What has happened to horror movies?

Recently i have noticed that the newer horror movies have just been about the gross out factor insted of the scare/startlle factor. I have nothing against a good slasher film, but gore doesnt need to be in every film that calls its self horror. So why has this genre turned it to an ultraviolent excuse for films?

Horror movies are all about scaring people, and part of being scared is feeling uneasy. It just seems that the way to make people uneasy these days is to subject them to violent, painful-looking attacks and deaths that make people repulsed by how graphic they are and also inspire a degree of fear at the prospect of actually undergoing a similarly shocking death. This inspires a sense of unease in people similar to suspense, but just not the same and therefore a slightly hollower attempt at scaring people.

__________________
Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

My opinion: This generation has developed new viewing habits. Nowadays you can see everything, everywhere ,everytime. So the producers of a dirty low-budget horror movie taking a big risk, when they try to build up suspense only by shadows, sounds and other subtile stuff. Maybe in the end, it`s all been drown out by the yawning of the cool SAW-Hostel-Fans.

Fanboy1: This new horror-movie, is it worth watching?
Fanboy2: No, it sucks. Rarely some blood and gore. And they talking all the time!

Gore isn't a new tool used in horror movies, it's been around for ages. A movie can be bloody/gory and be scary at the same time, just look at The Thing remake. No matter how bad a rap people give about the Saw series, the first Saw had an uneasy feeling to it, and had some frightening/scary moments. Sure, it may have had cheap scares, but many new AND old horror movies had plenty of cheap scares.

If you don't come in with a negative attitude and have an open mind, as well as look hard enough, you'll find good modern horror movies. There may be a good amount of movies that rely on gore, but there are still plenty of movies that convey an uneasy/suspenseful atmosphere. Like I said, look hard enough and have an open mind, and you'll find yourself pleasantly surprised. That also goes for foreign horror movies as well.

Nowadays Horror/Scary movie "R" become like a "NC-17" treats ....Now, they have to "R" rated change PG-13 rated. Sadly, the generation is getting worst & worst.

The "real" horror movies of the 80's and early 90s have been scared off. Horror movies today are plastered with PG-13 ratings for more money grubby reasons rather than delivering original heart-racing horror like it should be. The horror stuff we get is just recycled movies, but with second-rate actors and poor storylines.

The trouble with horror movies is that it has all been done. Now it's just variations on a theme.

Suspense is definitely better than gore.

__________________
All secrets are safe with this man, because none are as deadly to him as his own. His secret is that he is Richard Kimble. (The Fugitive - Conspiracy of Silence)

thats why i prefer Asian horror, not based on loud bangs or screams after a period of silence

__________________
Sometimes one must be sacrificed.

To me: the best recipe is to tease the audience for most of the film and then pay off at the end. Is that not how most all genre's should go? "Gore" is okay in bits, but to throw it up on the screen just for shock factor is not a horror movie to me.

__________________

“The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands.” – Sir Richard Burton

Gorey flicks have always been around. Saw just made the uber-torturey ones popular here. SO we see more.

But uh. There are still good horror movies coming out now and then.

Everybody else has pretty much said it. If you look you can find some good modern horror movies that don't rely on gore. I personally love some good blood in my horror movies but then again...i love horror movies without blood too. I just love the genre wholly and completely.

I thought "Drag Me To Hell" was great.

Wait I thought horror movies were always riddled with third rate scripts and recycled ideas ... well don't worry guys , I'm sure Orphan will break the mold.

__________________

Nothing has really happened to horror movies..They have just been adapted to today's standards.

I agree. Gore is just another phase now with today's generation. I love my gore along with the rest but it gets to a point that it's just there.

Like Halle Barry's nude scene in Swordfish. You get to see her boobs but it had no purpose in the film.

I love a good horror movie that starts to give me chills watching it.

there have been a few great horror movies in the last few years, like drag me to hell or slither, but they're horror comedies, all of the recent horrors that don't have comedy elements are either remakes of japanese movies, barely B-grade slashers, or saw sequels, its a shame really

Interesting, I've seen several allusions to the horror genre being fraught with recycled ideas in this thread.

I would challenge anyone to name a movie from any genre and from any time that's not a recycled idea of one kind or another.

That being said, horror has indeed become formulaic in the main stream. One looks exactly like another and so much so that you'd swear you're watching the same movie over and over again.

Personally, I'd like to see more examples like:

The Descent
The Others
Dark Water
Jenifer (Argento episode of Masters of Horror)
Session 9
Call of Cthulhu
Bug

Those are all standouts (to me) from inside the past decade. Going back further the choices widen out a bit.

Horror is still alive.

Dont believe me?

Watch Drag Me to Hell. You will be a believer.

__________________
Latest Review: The Ugly Truth

I've seen a couple of movies that keep me interested in the horror genre. Those would be The Descent and The Ruins. While the latter lacks on story and really doesn't offer much outside the gore factor, I'm probably one of the few that likes it. The Descent is probably one of the better horror movies I've seen simply because the film relies on the common fear of claustrophobia along with adding in the mysterious creatures lurking in the shadows.

A simple slasher film has lost all appeal simply because, it's been done right and wrong. More so wrong than right, however.

__________________
"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg

Drag Me to Hell was pretty good, but I still think that the appraise for it is getting way overblown. It sure as hell didn't make me a believer anyways.

Completely agree, even if the genre has lost much of its appeal to me, I can't dismiss it completely for all of the b-movie splatter flicks coming out these days. Among the low standards set in the genre today are a few true gems.

While I'm at it, here are a few 21st century horror flicks that I've enjoyed:

Dagon
The Descent
From Hell
The Last Winter
Let the Right One In*
The Machinist
The Mist*
The Orphanage
Repo: The Genetic Opera
The Ring
Secret Window
Shaun of the Dead
Signs
Stuck
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street*
Wendigo
Willard