If you were going to go through each decade and choose the two "classic" horror movies of that decade, which ones would you choose and why?

I'm going to start with the 2000's and work backwards:

2000's: I'm going to say Saw and Hostel. These two movies seem to exemplify where the horror movie industry is going these days: dark, gruesome, violent, and well-written.

Other choices might have included the remake of Dawn of the Dead and Shaun of the Dead, since the zombie movie sub-genre has been resurrected recently. I think part of the reason for this rise in popularity is because of the success of the Resident Evil video game franchise.

1990's: Scream is one of the most important horror movies of the 1990's, largely because of its focus on the tropes of the genre. The Blair Witch Project was another big movie that made people think that a horror film could actually succeed. (The 1990's were actually pretty bleak for the genre, IMO, but things are definitely looking up these days.)

1980's: I don't know how anyone could not mention A Nightmare on Elm Stree when talking about 1980's horror movies. When I think of 1980's horror films, that's the first movie to come to mind. Friday the 13th came out in 1980 and spawned tons of sequels too, even though it seems so much like a 70's film to me.

Another great one from the 1980's was John Carpenter's The Thing.

1970's: It's impossible to narrow the 1970's down to 2 movies. The 1970's brought us:

• Halloween
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
• Rosemary's Baby
• The Omen
• The Exorcist
• Dawn of the Dead (the original)

The 1970's were a horror film fan's nirvana.

I'm going to stop here, but I might pick up with the 1960's in a few hours or tomorrow or something.