji Fukasaku's compelling ass-kicker Battle Royale (unreleased in the United States), not Hideo Nakata's Ringu, that deliver on the promise of John Carpenter's They Live by truly assessing the spiritual drain of our clogged technological world. Rather than rattle off a list of the best or worst horror films of all time, we've decided to compile a small selection of films serious horror buffs shouldn't pass up. Some are good, some are bad, but they all share something in common: their hysteria runs deep—sometimes chillingly and incomprehensibly so—and you won't have a clue what to do with any of 'em!

Click on the images above for individual reviews, which will load in the space directly below the poster (to return to the intro page, refresh your browser). For those who want to know about a film's many pleasures (and offenses), the guide below will be of use to you throughout your journey. Also, if you see a plus sign at the end of a review, click on it to be taken to a full write-up.