My Top ‘Introduction to Horror’ Films
The goal is to pick out films to show someone who has never watched horror films. Choose the movies you think would be best suited for them to understand the genre.
Started by Horrific Healing, several other bloggers have jumped in and offered their Top Introduction to Horror Films lists. We want you to post your list, too!
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My Top ‘Introduction to Horror’ Films
I went with 15 , Here’s My List:
1 – Frankenstein – early horror
2 – House of Wax (Vincent Price) – How can anyone know horror without VP
3 – Night of the Living Dead – the ultimate zombie film
4 – Dracula has Risen form the Grave – More modern than Lugosi and represents the 1960’s and Gothic
5 – Psycho – psychological horror and Hitchcock represented
6 – Texas Chainsaw Massacre – gotta’ have the chainsaw
7 – Jaws – nature horror and Spielberg
8 – Halloween – got to have a Carpenter film and slasher film represented
9 – Nightmare on Elm Street – Wes Craven’s best
10 – Alien – Sci-fi horror
11 – The Evil Dead – possession film and black comedy
12 – Hellraiser – Clive barker represented
13 – The Ring – Representing J-Horror style
14 – The Mist – S.King represented, not to mention Greg Nicoterra from The Walking Dead
15 – Quarantine or REC – representing the found footage/handheld style
So, I have represented here: gothic, slasher, ghost story, revenge horror, monster movie, found footage, J-Horror, black & white films, psychological horror, animal/nature horror, demonic possession, black humor and sci-fi horror. That just about covers it.
As you can see I’m partial to American films. After this introduction, I would have another list for foriegn horror films and cover Italian, Spanish and true Asian cinema for my unsuspecting friend to watch.
I know a lot of these are the usual suspects but, they are the best in their categories, why give a new viewer something sub par? Besides, these are all films I really love and wouldn’t mind watching again with somebody.
I say that if you do a list, you should link the other posts that have come before yours. So here are the links to the other posts:
Horrific Healing – – Top 10 introductory Horror Films
Fringevoid – – Introduction To Horror films
parlor of horror 
I agree that Hellraiser belongs on this list, and I can’t believe I didn’t think to put it on my list. The Ring is also a good choice, and I imagine that both it and REC would scare the pants off of someone not used to watching horror.
Pretty diverse list. Just about covers all the bases! The only one I’ve never seen is Dracula Has Risen From the Grave.
I’m actually the second link in this chain, as I got my idea from Horrific Healing. I don’t know if you want to edit your post, but I gotta give credit where credit is due!
Okay, i’m on it!
‘Dracula has Risen from the Grave’ is my fave Hammer Dracula film, I own them all but this one stands out to me.
An awesome list! The Hammer stuff is pretty essential and Dracula Has Risen From The Grave is actually my favorite also. I like the representation of classics your list possesses with titles like House Of Wax and Psycho in addition to newer titles (that I, admittedly, haven’t seen, haha) such as The Mist and Quarantine. Hellraiser is a classic, if I had to add five more to my list it’d definitely be one of them.
Thanks bloodyrenn, it was a fun list to do. I keep thinking of things I want to add like, the Shining, The Others, Signs… You should definitely see The Mist – it’s a Stephen King story and a great adaptation, great script, unbelievable ending, great acting.
The Mist is definitely one I plan to see and since it’s not a hard-to-find title I imagine I will have my hands on it sooner than later … expect a review when the time comes, haha.
Cool list. I love all these that have been going around. Props for linking to the others too. Means I can save this link and have them all to refer to.
It would definitely be cool if you did a post on this!
Epic List! I love all these movies. I just watched Quarantine the other night and it is still a creepfest. Alien, Jaws and Halloween! Great picks. This looks like fun. I may give it a shot. Great post. I’m going to throw it up on my Twitter feed. Thanks!
I didn’t know if I should put Quarantine or REC, there are things I love about each one that aren’t in the other, but I lean towards Quarantine because its just easier to watch in english.
So many great movies there… I haven’t seen them all, so I might have to check some of them out:)
You should definitely see them all, in one night! Happy horrors! 🙂
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The Alien series was mine, it was so good revisiting them again recently.