[The_Return]

Grab the Universal Monster Legacy collections - they're two-disc sets that Universal put out for all of their flagship monsters: Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, and The Creature From the Black Lagoon.

The sets are all pretty cheap (like $30 or so these days), and contain between 3-5 classic horror flicks. They're all worth every penny, and work as a great intro to classic horror.

My personal favourite is the 1931 version of Dracula with Bela Lugosi, with The Wolf Man (1941) with Lon Chaney Jr. would have to be the runner up. But Frankenstein + Bride of Frankenstein are equally essential - they're probably the most iconic of the bunch.

For a noobie to classic horror, I'd also have to suggest checking out some Vincent Price stuff - my all time favourite actor, horror or otherwise. His Poe films are a wonderful staring point - Masque of the Red Death and Pit and the Pendulum being the best, IMO - and the original House on Haunted Hill is one of the most fun movies ever made. The original House of Wax with Price is a good time as well. He did some fantastic work in the 70's as well, but his heyday was 50's-early 60's, for sure.

You've come to the right place to get started into vintage horror - a lot of us here are pretty passionate about it, especially Neverending up there :)

Hope we can help you out man!