[pylon]

The Thing: (1981 John Carpenter version) IMHO the all time horror benchmark.

The Shining: Almost a coin toss with for #1. The practical effects of The Thing pushed it to # 2 though. Kubrick somehow made a building turn in an Oscar worthy performance.

The Evil Dead: Legendary film shot on a non-existent budget. Bruce Campbell puts in an all time great physical performance. The man should have left the B list permanently, but somehow never fully did.

Poltergeist: What can be done when big budget and horror are combined. Even though director credit is given to Tobe Hooper, Spielbergs signature is all over it, as many claimed he pretty much directed the entire film but didn't want the directors credit because of the how dark the material was.

Alien: Sci-fi's horror standard. Without JS Gigeure's horrifying and twisted artistic direction, it could have just been another flavour of the week space film. It's the glue of the film.

The Fly (1986 Cronenberg version): Cronenbergs apogee of body horror films. Goldblum's transformation from quirky nerd to sadistic brundlefly is the stuff of nightmares.

Honorable mentions:

The Mist, only for it's sadistically cruel twist at the end. I got a lot of glares in that theatre for bursting out in laughter after the big reveal at the end. A lot of people hated the end, I thought it was brilliant, the movie is worth it for the final 10 minutes and for taking a big runny dump on happy endings everywhere.

Even though the film isn't classified as horror, I dare you to find a scarier 15 minutes of film, than the abduction sequence from 'Fire in the Sky.' I watched that film in a dark basement in my 20's, and cowered like a 5 year old during that scene.