What happened to horror?

I have been a lover of good horror flicks for quite some time. I love the excitement of sitting in the dark and having an unexpected jolt rattle my brain. Lately, the horror genre has changed. It has become cliche by replacing the thrills and chills with blood and guts.

Now don't get me wrong, I love to see limbs torn off and spleens devoured in a cannabalistic frenzy but put those things by themselves and it simply isn't scary. Current filmakers need to memorize these formulas:

Blood + Guts = BORING. Blood + Guts + Paranoia + Terror = AMAZING.

Movies like Saw, Saw II, and Hostel have proven to be immensly popular hits among this generation's horror fanatics. I, however, see nothing but empty plots that try to fill the void with as much carnage as possible. Horror isn't suppose to turn your stomach inside out, it's supposed slowly creep into your brain and reveal itself as a winged demon of the night when you least expect it.

Let's take the new thriller, The Descent. This is one of the best horror films I have ever seen. Period. It doesn't jump into the horror and blood like one would suspect; it slowly builds up the terror so when the monsters finally are revealed, you are sweaty, paranoid and ready to jump out of your seat.

Critics hailed The Descent as "The best thriller since Alien." Holy shit, has it really taken 27 years to come up with a movie enjoyed by critics and moviegoers alike?

I hope this means the times are a-changin'. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.