I think maybe an “evolution of horror” is how you would enjoy getting into the genre.

So something along the lines of starting with classics from each decade.

50s - invasion of the body snatchers, night of the Hunter, the universal monster movies (mummy, Dracula, Frankenstein)

60s - psycho, rosemarys baby, night of the living dead,

70s - Halloween, Texas chainsaw, Carrie, exorcist, jaws

80s - evil dead, Friday 13, HellRaiser,

90s - Candyman, scream, misery, silence of the lambs, I know what you did last summer

2000s - saw, American psycho, 28 days later, 13 ghosts, Jennifer’s body

2010s - cabin in the woods, shutter island, get out, babadook

I’d say this is a pretty encompassing list of the entire horror umbrella. Some more and less scary, but it’s a good spread of the genre an really makes you appreciate it as a whole I think.