2. Halloween (1978)
Ah, the classic Halloween movie that you thought I'd probably put at number one (I couldn't be that predictable, but it had to be included somewhere). Halloween is one of the original slasher movies and still one of the absolute greats. Starring scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis in her movie debut and subtitled "The night HE came home", Halloween sees the return of psychotic murderer Michael Myers to his hometown of Haddonfield, after having been institutionalized since childhood for the murder of his sister. Michael dons some blue overalls and a creepy white mask (which was actually a Captain Kirk mask painted white) and stalks a timid, bookish teenage girl and her friends while his doctor chases him through the streets. Boasting arguably the greatest horror movie score in the history of the genre, Halloween was a great movie that did well with very little marketing and one that has influenced many movies to this day. The film spawned seven sequels (one of which - number 3 - had nothing to do with Michael Myers whatsoever) and a remake which itself spawned a sequel, but none of them lived up to the eerie atmosphere and horror impact of the excellent original.