Is it tongue in cheek?

Not really, no.

It central pivot is its mysterious atmosphere - although the 'mystery' it builds up to is fairly obvious from the get-go; this doesn't diminish the enjoyment though.

It's a cannibal film

Who's tongue is in who's cheek?

Night of death is one of the great unsung French horror movies.

In no particular order:

Blood and black lace.
Hausu.
Scanners.
Suspiria.
From Beyond The Grave.
The Thing (Carpenter).
An American Werewolf In London.
Braindead (Jackson).
Cannibal Holocaust.
Strange Behaviour.

I'm not sure why I'm finding this week's subject so hard. I'm going to assume 'new to the genre' and 'new to the forum' are different things entirely.
And as such my 'new to the horror genre' list will be the films I consider the keystones of my personal horror education.

Beginning with the film that started it all for me.
The Evil Dead. 1981. Sam Raimi.
Next up admittedly not a very original second suggestion but it's...
Evil Dead II. 1987. Sam Raimi, more of the same but also quite different.
From here it's just a bunch of titles that turned me into what I am today.

Night of the Living Dead. George A.Romero. 1968.
Maniac Cop. William Lustig. 1988.
Child's Play. Tom Holland. 1988.
Dolls. Stuart Gordon. 1987.
Dracula. Terence Fisher. 1958.
Creepshow. George A.Romero. 1982.
Nosferatu. F.W.Murnau. 1922.
Sleepy Hollow. Tim Burton. 1999.
Halloween. John Carpenter. 1979.

My new to the forum list will be more along the lines of things I would recommend to those that think they know about the horror genre.

Interestingly despite collecting vhs for years from 88 onward i never saw Dracula until it appeared in the Hammer Horror Originals dvd set in the early 00's

I was about to go take a picture of that set but remembered you wouldn't be able to see it. But yes that was when i first saw Dracula too, around 2000/2001. That is a cracking boxset and even though I've upgraded all three of the films to blu I can't bear to part with the set because it's such a quality release.

:lol: It didn't come out until 2002.

Even i've upgraded to the dual format release. Like you i can't get rid of the box set. I've even kept the region one snapper case Mummy from 2001 because of the great artwork

This set
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...1df6b3371c.jpg
It just screams quality. Sturdy, awesome artwork. The postcards. Why the devil do we not get stuff like this now.