Hmmm ... it is not exactly a genre that was for me a lot ... even though I am extremely well read and knowledgeable about the history of "Gothic Literature" going all the way back to Horace Walpole and Ann Radcliffe ... and pretty much culminating with Anne Rice, and specially her erotic material that is far better written and delves into vampirism in a much more modern way ... and makes much better sense of the whole thing from a sort of historical perspective, and what it was all about.

That it became a sort of "anti-Christian" thing for a long time, is the thing that is bizarre, but I think the Church itself started it hundreds and hundreds of years ago by making painters show cherubs and then the evil side as maniacal beasts ... which they could not control, obviously! Which gives the whole thing a new perspective ... one was saintly and the other one an erotic crazy ... if the paintings have a say on it. Thus, the inevitable literature of it, shows a lot of that, with some smaller details of creativity now and then.

There was one film I remember, that was interesting and helped me to get into some of the horror films, and it was BLACK SUNDAY (original title) with Barbara Steele, and it was Guy Guden (Space Pirate Radio) that got me to see that and eventually get me into the HAMMER series of films, which I enjoyed despite the stories sometimes being a bit this and that ... the quality of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, added a dimension that American films did not quite have, and too many of them went for the show off and later the meat market, and in some ways, this took the sails out of things for me. 

That is not to say that the guts and gore was not there ... Lord Polidori's book is very gory, however, he was a surgeon, and he put all that blood and guts into his story ... but right with him, and Lord Byron, Mary Shelley wrote one of the cleanest of all books, and next to the stories of "Dracula", her book is the best known of all stories, and in essence it is not a horror story at all, which I think was intentional, although it is thought that a woman writing guts and gore at that time, would not be appreciated much or would be ignored, I imagine.

After that, I am not sure that I was into the horror thing as much ... ROSEMARY'S BABY is mentioned and I am not sure that it should be, although its subject matter is a point ... but what made that film valuable was less the story and its contents, but the way it was shot ... with some very strange camera angles, many of which became famous in the horror genre ... but the film, in many ways, is best known for a shot that takes seconds ... that got the whole audience in the theater to move their heads to the right to see what was behind that door, which you could not see. The idea gave us the moment in the film that was the idea that the birth took place.

Some other films I like, but not sure that we should consider them horror films, although in many ways they fit:

Nicolas Roeg -- Don't Look Now // Stunning film visually as well with too many things that really prevent you from knowing what is going on.

Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell --Performance // Probably one of the best films EVER made, and a very difficult one, since trying to explain it is nearly impossible, but the style, the music and its completeness is insane, and the side effect was that one piece of music probably gave MTV the idea ...

Ken Russell -- The Devils // Not exactly a horror film, but one that in many ways shows us many of the horrors of the church at the time of Richelieu in France, and also gives us some amazing performances by most of the Royal Shakespeare Company and Oliver Reed.

Donald Cammell -- Demon Seed // A crazy film that featured Julie Christie being imprisoned and a robot that was insisting on getting her pregnant.

Harry Kumell -- Daughters of Darkness // I will allow the ladies (Baldies) to write on this one

Patrice Chereau -- Queen Margot // A story of the French Royal house and how a mother killed her children and what not and it involves a lot of what happened to the people in Brittany that Alan Stivell has written and sang about. 

Toni Scott -- The Hunger // Fine film, even though many did not like David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon in it ... but it was well done.

There are others, but at this moment I can not add much ... I am not a great fan of things like The Exorcist, or some of the more American made films as I do not find them artistic enough ... if I can say that.

More because of it's initial impact when it was first released than it is now for me.

These also deserve a mention...

^ Daniel Kaluuya in that Get Out trailer (a film I haven't seen) was the main character in one of my very favourite Black Mirror episodes, and was in one of my very favourite dramedies (a sort of horror comedy), Psychoville.

"Daughters of Darkness" (original title "Les Lèvres Rouges" meaning "The Red Lips") is indeed a good horror movie by Harry Kümel, but his "Malpertuis" based on the book of the same title by Belgian author Jean Ray is even better.

Here a trailer of the movie:

1. The Shining

2. The Wicker Man

3. No Country for Old Men

4. Dead Calm

5. The Vanishing

6. Perfect Strangers

7. Cape Fear (the 1991 remake with Robert di Niro)

8. The Fog

9. Open Water 

10. Misery

11. The Fly (the 1986 remake with Jeff Goldblum)

12. The Invasion (a 2007 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers starring Daniel Craig & Nicole Kidman)

I wasn't even aware there had been a remake of The Wicker Man. 

I know exactly what you mean. Anyone who's seen Misery will never forget the "hobbling" scene with the sledgehammer. 

I definitely prefer the originals of 11 and 12. The "Help Me" scene of the original of "The Fly" alone is better than the whole remake. The remake relies too much on FX and too little on story.

I am generally not fond of remakes. I definitely prefer Robert Mitchum to Robert de Niro as the villain in "Cape Fear". Mitchum has a creepiness that de Niro can't match.

Gentle and Giant wrote: I've seen all the films in the list and I do like a decent horror. My choices would be Alien and The Thing (remake) as I like the scenarios where people are trapped somewhere and can't get out. Others that I like not on the list are The Cabin in the Woods (mainly because it went somewhere unexpected) and The Cube (and its sequels).

You would like "Malpertuis" then because that's the central theme of the movie, with a double twist ending.

Outside the list I must mention The Hills Have Eyes (original, haven't seen the remake) and Night Of The Living Dead. Oh, and Blair Witch Project, too. 

As for The Fly, I prefer the remake, it might actually be in my top 10 films, but as Friede said above, the "help me" scene is great. I find it difficult to watch and listen to actually. 

I'm not at all a fan of the horror genre, much more of the thriller. That said, I've seen most of the films of this list (actually, all but two), also because many are just major classics... One of my favourites from this list is Lost Highway, which imo is a thriller, although it also exploits some codes of the horror genre.

Other than that, the list might be long: Doctor Caligari, Don't Look Now, Psycho, Rosemary's Baby, The Shining, The Silence of the Lambs, Videodrome...

Since Caligari got teamed up with Roeg's film, it definitely gets my vote, together with The Silence of the Lambs - this one is really creapy - and Videodrome, for its off-beat cult value...

Really must see The Wicker Man - why have I not already?!!

I also have to add Tom Cruise's War Of The Worlds film.  I find the first half hour or so in particular to be genuinely frightening....