I think so. There are so many versions of horror movies out there. I have not seen anything original in years.

I forgot- how well did the first Hostel do?? In terms of Hostel I do not think if it is an issue to whether people like horror or not its how much of the extremely gut wrenching torture scenes people can take. More than likely people went to see the first Hostel and saw how intense it was and did not want to see Part II

Also there just have not been any really good horror films lately. I feel they all go for the cheap thrills

i agree with pinupsweetheart. there hasn't been anything original in quite some time. the overtly gratuitous gore scenes are just getting old and i don't care to watch movies like that. if i want a scary movie, i at least don't want it to insult my intelligence. give me something clever that really keeps me guessing.

I think it might be that we have also become so jaded in general, Hollywood is having a hard time coming up with anything that would truly horrify us. Its all about shock value now. And sad thing is I miss good old fashion horror movies.

I can't stand the "new" horror films. There is something wrong with a society if millions of people pay to go see a movie filled with gruesome torture scenes and little substance. Older horror films actually had a plot and were filled with suspense.

originality really is key and one problem is copy-cats. for every "jaws" there will be a "piranha," every "ring" a "grudge." and i don't know about you, but with movie prices (and being a poor grad student), I'm not going to shell out cash to see the "same" movie - especially if it's like straight to DVD hostel 2

mandykw, I agree with you. There is a real difference between gore/torture and horror/suspense. The "new horror" films just seem to go for shock value and little more. I'll take a psychological thriller like "Psycho" any time.

I think/hope so. They just don't interest me at all.

I've always hated horror movies, but I adore a good thriller. Horror movies have way too much gore for me and I'm disturbed that there are so many people who will go watch blood, guts, and violence in the theater for 2 hours.

There's always been bad horror, but at least a lot of the dreadful horror in the past was fun in a cheesy-awfulness sort of way. Lately it really does seem like they're just trying to outdo each other with gore fests. I can't even fathom who would pay good money to see most horror movies made today. I certainly don't! Maybe the 13 year old boy demographic Hollywood seems so inexplicably in love with would, but that just goes to show how stupid Hollywood is. (They wonder why box office revenues are falling, without apparently realizing that the only people interested in watching the movies they're making just happen to also be the best pirates.)

I wish they would make more good psychological horror, like Silence of the Lambs or even The Sixth Sense, but meanwhile I get my horror kick from the small screen. The CW show Supernatural has had some cheesy awfulness mixed in among the good stuff, but it also has a coherent, compelling storyline and great characterization to make up for it, which is a lot more than I can say for 90% of the horror films made today.

i still get scared by some of the new horror movies, although the plot quality's definitly not what it used to be (the Shining, the Exorcist, the Omen.. now those were good movies!).
but i still believe there's some pretty good horror flicks out there: i saw Silent Hill and the Hills Have Eyes a while ago and they were both good enough to make me crush my bf's arm repeatedly.
my point is: there's always been good and bad. we just remember the good but if you watch a horror channel like SCRM TV, you'll see and endless flow of 70's horror that are just copycats of each other.
and no, no movie genre is "dead". everyone thought pirate flicks were dead and along came Pirates of the Caribbean!

i like supernatural too, when i have a chance to watch it, it always entertains me. i agree with you all in that this "out gore" each other is just terrible IMO. i used to like horror movies but i always prefer mysteries and thrillers to out and out horror so maybe i am not the best judge.

After 9/11.. horror films have to redefine themselve. People use to go to horror movies for the safe scare like a roller coaster ride.. since our daily American lives have for the most part become devoid of the fight or flight adrenaline rush we have to manufacture it and scare ourselves every once in awhile.. after 9/11 we had a real taste of fear and horror and paying $9 to see it on the big screen suddenly lost its appeal and seemed juvnile and tacky. For me at least.

Children of Men is a great example of what I turn to now for my adrenaline rush.. a more realistic frightening portrait of where mankind could be heading to.

I will take Children of Men over Hostel, Captured, Turistas, etc any day!

I don’t consider Piranha a copycat to Jaws , yes they are both taking place in the water and have to do with predatory fishies but their overall plotline and “feel” are different. Nor is the Grudge a copycat to The Ring; both were remakes of Japanese films Ringu and Ju-on. The “horror” films of today are blatant outright evil trickster clones that hold nothing back and in return give you nothing to go on. In the past 6 years or so we have been “re”introduced to Old horror icons like Leatherface and Freddy and all sorts of mutated people living in the hills. The torture movies have left us with quick filmed bloody mayhem galore, and plotlines so thin you could cut right through them like butter, pardon the pun. Horror isn’t dead, its just not getting the needed publicity or backing like these slash and crash films are. There is supposed to be blood, and some gore, there is supposed to be moments of sheer terror and triumph, but there isn’t supposed to be 90 minutes of veins and intestines and scalpels and blood droplets that are slowed down to see just..where..they..land. I for one am glad that people aren’t going to see them anymore, maybe the good horror will return.

I don't know. In my opinion they are, but I've actually only ever seen two horror films (seriously), so I'm probably not the best judge of that. I'm a big fraidy-cat.

I'm sure there are many people out there that think Halloween or movies like Nightmare on Elm's Strret is shallow in sense of horror... Gore is what makes you scared AND disturbed inside, and if horror movies are really meant to kind of make a difference then I guess the gore helps. I'm more of a gore person, yet Asian terror like the Ring or Grudge seems better in horror sense than movies like Halloween. (I personally thought halloween was total bs)

I think that things have become so much more about gore lately & less thriller. I have to say that I can still get scared at the old school thrillers like Nightmare on Elm Street & Halloween. Even if you know what is coming...it still makes you jump & i think for many people, that is what is scary!

I am looking forward to some more psychological thrillers like Se7en. I love those kinds of movies & i think that is scarier than the bloody stuff that is out there now!

I still like good thrillers, but I decided two years ago that I've seen enough real-life death and I'm not going to choose to fill my soul with fake death by choice. If I want to see gore, all I have to do is check the news.

I've never been a big fan of gore films, but could tolerate them. I don't even usually read/watch reviews/trailers for them (they generally tick me off anyway - like that damn Boogeyman movie that the commercial ALONE had my kids freaking out.)

I love being scared by any horror movie that is a departure from reality. Watching people be tortured for an hour and a half, especially women, is a different category altogether, because it could happen in real life. I won't pay money to watch it. Give me a good monster movie any day - I'll steer clear of the fetish horror, thankyouverymuch.

i hope this genre is not dead. it's my favorite. i do think a genre for gore should be created. we could have thriller, horror and gore. movies like saw, hostel & others are just in for the gore factor i think. movies like the exorcists films are what scare the crap out of me. i don't necessarily need to see blood & guts to be scared; that's more of a "ooo, that was COOL" factor for me (talk about being desensitized). i want a mystery, things that go bump in the night, was that a ghost, who's the killer, kinda of thing. ghosts & demons & movies about freaky religious stuff freak me out the worst. (dark corner is a recent movie i saw that was pretty good: mystery, little bit of blood & for some reason it really got to me...it was CREEPY) and i don't want anymore zombie movies. that one is just a personal preference. dawn of the dead scared the hell out of me. i had nightmares for three months & now i can't even look at the cover of a zombie flick w/o getting the shivers.

I think it will do well over time on DVD if it's well done (as well done as that kind of movie can be, anyway). There will always be a cult following for hardcore hack & slash movies, all genres. There are zombie movie lovers, cannibal lovers (don't get me started on how F'd up those movies are), torture, monsters, and straight up chainsaw weilding slice 'em and dice 'em movie lovers. Give it time, it'll make its money back.

I think there will always be an audience for the horror genre.
People love to be scared.
Personally I like a good suspense thriller over gore.

Much like everyone else I think there should be a distinction between horror movies and gore fests. Movies like Hostel, Black Christmas, Dead Alive and the Saw franchise aren't scary, they're disgusting. It evokes a completely different reaction from the viewer. Unfortunately gore seems to be in. Scream caused a brief revival of the horror genre, and we have seen a lot of retreads of old classics since then, in addition to being inundated with Americanized Asian ghost stories. I am a huge fan of horror movies and the last one I saw that I actually liked was The Descent.

A good horror movie does not need to be gory to make money. Take Salem's Lot and Rosemary's Baby for instance. These two are one of the better horror movies out there and not a lot of blood is spilled on screen for these two to be successful.

SUMNBOUTME....I still look out my window when there is fog and expect Danny friggin Glick to come out of it and tap on my window. Salems lot scared the bejesus out of me!

I'd much rather see a movie that is suspensful as opposed to one that is full of gratuitous violence/torture. The last horror movie I saw was "The Cell" with Jennifer Lopez, and that was the end of horror movies for me. I really felt like it was more repulsive than porn b/c of the brutality towards women it featured. It objectified women in a way that I found to be completely irresponsible (especially since some sicko could totally have left the theater and acted out any number of scenarios featured in the movie) and disgusting.
I remember the outcry over "Saving Private Ryan" - but there was no outcry over "The Cell"....and, in my opinion, it was exponentially more disturbing than "Saving Private Ryan."
So I just don't even watch horror movies anymore. I think they're unhealthy and the people who make them are depraved.

I will NEVER watch complete crap like this. I enjoy the thriller or classic horror, but slasher/gore/torture films don't "entertain" me.

i like movies such as Silent Hill, The Others, The Ring, etc. those were good thriller/horror film. scared the crap out of me and they lacked the gory effects of Hostel/Saw. Granted I haven't seen any movies from the Hostel/Saw franchise because I can't stand their kind of horror/thriller movies. it's disgusting.

RCL.. I liked the Cell..(runs away) one of the only JLo movies that I can stomach.. can we still be friends am I forgiven? LOL!!

I don't think it's dead, but maybe the gory type is dead. As much as I love horror movies, I can go months without seeing one and then I just have this time when that's all I want to see, but now as I'm older, I draw the line at certain types. I do still like my slasher movies like Jason and Freddy, but I LOVE a good ghost/supernatural story. But I won't see Hostel, The Hills Have Eyes, ones like those.

Horror yes, but this type of movie is so sick and twisted I think it has no place being shone. I think it reflects much about the people who write and create such junk. There's a sick mind or minds behind Hostel, that's for sure.

Although I have been lurking on this site since it was solely PopSugar (boy has it expanded, geez!) I joined solely to discuss this topic. I am so damn sick and tired of these disgusting torture movies. Every time I turn around there's another one. Who in their right minds would want to watch something that just shows people being gruesomely tortured? Seriously, who? And the implication is that people get pleasure out of this. That's a great idea to give people. It's a personal pet peeve of mine. In fact when reading a blog the other day, they quoted a review of Hostel 2 saying that the only reason it wasn't rated NC-17 is because the MPAA (ratings board) has been largely bought off by the studios. Really, think about it. Hostel 2 gets rated R, while something like Showgirls is NC-17? That's appalling. I was looking at MPAA's website to complain but they didn't have much of a forum to do so. I am really hoping these torture movies bomb and stop getting some funding. I feel better at least knowing some other people feel the same way.

Oh and I forgot...I do like thriller/suspense type movies that have an actual plot and find them so much more intriguing, as others seem to. In fact I heard about one today that sounds freakin AWESOME. Here's the quote "Real life husband and wife, Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany, have joined the cast of BORN, a psychological thriller featuring stop-motion animation from Chiodo Bros. Prods. (TEAM AMERICA, ELF), reports VARIETY. The story follows a clay animator who settles down in a quiet English town when his creations begin acting out his nightmares." First of all, the cast; second of all, Guillermo Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth), and Clive Barker (horror movies galore) involved; third, it involves claymation and he's a claymation animator! I'd see it for that alone. A suspense thriller with Claymation??? I'm there. Check out this page with the poster, it's creepy!
http://www.clearvisionmpg.com/bornpage.htm

I heard about this. I won't be seeing it.

I'm with Stacey, good horror films have a plot. The scariest film I've seen lately has been "Pan's Labyrinth" and there was no gore in it that wasn't specifically needed. That's how you do good films.

Oh, I loved The Others, it was creepy. Other than a couple of scenes, I did not like the Saws. I wanted to, but I didn't.

I am definetly looking forward to the Halloween remake and Captivity.