Black Sunday (1960)
Mario Bava's debut is one of the most visually ravishing horror films ever made and launched Italian gothic. Bava had been a cinematographer, and it shows in every frame.
Director: Mario Bava
Mario Bava directed Black Sunday, Blood and Black Lace and A Bay of Blood, and effectively created both the giallo and the template later slasher films used. He was a cinematographer first and his lighting is the reason the films look the way they do.