EW takes a stab at picking the most essential slasher films, from the subgenre's origins with Norman Bates in 'Psycho' to classics like 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' and 'Halloween.'

The best body horror films explore gore and human transformation on levels utterly alien to other types of films, resulting in unforgettable stories.

Although Godzilla takes the crown worldwide, this 1953 classic is perhaps the best American film from the cycle of atomic monster movies that sprung out of the decade's intense Cold War paranoia. Here, the big fella — identified by one of the film's lab coat-clad scientists as a "Rhedosaurus" — is freed from its Arctic prison by a nuclear blast.

Sam Raimi’s 1981 supernatural horror The Evil Dead is just good fun. Featuring the classic cliche of five college students staying in a cabin in the woods, they discover a tape that releases a host of spirits once played.

Many academically minded types have written at great length and with fascinating eloquence on the connection between sex and death in horror movies. We'll cut right to the chase, offering up some of the best and most potent examples of sexuality in the horror-movie genre.

But when it came time to determine the best ’80s horror movies, only one of the slasher movies made the cut. That’s because there was an embarrassment of riches to choose from. Some of these films are over 40 years old,