Being startled isn't scary, its more nerve-wracking. Too many horror movies use this tired cliche.

The tendency to use extreme violence and gore seems predominant in many modern horror movies. I also don't find this scary. Its just gross and stomach-turning.

Very few horror movies are truly scary. For me, the ones that I usually find unnerving are those that have are realistic and rely more on tension and plot to be scary. A few good examples of some of the better horror movies (in my opinion) are the original Halloween, the first Saw movie, Misery, and Seven.

Then there's the fun horror movies and action-horror movies. These are the movies that aren't really all that scary but fall into the horror category such as Zombieland, Happy Death Day, Alien, It, The Fly, and 30 Days of Night.

There's a load of rubbish about at the moment, but on the other hand at least three of the (IMO) best horror films of all time have been made in the last few years - It Follows, Let The Right One In and (the truly remarkable) The Babadook.