Lucio Fulci

"Zombi 2" (1979)

This Lucio Fulci classic -- an Italian knockoff of George A. Romero's zombie flicks -- features an unforgettable scene in which actress Olga Karlatos' head is pulled relentlessly toward a shattered door until a long, wooden splinter slowly and excruciatingly ... more slides deep into her eye. I remember watching this in a packed, screaming theater, my friends and I practically squirming over the backs of our seats in disbelief as that eyeball burst like a grape. The anticipation that Fulci builds is almost worse than the act itself . . . nah, on second thought, nothing is worse than the act itself.

(Jerry Gross Organization/Courtesy Everett Collection)