Why aren't horror movies that scary any more?

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I went through a phase of buying horror films that looked rather intense on the cover, but when I watched them I found I didn't get scared at all. There was plenty of nudity, mostly women getting undressed (which I do not want to see), and scary things kept on nearly happening then didn't. But when I watch old horror films, I find them a lot more creepy, and things actually happen. Even my brother says that a few older films he's got are scary, and that's saying something because it takes a lot to scare him.

Does anyone know why newer horror movies aren't as scary as older horror movies? Or is it just my imagination?

I was going to say that you have become desensitised through exposure, but that wouldnt explain why you find older films more horrific, though you say more "creepy", maybe you are describing how films had a better atmosphere, I think Hollywood is drying up a bit in all spheres.
Maybe you should investigate some European films?

I'd imagine is the genre evolution over time with tastes changing and the general move to make just about everything mainstream. That and a splattering of good ol sex sells....

Because past movies - especially the old black-and-whites - relied on suspense and the viewers' imaginations, rather than graphic depictions of death and dismemberment.

If you already know that the snarky cheerleader is going to get stabbed, that the jock is going to be crushed to death, that the kindly caretaker will burn to death, that the annoying whiny girl will be found in pieces, and that the sole survivor will encounter the Big Bad once again in the sequel, then where's the suspense?

Every new horror movie is just a mix-and-match of two-dimensional characters with means of death ("We stabbed the cheerleader in the last movie? Let's drown her in a vat of acid in the sequel!").

The modern-day horror genre is a big, fat joke.

Same thing with porn as with horror - we've gotten so used to it that we've become jaded at things that at one time would have caused a greater emotional response.

It is kind of like how Cabin in the Woods showed how story telling of horror movies kind of kept telling the same story, relying on the same scares, and even the same tropes for characters.

If you want to check out some horror movies that have brought scary back, check out The Conjuring.

Maybe horror film makers stopped believing. Where a film maker in the 20th century could believe in ghosts on some level, it is far less tenable now that everyone has a camera with them at all times.

I don't know, it depends but I guess the main reason would be because its not something real happening its just a movie

Maybe for a movie to be frightening, we must be able to recognize the objects of fear, be they real or metaphorical and perceive them as some kind of potential threat to ourselves.

One of the reasons Alien got under the skin was by creative use of visual rape and birth metaphor's that are almost universal touchstones of fear. I think modern american film makers working in horror genre's aren't as proficient in some of these subtler elements of film making as they used to be.

The recent horror movies that are most effective are hiding in other genre's. Her, Shutter Island, Gone Girl. Films like this play off of modern fears far better than what is called horror. Ghosts and things like that just don't cut it anymore unless they are metaphor's of things that actually bother us.

Sex, explosions, and jump scares are big sellers these days. I thought Pontypool and The Babadook were creepy, if not outright scary.

Also, good horror has a heavy mental aspect to it. The best horror flicks will mess with your head...making you look under the bed, in the closet, locking the door, etc. That requires skilled storytelling and ultimately a "threat" that is 100% believable. Such skilled storytelling seems to be lacking in Hollywood...and perhaps the mainstream moviegoer as well.

Nothing worse than watching a film with someone who doesn't do deep thinking and listen to them whine, "I don't get it" because they can't follow the story line.

Modern horror movies are just meant as cheesy flicks for teenagers to take their girlfriend to see. It's all corny stories, overly sexual, overly stereotyped.. you won't find much quality in such movies today.