"Halloween"

George Wilhelm / Los Angeles Times

Budget: $1 million Worldwide Gross: $225 million The theme music of John Carpenter's horror tale is just as well-known as the William Shatner-masked killer that the director let loose on our collective consciousness. Using suspenseful cinematic angles and flashes of Michael Myers in the background, " Halloween" is generally thought of the first of the low-budget slasher films that became prevalent in the '80s and '90s, though there was very little gore.

Budget: $1 million Worldwide Gross: $225 million The theme music of John Carpenter's horror tale is just as well-known as the William Shatner-masked killer that the director let loose on our collective consciousness. Using suspenseful cinematic angles and flashes of Michael Myers in the background, " Halloween" is generally thought of the first of the low-budget slasher films that became prevalent in the '80s and '90s, though there was very little gore.