For more than a century, film fans have flocked theatres to enjoy a few hours of blissful terror. While many can agree on the great films of the genre (The Exorcist, The Shining, Rosemary's Baby), a lot of scary pictures are often forgotten. To celebrate Halloween, here are a few overlooked gems certain to deliver a good fright on a cold dark night.

The Uninvited (1944)



A brother and sister become owners of a historic seaside English property on the Cornwall coastline. The first sign of trouble is the fact that their terrier refuses to enter the house - never a good sign when buying real estate. The two soon realize they are not alone. Devoid of special effects, director Lewis Allen relies on sound, space and shadow to develop an atmosphere of true terror. (The Uninvited is also famous for producing the jazz standard Stella by Starlight, named for one of the film's sinister neighbours.)

Les yeux sans visage (Eyes Without a Face) (1960)



A surgeon conducts experiments on unsuspecting victims in order to improve his daughter's "outlook" after a disfiguring accident. His technique is a radical graft that gives new meaning to facelift. Creating a scandal at the time of its release, director Georges Franju managed to terrify French audiences, anger international censors -- all while spilling very little blood at all.

The Haunting (1963)



One of the most terrifying films of its age, Robert Wise's The Haunting set the standard by which many contemporaries are measured. A scientist of the paranormal invites a group of subjects to visit a Victorian-era Massachusetts mansion with a gruesome history. Not surprisingly, the house has no interest in making them feel welcome.

The Last Man on Earth (1964)



George A. Romero called this film the blueprint for his classic Night of the Living Dead; it certainly came to define the genre and spawn a host of sequels and imitations. Vincent Price stars as the sole human survivor in a world plagued by vampire-like zombies. He spends endless days trapping and killing these scourges in the hope of finding a cure for their condition. Based on Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend, the story has been remade several times and under different titles (The Omega Man, I Am Legend).

Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)



Werner Herzog's film is really more of a stylized version of the Bram Stoker novel Dracula than a remake of the 1922 silent classic by F.W. Murnau. Starring Herzog's longtime collaborative partner, the eccentric Klaus Kinski, as Count Dracula and Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Harker, Herzog stays true to the gothic tradition of the novel, while imbuing it with his trademark attention to detail (from shadows to chanting) in every eerie shot. A brilliant film.

The Brood (1979)



A man becomes suspicious of a psychotherapist's treatment of his institutionalized wife. He learns that the therapeutic technique involves the physical manifestation of trauma, which results in his wife giving birth to deformed, homicidal children. David Cronenberg single-handedly founded his own genre -- "body horror" -- and this 1979 creepfest is steeped in his usual unnerving symbolism.

Re-Animator (1981)



Gory, vile and fantastic, Re-Animator is essentially the Frankenstein story mixed up in an industrial blender. A doctor played by Jeffrey Combs (familiar to Star Trek fans) invents a serum designed to "reanimate" the dead -- with some not-so-minor complications. Filled with blood, splatter, laughs and plenty of pastiche, it took horror to new levels of depravity - and thus should not be missed.

The Beyond (1983)



A woman inherits a hotel and begins extensive renovations, inadvertently opening a portal to hell that releases a cavalcade of spirits, demons and walking corpses. (Every renovator's nightmare!) While George A. Romero is credited as the Zombie Godfather, Italian director Lucio Fulci is easily the Godfather of Gore, and this 1981 horror classic is certainly emblematic of his craft.

Fright Night (1985)



Charlie Brewster, a teenager obsessed with horror films, becomes convinced that his new neighbour is in fact a vampire. Guess what - he's right! Unable to convince his friends and family of the fact, Charlie engages a former TV vampire-hunter (played by the wonderful Roddy McDowell) to stage an intervention. Is Fright Night the Citizen Kane of the genre? No, but it's a good campy romp, full of horror cliches and a couple of good scares. (Bonus: "You're so cool, Brewster!" became a popular refrain in video arcades of the day.)

Shutter (2004)

A young photographer and his girlfriend flee from the scene of a car accident, leaving a woman to die in the street. Soon thereafter, strange images begin appearing in his photos. A hit on the festival circuit, this Thai picture is one of those films that leaves a lasting impression and causes you to want to avoid dark corridors. (The remake featuring Joshua Jackson, on the other hand, should have been left in the dark room.)

-- Mark Farrant

Readers: What horror films do you think are more deserving of praise?