Is the horror genre dead?
just about I would say.
sharenot at all. not in my opinion, certainly, for whatever that's worth (not much).
i think we're in a horror golden age.
the notion of elevated horror may invoke lots of eye-rolling, but...
saint maud
blackcoat's daughter
the witch
hereditary
midsommar
all relatively recent films that are 4.5-5 star films in my books, all truly great.
and there are tons and tons of great, fun, brutal no-budget slashers and quirky horror films constantly getting ground out of the horror underground meat grinder. you have to wade through endless amounts of nonsense, but there are tons and tons and tons of fun, quirky, brutal gems out there.
i think horror, perhaps more than any other genre, has exploded in the best way from the accessibility of cheap equipment and the streaming era.
Saw this recently, which I think is a good example of what you're talking about. I was pleasantly surprised, think it was actually well made and is underrated.
https://moviechat.org/tt1331335/Wyvern
I HAVE THAT ON DVD...ITS PART OF THE MANEATER SERIES.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maneater_(film_series)