The Gates of Hell (1980)
Dir: Lucio Fulci

Fulci was one of the true legends of the Italian horror scene. His blockbuster international hit Zombie (a knock-off of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead) guaranteed him an audience for his subsequent works. While never as stylish or, let's face it, talented as Argento or Mario Bava, Fulci had a certain innate skill for tapping into people's imaginations. The Beyond was re-released by Quentin Tarrentino's Rolling Thunder imprint last year, but for many, The Gates of Hell will always be his masterpiece.

Featuring a priest hung from a tree, Lovecraftian references and, of course, zombies, this film is one of Fulci's more accessible ventures, despite its nods to the director's love of surrealism. The film has also been widely released under several different titles, including City of the Living Dead. The writer/director died in 1996 and has steadily become more respectable since then.

Demons (1985)
Dir: Lamberto Bava

Once upon a time, there was an internationally acclaimed director named Mario Bava. His cutting edge genre films, like Danger: Diabolik and Black Sunday, combined atmospheric lighting with evocative sets and camera work. Mario Bava's son, Lamberto, has continued in his father's tradition as part of the new wave of Italian horror directors that came to prominence in the late '80s. The only difference is that Lamberto really isn't that talented. He rose to early prominence thanks to his high profile mentor, Dario Argento.

Demons was the younger Bava's biggest critical hit, and deals with an outbreak of demon-itis at a creepy German movie theater. Frightened filmgoers battle zombie-like demons and there's lots of general blood and gore. Sadly, Demons turned out to be a fluke hit for Bava, and he subsequently has been demoted to directing made-for-TV movies.

Opera (1987)
Dir: Dario Argento

Director Dario Argento has been called the Italian Alfred Hitchcock. But in reality, he's one of Europe's most celebrated directors, both critically and commercially. During the late '70s and early '80s, he was in his prime, responsible for such supernatural classics as Suspiria and Inferno as well as giallo (Italian murder mysteries) like Profondo Russo (Deep Red) and The Bird with the Crystal Plumage—films that are cult classics in the US, but mainstream hits in Europe. His films combine sweeping cinematography and elaborate set pieces with murky conspiratorial plots.

Although his recent work lacks the style and imagination of his classics, Argento still has legions of fans. Possibly the final work of his classic period, 1987's Opera was not a critical favorite when it was released. In recent years, however, it has become a fan favorite, and is easily Argento's most linear and accessible work, featuring a masked killer hunting a young opera star starring in a modern staging of Verdi's Macbeth.

Le Vampire Nue (1969)/Requiem for a Vampire (1971)
Dir: Jean Rollin

Writer/director Jean Rollin is one of France's only practitioners of horror cinema. Since the late '60s, he has been crafting atmospheric, erotic vampire films that are undergoing something of a renaissance, with DVD re-releases in the US and television airplay in Europe.

Rollin's second film, Le Vampire Nue, unfolds at a dreamlike pace, with the plot simultaneously leaping forward and lingering on small details. A rich kid sees a mysterious woman abducted on the street and finds out his own father is involved. He investigates a mysterious party at a mansion in a scene eerily similar to the party scene in Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. It's all there, from the animal masks to the group surrounding the outsider.

Requiem for a Vampire (originally released in the US as Caged Virgins) is a more traditional vampire tale, about the downfall of the vampire race. Like almost every Rollin film, Requiem features a mysterious pair of girls around whom the plot turns. Adding to the film's trance-like state is the first half, which is shot almost entirely without dialogue.

Les Avaleuses (1973)
Dir: Jesus Franco

Spanish-born director Jesus "Jess" Franco is one of the most prolific filmmakers in the world, having directed some 150 movies under at least 55 known pseudonyms. At age 89, he is still going strong and is still directing. His most famous films were made in the late '60s and early '70s, a period of time when he could churn out five to ten international co-productions a year.

Les Avaleuses continued the lesbian vampire vein Franco mined to great success in the classic Vampyros Lesbos. The film has been released under 13 alternate titles, including The Bare Breasted Countess and Erotikill. Different cuts of the film vary wildly, swinging from straight horror to hardcore sex.