That's a really tough one because both of the sub-genres within or beloved horror world are really maligned by the critics and a lot of horror fans a like. While I dig some of the "toture porn" stuff, I dig the directors themselves better than their products. Weird eh? I find Eli Roth, Rob Zombie, Darren Lynn Boussman, Alexandre Aja and others to be far more entertaining than their films. Perhaps it's because I can relate to them as film geeks like myself and we really speak from the same language about what is great about the genre and what is great about gore and being over the top. Also a lot of their influences are mine as well.

On the other hand we have the Asian film, which was huge in the early "naughts" but seem to be dying a slow and misearble death lately. First off these Asian scrares really don't translate very well to a mainstream American audience. I hate to say it but cultural differences, folklore and myth are too wide a crevice sometimes to translate to a good film in America. The Ring and perhaps the first Grudge remake were effective but the rest really failed in comparison to live up to their predecessor. And in an attempt at full disclouser I've seen very few of the American remakes of the Asian films. The originals were just too good for me to go and let myself be dissappointed in the remake. That's wat Netflix is for.

Any who so to define a decade of a genre is pretty tough. There has been some real ups and a lot of downs, but right now I would like to define the genre as this. The rise of the internet complainer. Because when it's all said and done everyone with a computer and internet connection have become critics (myself included) and have no qualms about speaking their mind on the genre, it's strengths and it's weakness. So that's my vote!

Great to hear from you Microwaved! Though I have to disagree that the Asian films are disappearing. The Eye did, after all, just open. That said, I'm really spent on those films. I saw the original Ringu before the remake came to the states, and I thought it was downright silly. I wasn't scared at all, and when the Ring came, I never even bothered. Unfortunately, the genre has inspired some of our own horrible horror, like the recent box-office bomb One Missed Call. So it's hard to dismiss it, since it seems to be striking some nerve.

As far as the "torture porn," I just don't see much appeal in that either. As far as that genre goes, perhaps it's that, like you said, I'm more attracted to the film producers and their aesthetic than what they're actually producing. But I feel like the idea behind torture porn is just to try and disgust you. I'm all for being disgusted, but not when that seems to be the sole motivating force of the plot.

Maybe the naughts are the era where we just complain about everything. That's a bit depressing. But I had hoped this decade would be able to present us with a genre of horror that's worth of the precedent set in the 80s and 90s.

I guess I didn't see it as depressing at first, but the more I think about it that is rather a pessimistic attitude towards the naughts.

Maybe it's a personal problem for me, I haven't seen anything in this decade yet that has totally rocked my socks off like the films of yester-year. Perhaps part of that is the exposure to a variety of films from many cultures (Netflix is my drug and I'm a full on junkie when it comes to it). I've seen some rather interesting stuff over the last few years that a lot of modern cinema can't seem to hold a candle to.

I think a great film of the naughts is Ginger Snaps, but it never really went any where and the sequels were ok at best. Perhaps the greatest impact of horror as a whole on the naughts was the resurgence of more visceral horror as opposed to the safe horror of the 90s. I'm definitely a fan of the more grissly stuff out there and count Argento and Fulci as well as Franco, Romero, Raimi and the entire cannon of cannibal films as a major influence on my astetic.

So perhaps I was a bit quick to judge the naughts, but hopefully by the end of this decade, which isn't as far away as one might think, I'll be able to more effectively put a "critical" eye towards the genre and see what it really left for us.

I don't think I was being critical of you when I said that the naughts were depressing, I think I was being critical of the films. The fact is, as years progress we become more and more refined as movie-watchers, and thus we expect our films to deliver more and more.

Horror films can't rely on tropes of eras past. They have to find new ways to surprise us, horrify us, scare us, entertain us. The fact that we're either a) stealing ideas or b) using torture porn for gore's sake is, in my opinion, a bit unsatisfactory. Where's the originality?

Maybe we can come up with something in the last two years of the decade before we have to start saying "tens." What do you think, is there anything promising on the horizon?

There's always something promising on the horizon. I have really high hopes for Neil Marshall's Doomsday, while I know it's not straight horror, Marshall hasn't let me down yet with either Dog Soldiers or The Descent. I'm also looking forward to finally seeing Romero's new one Diary of the Dead. And I always have my eye on James Gunn who I think could prove to be a genre stalwart if he can get all the homages out of his system.

I'm constantly reading horror news sites for new films in production. Everyday it seems like there could possibly be something new and very exciting on the horizon.

I also think we should be keeping our eyes on France. There seems to be a new crop of great filmmakers starting to poke around our shores and with that in mind, while Hellraiser is one of my top five films of all time, I'm looking forward to the remake and what this new group of French filmmakers can come up with. You may now cast your stones!

I loved Dog Soldiers and The Descent also, so I have high expectations for Doomsday. Hopefully we aren't disappointed.

I really hope that "the naughts" (that's great, by the way; I've never heard that before) aren't defined by torture porn and recycled J-horror. I, for one, absolutely hate films like Saw and their ilk. I don't know if it's just me, because I'm a girl and I just can't stomach the idea of people (predominantly women) being brutally, sadistically tortured and objectified for entertainment, but I have no desire to see any of those films. I saw the first Saw and that was enough for me. I did enjoy The Ring, but I thought it was more suspenseful than out-and-out horror, plus I really like Naomi Watts. The Grudge was mediocre at best and so were a lot of the other remakes--I think for the reasons Microwaved stated above.

So when we look back on this decade, besides the ones you mentioned, what else are we going to remember? Personally, in addition to Marshall's films, I will think of stuff like 28 Days Later, I Am Legend, The Host, Chris Gorak's Right at Your Door (though not really a horror film, still super chilling) and even Cloverfield, films which in a variety of ways evoke the paranoia and fear people have felt since 9/11 of terrorism, disease, and war.

It's interesting Court, that of the films you mention at the end of your post, several of them are not in fact horrors. Right at Your Door, which you admitted to, and then Cloverfield and I Am Legend, which I might define more as Monster movie (which is, I believe a genre to itself) and Sci-Fi respecitvely.

That's exactly what I'm worried about with the naughts. I feel we're so starved for good, legitimate horror we're starting to bilk it from other genres. Could this be true, or am I missing something?

The Descent, I have to say, was too silly for words for me. I heard all these stories about how the original version was so terrifying it had to be dulled down, and when I saw the movie I was totally disappointed. I too am looking forward to Doomsday, but Neil Marshall's got some work ahead of him to dig out of the hole he made with the former.

That's too bad about your experience with The Descent, for me it was an incredible ride of terror. I think it has something to do with my little problem with claustraphobia. Those caves were so tight and scary that by the time the monsters showed up I had pretty much had enough tension and terror that their apperance was a relief for me.

And least it wasn't as bad at The Cave, which in all honesty had a couple of moments but was bogged down by a PG-13 rating and underdeveloped and cliched characters.

Yeah, I think maybe it was just too built up. Maybe I'll give it another shot with more lowered expectations. I didn't even bother with The Cave--looked terrible...

Haha, maybe I am too much of a cynic after all...

Yes, Clayton, you're right--I guess none of what I mentioned are strictly horror, or what we usually think of as horror. Everything is so recycled and rehashed now, it's no wonder we're kind of in a horror draught. We've got tons of remakes, and, as Microwaved mentioned about The Cave, tons of bad, dumbed-down plots for the masses to get a PG-13 rating to make money instead of an R to maybe actually be good.

As you guys said above, maybe this is the era where we just complain about everything! I'm sorry, I don't mean to do that. Maybe I'm a cynic, too.

I did have the same exact reaction to The Descent as Microwaved did. I thought it was terrifying, especially on the big screen in a dark theater. I remember my friend leaning over to me and saying, 'This is so scary they don't even need the freaking monsters!'. I also liked it because the characters weren't a bunch of stupid teenagers, and they felt like real people to me.