Ever since I went through a film-lit course back in '95, I do not find movies 'scary' any longer; rarely interesting. That said, I seen Nightmare on Elm Street when it came out (I was a child) and it mortified me - same Poltergeist. When I was older but not a teen, I watched the original Exorcist and was terrified but in a sense that I couldn't stop watching it. Love each of these movies today. There must be a delineation between horror and gore - I am not entertained my gore, I find it tired and boring. Interestingly, and to that end, I am a huge Rob Zombie fan, so I will advocate for his stuff any day (you get some of both) - I really enjoyed his Halloween remakes - fucking violent, like in a 'release' kinda way. The original Halloween is still my go-to, I play it every Halloween; Nightmare on Elm Street, Poltergeist, House of 1000 Corpses trilogy all get attention. One that I will advocate for that is an undiscovered gem is *Hereditary *produced by A26 studios.