Who says you have to wait until Halloween to watch a good horror film? All year round we can rattle our teeth, sweat and get goosebumps watching scary films - well, apart from at Christmas, granted. What are the essential references to the horror genre in cinema? If you're looking for an introduction, this is the place, in the dark depths of Shop for Geek.

Different types of horror film

Ever since the early days of cinema, certain sick minds have been having fun terrifying audiences in cinemas. Think of Murnau's Nosferatu, released in 1922... yes, over a century ago. Since then, we've seen a whole host of horror films, to the point where we can classify them into a dozen or so sub-genres: