Quentin Tarantino recently appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote his new book of film criticism, Cinema Speculation. Kimmel brought up a passage from the book in which Tarantino describes The Texas Chain Saw Massacre as one of Hollywood’s only “perfect” movies. When Kimmel asked which other movies would qualify as perfect, Tarantino said, “Well, there’s not many of them – that just bemoans that the film art form is hard.”

The writer-director went on to list seven examples of what he considers to be perfect movies, ranging from other horror films like Jaws and The Exorcist to comedies like Annie Hall and Young Frankenstein.

7 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (7.4)

Leatherface with his chainsaw in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

The first title that came up in Tarantino’s list of perfect movies is described as such in the pages of his new book, Cinema Speculation. Since its release, Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has been praised as one of the greatest horror films ever made. With its effectively simplistic storytelling, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre has influenced generations of slasher directors.

With a brisk runtime of 83 minutes, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre doesn’t waste a second. The sequels ended up being ridiculously gory, but the original is relatively bloodless; Hooper creates terror with dread and tension alone. The film’s documentary-like shooting style brings a haunting realism to the grisly proceedings.

6 The Wild Bunch (7.9)

The gunslingers walk through town in The Wild Bunch

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the tropes and conventions of the western genre were being challenged in such anti-westerns as McCabe & Mrs. Miller and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. In 1969, Sam Peckinpah’s bleak revisionist western epic The Wild Bunch subverted the genre by turning the villainous outlaws into the heroes.

Tarantino did clarify that The Wild Bunch is technically not a perfect movie, but added that “its imperfections” – the roughness of the violence, the frenzy of the edit, the brutality of Peckinpah’s vision – “are part of its glory.”

5 Young Frankenstein (8.0)

Dr Frankenstein with his monster in Young Frankenstein

Mel Brooks is the first name in the spoof genre. From Blazing Saddles to Spaceballs, Brooks has directed all the funniest spoof movies and lampooned just about every major genre and franchise. The Brooks movie that Tarantino considers to be a perfect movie is Young Frankenstein, his spot-on satire of the black-and-white Universal monster movies.

Gene Wilder commits wholeheartedly to every absurdist bit alongside Peter Boyle’s iconic turn as the monster. Brooks’ keen ear for comedy and keen eye for cinematic visuals became perfect bedfellows in the production of Young Frankenstein. As silly as the humor gets, Brooks nails the old-school horror aesthetic.

4 Annie Hall (8.0)

Woody Allen talks to Diane Keaton in Annie Hall

Woody Allen revitalized the romantic comedy genre with the fourth-wall-breaking hilarity of Annie Hall. The movie begins with Alvy Singer telling the audience that he and Annie just broke up, so this nonlinear love story is doomed from the beginning. Ultimately, the message is that relationships are painful and difficult, but people still go through it over and over again because “we need the eggs.”

Annie Hall is full of sharp observations about dating, falling in love, falling out of love, and breaking up, and the whole thing is carried by Allen’s spectacular, time-tested chemistry with Diane Keaton.

3 The Exorcist (8.1)

Regan rises above the bed in The Exorcist

When it first arrived in theaters in 1973, William Friedkin’s The Exorcist became a widespread cultural phenomenon. There were rumors that exhibitors were handing out vomit bags at screenings and the film went on to become the highest-grossing horror movie of all time, a record that it would hold for decades. Audiences had never seen demonic possession depicted with such startling realism before.

While there are plenty of scares in the tale of Regan MacNeil getting possessed by Pazuzu, The Exorcist is really a story about the lengths that a desperate single mother will go to in order to protect her child. Chris will do anything to save Regan, including inviting two priests into her house to exorcize the demon within her.

2 Jaws (8.1)

Brody with a shark behind him in Jaws

Steven Spielberg invented the summer blockbuster with his 1975 hit Jaws. Moviegoers showed up in droves to watch a giant great white shark terrorizing the residents of Amity Island. Every summer since then, Hollywood studios have released their high-concept tentpoles in the summer window to recapture Jaws’ appeal.

The genius of Jaws is that the shark is just the plot device that gets three very different men stuck on a boat together in the middle of the ocean. The shark provides plenty of Hitchcockian thrills, but the substance of the story is the character dynamics.

1 Back To The Future (8.5)

Doc and Marty watch the time machine in Back to the Future

When Kimmel asked Tarantino to name some perfect movies, Tarantino circled back to a title that Kimmel himself mentioned earlier in the interview: Back to the Future. When Marty McFly is accidentally sent 30 years into the past, he unwittingly interferes with his parents’ first meeting and has to fix them up to ensure his own existence.

Robert Zemeckis’ time-traveling comedy has one of the most meticulously crafted screenplays ever written. Thanks to plant-and-payoffs and well-rounded characters, every single line of dialogue counts. And Michael J. Fox’s endlessly watchable on-screen dynamic with Christopher Lloyd brings that story to life.

NEXT: 10 Ways Back To The Future Still Holds Up Today