Very few horror movies these days have the atmosphere the old movies have. For example Texas Chainsaw the actors where living in heat dirty cloths not knowing what was gonna happen next or even the people they worked with. There was an element of fear in the actors already which come across great to make great atmosphere. The same would go for Last House on the Left and Hills Have Eyes.

I agree with the people who say it's impossible to quantify. In theory, the quality should be consantly improving in the same way it does with all art forms but then, it gets harder to be innovative and come up with completely original ideas, so there are fewer landmarks.

The most recent ground breaking movie I can think of was Blair Witch but then it borrowed heavily from Cannibal Holocaust. Obviously, 3D is the next big thing, but it's just improved technology and not human creativity. There simply are very few novel horrors coming out. There are movies that spark renewed interest in the genre, like Scream and Saw, but they are rehashes of previous work.

I suppose Irreversible was 'new' but will we ever see a bonafide horror make the sort of splash that Psycho, Exorcist, Jaws, King Kong, The Birds, TCM made? Would the Saw movies count? That's as close as I can come to thinking of a 'great' from the modern era.

I personally think the older horror films are best, especially the Univeral and Hammer Studios. It hard to beat them for atmosphere.

Night of the Demon and The Exorcist are examples of older non Universal -Hammer films that are really tops as well.

However some of older cheaper made horror films just do not fare well.

But there are some modern horror films that are as good or better than the older ones.

The one problem I have with modern horror films ( besides just too much gore in many cases) is the overbearing use of computer animation.

Recent horror entries I liked were Silent Hill, The Marsh & Night Skies.

That pretty much sums it up.

yes
 

yes i think they are but there are some that are better then the classics but these days the horror movies are bad remakes or very unoriginal cheesy slasher films

"Better" is subjective anyway.
What is better to you is the important thing.
What i've found is that the nostalgia factor can play a big part.
Maybe a movie you watched growing up - during that impressionable phase
before we were all so desenzitised - may hold a special place in your heart
for a particular movie that by all standards would "suck" to 99% of everybody else
but not to you because it evokes the memories you have of why it was special way back when.

Maybe that's another argument for the classics being better. Directors were forced to use creativity and their craftsmanship to make movies whereas now, they waste time and money on effects or cheapening themselves by using shock factor ie. this is the basis for the recent trend for 'torture porn' or 'gornography'. The only one of those movies that I would say was a 'great' or ground breaking was the original Saw, the rest is pretty poor.

Totally agree on that point.
Back then there had to be more of a focus on substance and craftmanship -
(although it often did not live up to such) - than on effects and shock value.
They really did (to their credit or discredit) have way less to work with.

That being said - "better" is still subjective so it's pretty much moot on trying
to say which are better. It only has to be better to you.
After all a diamond in some countries is treasured and highly regarded
while in other countries it's just a rock.

I pretty much sit on the fence when it comes to horror flicks.
I like and own some from both camps.

I went to this last night and there were several scenes that really sent a chill down my spine which you just don't get in most recent movies. Perhaps the effect of the grand organ accompaniment made a difference and that it was in a building renowned for it's beautiful late 19th century architecture, but the atmosphere was excellent.

It really is incredible that much of this movie stands up today, kind of like an athlete from the 1920's being competitive at todays Olympics.

http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/uhsear...ntnameid=40760

Personally I tend to like newer horror movies, 1980-to present better than older movies. I think that horror along with fantasy and science fiction is well served by modern special effects technology. It is also often more easy to relate to modern movies, and especially to the female characters who in a very huge number of older movies more or less had the role of damsel in distress and little else.

Now I am not saying older horror movies are bad, many of them are very good, and it is amazing to think of how they made the effects with the technology they had at the time, hours upon hours of creativity and art lies behind every effect. I certainly appreciates older horror movies and I often watch them but I tend to prefer newer productions.