There are lots of great ones, but way more super-awful ones. I vote for Texas Chainsaw Massacre: it is a movie that everyone thinks is horribly gory, but there is very little violence that actually occurs on film. That alone, I think, makes it fantastic beyond belief because it forces the viewers to project their own sub-conscious gore where it doesn't really exist. Awesome!
I Agree with your view of TCM, but I'm probably going to vote for Night Of the living dead. Simply because how the film was done for its time. I'm not saying it's the scariest but probably one of the best examples of a horror movie.
I actually think there was more gore in that movie than there was in TCM. Night Of the living dead was great because of the simplicity of it. I mean you have the characters locked in a house surrounded by zombies, and these people need to find a way out. Simple. It had suspense, gore, violence and a great but sad ending.
Another thumbs up for using an Africian-American as the lead.