The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

This is the one people point to when they explain why "let's take the scenic route" is dangerous words. A carload of friends head off towards an old homestead in rural Texas and find a family living out there who really shouldn't have visitors. Tobe Hooper marketed it as something that actually happened, which is bold given how much of it is invented, but the lie sold it and the film has never quite shaken that reputation.

It isn't jump scares and shrieking strings doing the work. It's heat, dust, and machinery noise getting steadily closer, the sort of dread that sits in your stomach rather than makes you yelp. There's a nastier point buried under all that gristle too, a bit of commentary on the mood of the time it was made in, though you don't need to clock that to feel your pulse go up.

Save it for a night when you actually want to feel unsettled rather than cosy, and maybe not one to watch with dinner on your lap. Anyone who already eyes up isolated farmhouses with suspicion will find plenty here to confirm their instincts.