30. 'Hellraiser' (1987) Novelist Clive Barker's directorial debut has everything a great horror flick needs: a puzzle box that, when solved, tears your soul to shreds; a villain who gorges himself on human blood; and a pasty white minion of Satan with a British accent and pins jutting from his head (the iconic -- and aptly named -- Pinhead).

28. 'The Descent' (2006) Six sexy female spelunkers trapped in a cave sounds like the setup for Cinemax soft-core porn. But in this pulse-pounding, scream-a-minute Scottish import, it's the backdrop for a gloriously gory battle to the death between said spelunkers and a horde of blind, flesh-hungry cave mutants.

26. 'The Fly' (1986) While the 1958 original was frightful (Vincent Price's tiny little fly voice pleading "Help me!" still gives us chills), David Cronenberg's remake is disquieting, disturbing, weird ... in a word, awesome. And Jeff Goldblum is indescribably alluring as the man mutating to a creepy crawler -- emphasis on "creepy."

24. 'Carnival of Souls' (1962) This B-movie chiller is a marvel of atmosphere: There are virtually no special effects, no monsters, no serial killers in the shadows ... and yet the story of a church organist who seemingly escapes death in a car accident is frighteningly taut. You'll never hear organ music the same way again.

22. 'Scream' (1996) Only a fright master like Wes Craven could parody slasher "rules" (e.g., sex equals certain death), pay winking homage to classic horror films, and STILL make us jump 10 feet in the air. With one fell swoop, Craven both revived the genre and proved that a slasher flick needn't be as dumb as its dopey teen victims.

20. 'Dracula' (1931) Even today, Tod Browning's film remains downright unnerving: the gothic cinematography, the sensual undercurrent, Lugosi's iconic portrait of elegant malice ("I never drink ... wine"). More than the novel or any other movie, 'Dracula' defined forever what we fear about vampires ... and what we love about them, too.

18. 'Carrie' (1976) It has a deceptively humble premise (shy girl with a crazy mom and supernatural powers just wants to fit in), but even in a pre-Columbine world, Brian De Palma's take on a Stephen King novel was enough to give teens and their parents nightmares. And in today's climate, it simply resonates with horror.

16. 'Night of the Living Dead' (1968) George A. Romero made a shocking entrance to B-movie fame with his black-and-white zombie thriller. It plays out almost like a documentary, with very little narrative -- the zombies just keep coming, they have an insatiable hunger for human flesh ... what more do you need to know?

14. 'Bride of Frankenstein' (1935) The monster takes a wife -- and horror fans were invited to the reception. James Whale's compelling classic is the perfect marriage of poignant romance and creature discomforts. And as for the unholy union, turns out the couple was catastrophically mismatched.

12. 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968) Roman Polanski's deliciously paced thriller is part satanic horror, part paranoid delusion. We know something's not right with hubby (John Cassavetes), but isn't pregnant Rosemary (Mia Farrow) letting hormones get the best of her, suspecting everyone she meets? Nope, she's right. Never mind.

10. '28 Days Later' (2002) The zombie genre goes even darker in Danny Boyle's malevolent take, in which flesh-eating is a viral affliction and the stricken are possessed with rabid ferocity and superhuman speed. And though they're there, the sociopolitical undertones can just be ignored if you want your dread served up straight.

8. 'Dawn of the Dead' (1978) Nobody knows "dead" like George A. Romero, and the horror visionary followed up one classic zombie flick ('Night of the Living Dead') with what is easily his magnum opus: a scarier, sharper, ballsier and bloodier campaign of terror that succeeds as much as a piece of cultural commentary as it does a fright fest.

6. 'The Sixth Sense' (1999) We loved the twist, but that's not what makes 'Sixth Sense' so chilling; this masterfully told ghost story does more with half-glimpsed images and fine acting than most horror films do with buckets of blood. When we wake up screaming in the dead of night, it's not Freddy Krueger we see ... It's Haley Joel Osment.

4. 'The Shining' (1980) On the one hand, Stanley Kubrick's film is a drama of a father driven mad by inadequacy (Jack Nicholson, a little TOO good at playing crazy); on the other, it's a nightmarish landscape of dead twins, a possessed little boy and a naked woman who turns into a corpse. Either way, it'll scare the crap out of you.

2. 'The Exorcist' (1973) Audiences in 1973 weren't just screaming at the sinister sights of this definitively classic yarn; some fainted or vomited, and one man even broke his jaw on the seat in front of him. We're still screaming 24 years later, even if there have been no further reports of physical damages. It's head-spinning, bed-shaking horror at its finest.