- The Exorcist: one of the best. Still creeps me out
- The Shining (Jack Nicholson version): only thing that detracts from that one is how absolutely annoying Shelly Duvall was. I was kind of hoping she'd be the one to get an axe in the torso...
- The Omen: I like the first one the best, but the entire series has its moments
- Poltergeist: though not as scary as it was for me as a child, it still is good
- Alien: a definite classic
- Jaws: I really do not consider this a true horror movie, but it is a great movie overall, and has plenty of scary things (the best thing that ever happened was Speilberg not getting the mechanical shark to work through most of the shooting)
- Nightmare on Elm Street: first movie only, before they turned it into a comedy series
- The Thing: love the claustrophobic feel of that movie
- Salem's Lot: not as good as when I was a kid, but there are some genuinely scary moments in that one
- The Howling: first one only (turned into a joke after that)
- Night of the Living Dead: first version was solid, the second needs to have every copy ever made burned
- Halloween: make sure to watch it every year around this time
- Psycho: original only. A classic, though has not held up as well as some movies on this list.
I'm sure I'm leaving a few off. If you can't tell, I like the older stuff best (the "jump out and scare me" stuff only works a few seconds; I like stuff that is suspenseful). Funny thing is, I saw most of these as a kid (my mother loved horror movies, and she raised me to like them, too).
I have not seen The Haunting or The Other, but have heard nothing but good things about them both. I can't find them for rent at the local video stores (I can find the NEW version of The Haunting, but that sucks other than Catherine Zeta-Jones, and of course I am not talking about her acting
), and never see them listed on the TV schedule.