Friday the 13th — the original, not the sequels, remakes, or tv series by the same name. Saw it on cable at a friends house and thought it was awesome.
Before that, I tried to sneak watch the Salem’s Lot mini series when I wasn’t supposed to. I got too scared and turned it off! I was eight years old after all. When I got older, I watched the whole thing. I still think it’s an amazing adaptation.
I think it was the Thriller music video, but I was pretty young and thought it was a full movie. It played before the main feature at a drive in movie.
After that I think it was The Fly. The arm wrestling scene still scares me.
My wife told me a story about how Tremors was her first horror movie. Her dad actually woke her up to watch it and said "you've got to see this!" because he thought the movie was so awesome. Scared the hell out of her.
I think the first one I remember is It with Tim Curry (technically a TV miniseries I think but whatever). I think I was maybe around 6 or 7 at the time.
Terminator 1 definitely counts as a horror movie. It's basically a slasher movie with the unrelenting machine coming to kill someone, but has a pretty cool backstory. Better than "oh he drowned in the lake".
My first was the network-televised version of Poltergeist. Being a kid, it was still plenty scary. My dad waited h til I was in bed, then came down the hall scratching the wall. I nearly shit myself.
I was roughly 6 or 7 when I saw Evil Dead 2 on VHS. Needless to say, it left a very lasting impression. Thankfully, it is mostly love and appreciation for the genre.
I really don't remember. I know Creepshow must be one of the oldest ones and Tales from the Crypt. Jaws might be, too. And the 50's version of The Fly and Asphyx are old ones but I can't remember when I've seen those myself. Long enough ago to not remember. Let's say under 10 anyway, most likely.