So... Is horror a dying breed?

"Since so many people hate these films, does that mean that we actually enjoy being talked down to?"

No, it's people who say stuff like this that are actually the ones talking down to horror fans. Like we're idiots who only like gore and violence because we're too unsophisticated to appreciate true art.

Horror is a lot like comedy in some ways in that it sort of has to be judged by a different set of standards because it's aiming for a different effect than your traditional story. Look at Adam McKay; he made tons of crass, juvenile comedies filled with idiot characters, but then he went and directed the The Big Short, a very smart movie that got him an Oscar nomination. Just because he had the capacity to tell a complex story doesn't mean he was gonna do that with all his comedy movies because he actually understands the genre. Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and Step Brothers wouldn't fall under the category of "artful comedy" like, say, a Spike Jonze movie might, but that doesn't make them any less valid as comedy movies.

Horror is very similar in that it's trying to get a very specific reaction out of the audience. Instead of laughter, though, it's fear. Sometimes gore, violence, and jump scares can add to that effect and sometimes they're used in a cheap way. Just like any tool, they're only as good as the skill of the person using them. Sure, lots of shitty (like the later Saw movies, the recent Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies, Rob Zombie movies, Eli Roth movies, etc.) movies over-use gore because they're too lazy to actually build fear through proper storytelling, but the problem with those movies is not the gore or violence itself, but rather the poor writing that doesn't set up the gore in an effective way. Just like not every comedy where Will Ferrell plays a moron is gonna be as good as the best Adam McKay comedies, not every gory movie is gonna be as good as Hellraiser, The Evil Dead, or Romero's Dead trilogy.

That being said, a horror movie doesn't NEED gore or violence to be great either. I'll use Rosemary's Baby as an example since I consider it to be one of the scariest movies of all time and it was pure psychological horror. It really just creeps you out and does an amazing job of putting you in the shoes of Rosemary so that as she spirals into paranoia and desperation, you do too. Which goes back to my point that what separates good horror from bad horror, and actually this applies to all movies in every genre, is the writing. You can TRY to imbue a movie with a sense of dread and creepiness like Rosemary's Baby did, like The Witch tried to do, but that doesn't mean it's gonna work.

I could probably write a whole essay detailing the problems I had with The Witch, but suffice it to say that I think that it relies TOO much on it's moody atmosphere. No doubt the costume and set design, cinematography, and soundtrack are all expertly crafted. But what about the story? A family moves near some woods and are killed off one by one. The daughter goes crazy and is seduced by the devil. That's pretty much it. What about the witch? We know next to nothing about her. Apparently she can either become invisible or has super speed, she can either create illusions or can transform into a young and beautiful woman. That's pretty much it. She doesn't speak a single line of dialogue nor does she have many scenes. I would describe her as a plot device more than an actual character. Compare that to the Castevets from Rosemary's Baby. They're just a nice elderly couple, but by the end of the movie they are 1000x creepier than the witch. Why? Because of good writing and something called characterization. Not every single detail of their life or their plan is explained, but enough to make you actually care.