Are "Good" Horror Movies a Think of the Past?

I was watching a program this morning that briefly discussed how horror as a genre almost died out in the 90's. That's because up until the "Blair Witch Project" there were fewer and fewer horror movies out there.

But that got me thinking along a different train of thought. What ever happened to truly creepy horror movies? It seems like nowadays horror movies are more about the shock factor - lots of blood and guts.

I liked Blair Witch because it was creepy as opposed to gory. Why has gore become so prevalent in today's horror movies? Do we need that much gore or can we go back to simply creepy where your mind fills in the gore for you.

For example, I remember watching the original "Amityville Horror" when I was a lot younger. It scared the crap out of me! To this day I still haven't been able to watch the whole movie or even the remake because the thought of sitting through it still freaks me out.

Yes it seems to me that horror movies of the 70s and 80s were better than the ones today, but that's my opinion.

What about you? Do you think today's horror movies are more about the gore? Or is that just the way the genre has evolved? And if so, could we go back? Do we even want to go back?