Sometime last year I decided to shed my lifelong aversion to horror films.

I’ve traditionally avoided the genre for a pretty simple reason — I don’t like feeling afraid. I particularly don’t like to be startled (you should see me cringe in the presence of a party balloon). A jump scare is my kryptonite.

So naturally I’ve stayed away from movies likely to scare me. But in doing so I’ve cut myself off from a treasure trove of cinematic artistry.

Last year offered up such a wealth of great horror films (led by Ti West’s X and Pearl, and Zach Cregger’s Barbarian) that I couldn’t bear to sit things out any longer. And once October rolled around, I made a conscious decision to make up for lost time and watch as many classic scary movies as possible.

That project has covered more than 85 films (and counting), and I figured this Halloween season was a great time to take stock of my progress. Over the next two weeks, I’ll write a little bit about ten distinct horror genres and the movies within each I’ve seen.

We’ll start things off with Monster Movies, a staple of the genre from the very beginning. I’m excluding aliens and ordinary humans from this category (they’ll show up later), so think vampires, werewolves, and creatures cobbled together from body parts. Also, sharks.

The oldest movies I watched fell into this category. Those include F. W. Murnau’s 1922 silent German Expressionist film Nosferatu, Tod Browning’s 1931 Dracula (starring Bela Lugosi), and James Whale’s 1935 Bride of Frankenstein. They were all charming, and contained some flourishes that must have been mind-blowing at the time of release, but I have to admit they were also rather boring.

John Landis’ 1981 An American Werewolf in London could also slot into the Comedy Horror category (coming next week) but as it’s the only werewolf move I watched, I decided to give it a mention here. It’s a fun time, and the then-groundbreaking practical effects are still extremely effective. The movie also has a fun, on-the-nose soundtrack, from which today’s SOTD was pulled.

I’m a big fan of Matt Reeves’ 2010 vampire love story Let Me In, so I knew I had to watch the 2008 Swedish original on which it was based. Tomas Alfredson’s Let the Right One In is an austere and poignant film. This is the rare case where a movie and its remake are both top tier.

I’m sorry I didn’t find time for any kaiju films, particularly 1954’s Godzilla. And I still want to watch the 1933 King Kong.

Best in show for this category easily goes to Steven Spielberg’s 1975 Jaws, one of the greatest films ever made.

The “Is Jaws a horror movie?” debate has raged for decades, with some preferring to classify the film as a thriller. The way I see it, if a movie is about a terrifying creature preying on innocent victims, and it’s shot in a way that contributes to the audience’s fear and unease, it’s a horror film. That would be true even if it didn’t feature a severed head floating into frame in one of cinema’s classic jump scares.

Next up: Supernatural/Paranormal