Do You "Respect" Horror Films?

It's no secret around here that I'm a big horror movie fan. For reasons unknown, I have always loved the feeling of being scared, the impending sense of doom rising as the films run on, the jolt you get when the villain jumps out from the dark, even though you knew they were going to do it, you still jumped. 
 
Despite my love for the genre in general, only a fool would say it's flourishing these days. Many studios, not wanting to have a dud on their hands, resort to toning down potentially good movies to get a PG-13 rating, and the quality suffers because of it. Yes, the film will make back its budget from the teen crowd opening weekend, but it only furthers alienates horror fans who are just clamoring for a good old fashioned scare.  
 
Aside from PG-13 shlock, we have re-makes and torture porn a plenty, with mixed results.  
 
Still, for every "Turistas" or "The Ruins", there's a truly great horror movie like "The Descent" that reminds us why we love being scared in the first place.  
 
My question for you all is: Do you simply dismiss any modern horror film as garbage when you see the trailers? Do you think no horror movie has the potential to be remotely good? Or do you keep a moderate level of hope that maybe, just maybe the latest remake or slasher film will be watchable?

Of course, films such as The Shining, Halloween and The Thing are never going to be surpassed, but I do believe 28 Days Later to be on the same level as said films, so yes, there is hope for modern horror.
 
Unfortunately the slasher genre is overpopulated and has tarnished the name of horror in recent years, but some can be enjoyable, just not mentally stimulating as a well-thought out horror can be.

I love me a good horror film, it's a shame that most these days are terrible though.

I really do like some horror movies, yes. The Thing is one of my favorite movies ever, as is The Shining and The Exorcist. Halloween is also a blast. Even some modern day horror films like The Mist and, like you said, The Descent really impressed me. Yeah, we have our duds (Halloween II, etc) but the genre has some classics and even some pretty good modern ones.

" I really do like some horror movies, yes. The Thing is one of my favorite movies ever, as is The Shining and The Exorcist. Halloween is also a blast. Even some modern day horror films like The Mist and, like you said, The Descent really impressed me. Yeah, we have our duds (Halloween II, etc) but the genre has some classics and even some pretty good modern ones. "

I like my horror films on either extreme- brilliant (The Shining, The Thing) and horrible, but good because they are so horrible. Middling horror movies are what kills me though, like the Saw franchise.

" @RHCPfan24 said:

" I really do like some horror movies, yes. The Thing is one of my favorite movies ever, as is The Shining and The Exorcist. Halloween is also a blast. Even some modern day horror films like The Mist and, like you said, The Descent really impressed me. Yeah, we have our duds (Halloween II, etc) but the genre has some classics and even some pretty good modern ones. "

The Mist shocked me at how good it was, IMHO, best Stephen King adaption since The Shining(inb4 kubrick sux0rz lulz). "

" @Gizmo said:

" @RHCPfan24 said:

" I really do like some horror movies, yes. The Thing is one of my favorite movies ever, as is The Shining and The Exorcist. Halloween is also a blast. Even some modern day horror films like The Mist and, like you said, The Descent really impressed me. Yeah, we have our duds (Halloween II, etc) but the genre has some classics and even some pretty good modern ones. "

The Mist shocked me at how good it was, IMHO, best Stephen King adaption since The Shining(inb4 kubrick sux0rz lulz). "

I hope we don't have those types here...Kubrick was brilliant. "

I love Horror, I am a huge fan of the genre, I happen to be a Hammer fan and you don't get any more hardcore than that.
 
I always give them a chance, but so many fail to impress me, even the supposedly good ones. I thought Drag Me To Hell was utter shite, while many Americans on the other hand seemed to love it. There are so many things wrong with that crap film I cannot help but lol at those that think it's good.  
 
US Horror has been stagnant crap for a long while now.

I hate all those Direct-to-DVD horrors that are out there. I've seen a couple and they are laughably bad. I did see some crazy Japanese horror movie by Takashi Miike called Audition and that movie is really messed up and had me scared for 2 nights. On the topic of Drag Me To Hell, I thought it was more of a comedy than a horror and the horror in that movie was more of the jump scares than anything else but I still really enjoyed it.

No, not really. All the good horror films i've seen can be counted on one hand and even then, I wouldn't say most of them are horror: Sam Raimi's films are equally as funny as they are scary, The Thing is more of a thriller to me in the same vein as The Departed, for example, where someone is a traitor and David Cronenberg's The Fly does gross me out but they have such a human core that, again, I see it more as a drama than anything scary. Up till now, anything else i've watched that has meant to be a horror has either had me bored as fuck or laughing, most notably My Bloody Valentine 3D where my friends and I were almost ejected for laughing so hard. 
 
In fact, thinking about it, the one film I can think of which actually scares me and plays to my fears is Office Space. While the film is a comedy, I know people who do work in offices and have said it's exactly the kind of life crushing experience that occurs in that film and I can't help but think that a job in a boring office and maybe acting as middle management is going to be my future. And that scares the shit out of me.

"Of course, films such as The Shining, Halloween and The Thing are never going to be surpassed, but I do believe 28 Days Later to be on the same level as said films, so yes, there is hope for modern horror.  Unfortunately the slasher genre is overpopulated and has tarnished the name of horror in recent years, but some can be enjoyable, just not mentally stimulating as a well-thought out horror can be. "

i just saw drag me to hell a couple weeks ago and i thought it was alright, it had a bunch of cheap jump scares and thats about it.

I love and respect horror films like Audition and the Descent. I was recently introduced to the "extreme horror" genre with the August Underground trilogy (seriously, watch at your own risk... No joke) and those were a bit too intense for me. There's a line to be drawn somewhere.

"

My question for you all is: Do you simply dismiss any modern horror film as garbage when you see the trailers? Do you think no horror movie has the potential to be remotely good? Or do you keep a moderate level of hope that maybe, just maybe the latest remake or slasher film will be watchable?

"

I mostly hate horror movies. Some are OK, but I can't get into them.

Horror movies are trickier to pull off than other genres, because proper pacing, originality and such (things that help make other types of movies can get away with being meh on) are key to  a horror movie's effectiveness. No one cares if rom com's are similar to other ones, but if a horror movie is too much like another one it fails.  If you can tell where a horror story is going, plotwise (other than various amounts of death), then it's not doing what it should be. This is why I think horror and action movies don't always get the respect they should; it's not that the genre itself is inherently bad, it's just that to make a good one is much harder than with other types of movies. 
 
That everyone here is mentioning  The Thing makes me very happy. No one I talk to knows about it, but it's one of my favorite movies of all time. 

I'm liking the responses I'm getting here, even the ones that don't agree with me. I've noticed a trend with most non-genre fans I've spoken to over the years: they all love The Thing. I find it odd that many non horror fans find one of the goriest films ever made to be so good (NOTE: I loved The Thing, I'm just making an observation). The Thing and Cronenburg's The Fly are two of the few films that have managed to make me sick to my stomach.

I've been a horror fan for over two decades now, ever since those days where I'd sneak away and force myself to look at the video covers while my parents were looking at romcoms. I've seen a buttload of scary stuff in my time, and even the bad old films are ace to me.
 
These days, I'm still cool with the newer films and I'm certainly willing to give them a chance, although I catch up with less of them than I'd prefer. Nothing really scares me anymore, and I usually watch horror movies from a different perspective to that of the kid who'd worry the video cover would come alive and eat his face to death. But like any movie I watch, regardless of genre, a new horror film still has to prove itself.
 
What I'm not down with is remakes. I'm sick of my cherished 80s horror memories being polished up so much for a new audience. I'm tired of seeing Asian productions that are a week old being nabbed by Hollywood so they can make an inferior version. I even quite liked The Devil's Rejects, but the idea of a Zombie Halloween just doesn't crack my coconut (although I know it'll still rent it at some point). And don't even start me on shot-for-shot stuff.
 
I also miss the days where practical effects were the norm. Tom Savini is rad. And what Rob Bottin did in The Thing was his Citizen Kane... ;)
 
@RHCPfan24: Yep, The Mist was a lean and grubby little scarer, and very entertaining. Watched it with my girlfriend one afternoon and we were both gripped by the way the story unfolded.

Not at all. I think horror movies are shit. For the life of me I cannot and likely never will understand what enjoyment fans of the genre get out of things like that. Especially torture porn like Saw/Hostel/etc. I just don't get it. I think they're terrible. I respect them in terms of what they do for special effects and design and stuff- my film appreciation teacher spent the whole class today talking to us about Paranormal Activity and its low-budget effects and camera work and whatnot before going on to talk about creative set design and props for horror in general, and what they do in that movie (and others) is admittedly really cool. They're just not my type of movie. 

I love the "scared feeling" alot too, but my problem is that I'm too scared to go to get scared.
I don't get how people can do that but that's just me. After I'm nagged into watching a horror flick or playing silent hill (FFFF) I have alot of fun and enjoy it.
 
Horror movies are awesome, just on VHS and on a small 13" tv.

"There was a time when I respected horror films, & indeed the classics will always be treasured to me, but I have no respect for modern horror especially since they keep taking classic slashers like Black Christmas & Prom Night then turning them into 90min long episodes of laguna beach with a few blood effects.  Where's the appeal in a slasher film where you don't actually see anybody slashed?? "

i havcnt really seen a good one in some time.

You gotta respect classic horror movies. They were just good. The most recent one I saw I didn't like. Modern ones are just nasty. More gore and no suspense.

I respect them. I understand the mindset of the crowd who enjoys them, and I see the quality of the movies in general, but it's just not my thing. I prefer a Kill Bill or a Lawrence of Arabia to a Grudge or The Ring. 

I love a good horror film.  I just wish we could get more where there was quality effort put into them and fewer of those idiotic post-Scream self-aware turds and gratuitous torture porn films.  Films like Rosemary's Baby, The Shining and the original Halloween are still classics and still scary.

I generally dismiss every horror movie that comes out  I think I've had no respect for the genre ever since "The Ring."  The last horror movie I liked was "The Devil's Rejects," although granted I don't see them that often.  I think it's too cheap to just make people jump out of their seats every once in a while.  I guess I prefer being creeped out by subtleties over the good old-fashioned scare.  Also many horror movies take themselves way too seriously.  The Devil's Rejects had plenty of comedy but it wasn't done in a way that undermined the pure shock value.
 
But would "Bad Taste" count as a horror film?  It was gory and disgusting while at the same time being funny as hell.  I guess people just refer to it as a "B-movie."  It's actually one of Peter Jackson's first movies, look it up if you haven't seen it.   He also did a movie about puppets that do drugs and fuck other puppets, but that's not really my thing.

And what you said about the Thing is right.  I usually avoid the genre, but I've always wanted to see the Thing (the John Carpenter one).  Sometimes I get curious about movies like that and end up watching the goriest scenes on youtube, and then watch the whole movie later.

"I generally dismiss every horror movie that comes out  I think I've had no respect for the genre ever since "The Ring."  The last horror movie I liked was "The Devil's Rejects," although granted I don't see them that often.  I think it's too cheap to just make people jump out of their seats every once in a while.  I guess I prefer being creeped out by subtleties over the good old-fashioned scare.  Also many horror movies take themselves way too seriously.  The Devil's Rejects had plenty of comedy but it wasn't done in a way that undermined the pure shock value.  But would "Bad Taste" count as a horror film?  It was gory and disgusting while at the same time being funny as hell.  I guess people just refer to it as a "B-movie."  It's actually one of Peter Jackson's first movies, look it up if you haven't seen it.   He also did a movie about puppets that do drugs and fuck other puppets, but that's not really my thing. "

I avoid the gore horror(like Hostel, Saw) because its just not interesting to me, but I get a kick out of creature horror, even if its shitty. If there's a puppet covered in slime and fake blood, Im there.

" I generally dismiss every horror movie that comes out  I think I've had no respect for the genre ever since "The Ring."  The last horror movie I liked was "The Devil's Rejects," although granted I don't see them that often.  I think it's too cheap to just make people jump out of their seats every once in a while.  I guess I prefer being creeped out by subtleties over the good old-fashioned scare.  Also many horror movies take themselves way too seriously.  The Devil's Rejects had plenty of comedy but it wasn't done in a way that undermined the pure shock value.  But would "Bad Taste" count as a horror film?  It was gory and disgusting while at the same time being funny as hell.  I guess people just refer to it as a "B-movie."  It's actually one of Peter Jackson's first movies, look it up if you haven't seen it.   He also did a movie about puppets that do drugs and fuck other puppets, but that's not really my thing. "

The Midnight Meat Train deserved a wide release. 
 
Dead/Alive is still one of the best splatter flicks ever. 
 
The Thing is still one of the best horror remakes ever. 
 
I have actually watched Pirahna II.

Its movies like Evil Dead(original one), The Orphanage, The Ring, The Grudge and The Unborn are all good movies that remind me why I love the genre. I like to be shocked, not be grossed out by large amounts of blood, I only like that in my zombie movies <3.

" The Midnight Meat Train deserved a wide release.  Dead/Alive is still one of the best splatter flicks ever.  The Thing is still one of the best horror remakes ever.  I have actually watched Pirahna II. "

" @jakob187 said:

" The Midnight Meat Train deserved a wide release.  Dead/Alive is still one of the best splatter flicks ever.  The Thing is still one of the best horror remakes ever.  I have actually watched Pirahna II. "

Props for throwing out three great movies in one post. Anyone else have some good modern horror to recommend? "