The Thing (From Another World) (1951)

House of Wax (1953)

The 1950's new 3-D horror flicks gave TV a run for its money, corralling curious moviegoers into theatres by the droves. This bit of eye-bending eye candy reeled them in -- and turned Vincent Price into Hollywood's new king of horror movies.

"House of Wax" is loaded with what fans loved most about Price: the evil madman stares, the leering grin, the endless schemes for dishing out destruction. It all sends the creep factor soaring in this frightening flick about a "melted" sculptor who reemerges from the dead and turns the corpses of his enemies into wax figures. Burn baby burn!

Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954)

Like any good terror, this one stirs the darkest, dankest recesses of our imaginations. Scientists search for fossils along the Amazon River and stumble upon the legendary Black Lagoon and the prehistoric creature that inhabits it: the Gill Man.

Once captured, their slimy, amphibious adversary escapes, returning only to kidnap the fiancé of one team member. Yes, this retribution-seeking monster is in love and with his new girl in his clammy clutches, the Gill Man makes his move for freedom. But the humans are prepped to tan his soggy hide, leaving Hollywood's celebrated boggy brute pissed to the gills.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Losing oneself in work is one thing. But ending up banished to oblivion by alien vegetable pods and the deadly dopplegangers they produce? Does human paranoia get any better this? This '50s fright fest is filled with alien creatures who suck the life out of an entire town, transforming every citizen into evil shells of their former selves.

Called by some critics as a warning against Communism and McCarthy-ism, we watch on as the town's doctor desperately tackles these intergalactic imposters. But what audiences really see is what human beings fear most: that we are all alone in a world that will do us harm.

I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957)

Forget "Little House on the Prairie." Michael Landon made his acting bones in this Hollywood B-movie about a troubled teenager who turns to hypnotherapy to mend his wayward ways.

Yet unbeknownst to him, the evil hypnotherapist secretly uses the regression experiments to transform the teen into a rampaging werewolf. He howls at the moon. He runs through the streets wreaking terror on unsuspecting victims.  It's every parent's worst nightmare come true in the '50s about their own hormone-charged kids turning into hairy, riotous beasts.

 The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

Peter Cushing scored horror cult star status with this delicious little flick. In it, Baron Victor Frankenstein (Cushing) finds himself a young pupil to help with his monstrous experiments to create a superior human being.

After watching the Baron resurrect a puppy from the dead, the student looks with wiser eyes upon his crazed teacher, seeing Frankenstein, his murderous ways and his mad, obsessive schemes to cheat death as the real horror of this chilling tale.

Curse of the Demon (1957)

In one of the first films to deal with paranormal psychology, an American doctor (Dana Andrews) travels to London symposium. His mission: to expose a devil cult leader for the cheat he really is.  Believing the man's powers to be totally bogus, the fearless doctor accepts an invitation to stay at his gloomy estate.

Mysteriously, a secret parchment bearing a death curse finds its way into the doctor's hands.  Strange, spooky events suddenly take place, shaking the confirmed skeptic's confidence. His only chance to escape the curse is to pass the damned bit of paper back into the demon lover's hands.

The Fly (1958)

This gem scared the blazes out of audiences when it first opened. And with good reason.  A well-meaning scientist refines a machine that will one day transport human matter to the farthest corners of the globe.

Certain the trailblazing device is ready, the scientist steps in and sends his fractured atoms hurling through space. But unbeknownst to him, a fly enters the chamber, leaving the insect and his companion sharing body parts once the transportation device stops. Try though he might to save himself, the monster eventually places his great fly head between a metal press and lets his wife end his suffering.

This classic features one of the scariest acting combos of all time:  Peter Cushing as the vampire killer Van Helsing and Christopher Lee as the devious Count Dracula. 

From Cushing's elegant, unbeatable British cut to Lee's imposing rendering of the sinister blood-sucker, the two titans of terror make this tale about destroying Dracula the perfect fright fest for any dark and stormy night.

Baron Frankenstein (aka Peter Cushing) is back! After the shifty scientist escapes the guillotine, he flees to Germany and loses himself in his new world. With a new name (Dr. Stein) and a new lab, the obsessed scientists picks up where he left off in "The Curse of Frankenstein," restarting his experiments with any spare body parts he can scare up from the local cemetery.