2. The Evil Dead
Sam Raimi is now a high-rolling Hollwyood director, having created the original Spider-Man series, Oz the Great and Powerful, and The Quick and the Dead. He has his first feature-length horror film The Evil Dead to thank for that, along with its sequel Evil Dead II, which achieved the rare feat of living up to the standards of its predecessor. Wall-to-wall with gore and shock-effects, The Evil Dead separated itself from horror movie competition with a delicious sense of black humour about itself. Blatantly low-budget but confident in execution, the film drew in a surprisingly significant audience and ended up launching several important movie careers. The British censorship board weren't quite as eager to recognise the film's quality, seeing it as another exploitation film right off the assembly line. Whilst The Evil Dead was anything but, the film was temporarily banned for its splatter content between 1983-1990. Now back in wide distribution, the film continues to be popular with both critics and horror audiences, inspiring a contemporary remake that Raimi helped to produce in 2013. One of the best-known Nasties ever made, Raimi's production is a jocular cut of the jugular. The film has a razor-sharp tongue that plunges through its own cheek in bloody fashion, creating a maniacal blend of horror and humour that has acted as an everlasting cult experience that continues to inspire horror directors to this day.