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Horror movies are very much an acquired taste. There quite simply is too much violence, too much gore and too much emotional uncertainty to suit the refined tastes of many civilized people. But for us barbarians, we likes 'em. We likes 'em good.

The best horror movies are those fine films that touch us deeply where it counts, in our souls. And in our glands, too. So the best of the horror genre are those films that stimulate our adrenal glands and our spirits. Great horror movies focus on generating fear in the viewer. They can shock, scare, frighten, repulse us. But above all, they must move us. Here are the finest films in the horror genre, those which stand the test of time as well as the test of quality.

5) The Birds, by Alfred Hitchcock. Hitch hated this movie. He considered it a dismal failure. The film is about wild birds, for no reason whatsoever, becoming violent and attacking humans. There resolution to the film is weak, the reasons for the behavior change in the birds is never addressed, and by today's standards, the gore effects are pretty tame. So, what makes this film so great? It's flawed, but Oh! what a flawed masterpiece. Hitchcock's deft touch at directing takes a non-entity of an actress like Tippie Hedron and turns her into an icon of fear and loathing. The penetrating frisson of Hitchcock's design and composition are immense. Although the characterization is weak, Hitch makes up for it with a fast-paced, driving cinematography that is not matched until we get Tarantino.

4) The Shining, by Stanley Kubrick. Okay, right off the bat, no one should ever re-make a classic movie. One should re-make flawed classics. This Kubrick film is perfect. It's about a writer who goes to a haunted hotel to finish writing a book in seclusion, accompanied by his family. The house attempts to possess the kid, but ends with possessing the writer and driving him to homicidal excess. Jack Nicholson is incredible. His insane is really insane. The special effects are both creepy and believable. There's a definite sense of the apocalyptic.

3) Sean of the Dead, by Edgar Wright. Now, you need a healthy sense of humor to enjoy this film, and I can hear the cries of outrage coming from all corners of the world at the inclusion of this film into the list. Yes, it's a zombie movie. Yes, it's got gore oozing off the celluloid. Without doubt it has some great zombie eating scenes. But it's also very, very funny. It involves the love versus friendship trials of a man named Sean,

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