Who is the most influential person in horror?

There are tons and tons of people that contribute to horror today, but who is the MOST influential? It can be someone alive, or dead, or looooong dead....it can be in movies, in television, radio, novels, comics, or anything else that comes to mind...below is a list of a few of the people that I personally feel have had some of the biggest influences in the world of horror...past and present....what do the rest of you think and please vote and post your thoughts and comments...

My personal top 10 picks for the most influential people in horror :

1. Edgar Allan Poe

2. H.P. Lovecraft

3. Alfred Hitchcock

4. Stephen King

5. Clive Barker

6. Wes Craven

7. William S. Gaines

8. Vincent Price

9. George A. Romero

10. H.R. Giger

Your list may be completely different from mine, remember...this is just my personal top 10 picks...who are yours and who is your #1 pick??

Edgar Allen Poe
H.P. Lovecraft
Alfred Hitchcock
Richard Matheson

As far as movies go - Hitchcock, Romero, Hooper, Craven, Polanski, Micheal Powell, Vincent Price.

He Who Walks Behind The Rows.

Carpenter should be on that list

I think Alfred hitchcock started the 'scary' movie concept, the rest followed. As far as books go Edgar Allan Poe.
But i agree with Myers kicks Ass, John Carpenter can NOT be ignored.

Got to be Poe, as if you look at his works he was the creator of the genre in most cases and if you look at recent works since him most base there ideas on his works.

Poe was a great writer and kicked off thuis genre though some of these writers in the poll may of had films made of there books you can celearly see in some cases were the ideasd came from Poe.