Best Films to represent different Styles?

[Marcus]

What films would you suggest people watch, as representatives of that type of film? Below are some of my suggestions

Zombie Films:
Core - Night, Day, Dawn of the Dead
Comedy - Shaun of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead
Action - Resident Evil

Vampire:
Core - Lost Boys, Near Dark
Romantic - Bram Stokers Dracula
Comedy - Fright Night
Action - From Dusk till Dusk, Blade

Demonic:
Core - Demons, Omen 2
Possession - Exorcist
Comedy - Evil Dead 2
Setting - The Church, Prince of Darkness

Alien:
Core - Alien 1, Forbidden Planet
Action - Alien 2, Preditor
Comedy - Slithers, Evolution
Mutant - The Thing
Invasion - Invasion of the Body Snatchers, War of the Worlds

[Moonreaper]

Ha me and a buddy of mine were talking about this very topic last night. Its hard list something like that because the mind magnetizes to personal favorites instead of something a "fresh" viewer would find entertaining. For example one of my favorites is Maniac, personally I think its an awesome film, but I let 3 people borrow it and all three came back and said it was boring. Another example that most of you can relate to is Ginger Snaps, once again I let 2 or 3 people borrow it and all came back saying it was cheesy and unentertaining. This is a tough topic to tackle, for me anyways. I do, however, enjoy letting people borrow my movies and seeing their reaction to it.

[swf]

NATURE RUN AMOK (Most Obscure Critters Used):

Mosquito (1994)
Komodo (2000)
Ticks (1993)
Squirm (1977)
They Nest (aka Creepie Crawlers, 2000) - Some kind of African beetle.

Best guess on the dates.

[hawkeyepierce]

What? No Hammer in the Vampire section?

[Marcus]

No.

Well, I made that list off the top of my head, and based on the films I own and that jumped out of my head when I was thinking about it. I like hammer films, but I think I was a little too young for them to lodge into my head as key films.

[who]

mark gatiss did a documentary about horror showing that without hammer the modern horror age would quite possibly not have happened

[Marcus]

I think I saw part of the documentary.

But, the question isn't "What is the most iconic", or "what are the key films".

What I'm asking is what are the most sterotypical examples of the themes and story threads which make up horror in todays market. Not necessarily good or great films, but those that embody and demonstrate that particular theme the most.

[hawkeyepierce]

Mark Gatiss is a cool guy, I loved his contribution to the horror episode of 'British Film Forever'...also on the beeb

And nice idea for a 'essential viewings' list by the way! I think your looking for the sort of films that define the subgenre, not in a 'first time-' sort of way but rather films that sum up the essence of that particular genre.
Am I right?

[Marcus]

yup, your right.

[who]

yep definitely