Scream (1996)
By the mid-90s, the horror genre was in danger of becoming as passé as the western, but Wes Craven found that a healthy dose of self-awareness could provide a new jolt. Ignore the many sequels and imitators, the original is still a squirm-inducing horror movie behind the laughs. (See Evil Dead II for an earlier version of the horror/comedy mix that works by turning everything up to 11.)
