We are truly living in the Golden Age of horror. I mean what else would you call a decade that has given us "A Quiet Place," "The Babdook," "The Witch," "Hereditary," "Get Out," etc.
However, recently, I have seen a pushback from old-school horror fans that, especially, don't like "The Witch" and "The Babadook," in fact they HATE them. Is it because they are serious, classy, arthouse horror films?
Take for example a review of Hereditary, from The Verge's Tasha Robinson who warned of “some skeptical backlash from horror fans who felt burned by similar advance praise for films like "The Witch" and "It Comes At Night," two extremely tense horror films in which not a whole lot ultimately happens.”
I would hate to think that I live in a world where mainstream horror fans don't realize the brilliance of "The Witch." Robert Eggers' "New England Folk Tale" only has a 6.8 rating on IMDB, which is blasphemous considering how great of a horror movie it is.
The dumbing down of the horror genre in the '90s still has its many fans. Muschietti's "It" kind of adhered to that crowd, but did feel like a slightly smarter film. Nevertheless, I think films like "The Babadook," and "The Witch" are very much "art films" more than any kind of generic horror, which is clearly turning off Joe and Jane popcorn who expect jumpscares every few minutes with their horror. They just aren't "entertained" by atmosphere and character.