Nanette, you bring up some interesting points.

I guess it could be said, you should be glad you don't live in the US. I don't know what it's like in other countries in recent times, but the horror/macabre scene is only growing in the US with no sign of slowing down anytime soon. 

Zombies are huge cash cows. I can't even count how many zombie films and video games have come along in the last 10 years, most inspired by the 1960s b-movies that somehow exploded in popularity in the 90s.

The Walking Dead - a tv series about a small group of people trying to survive a zombie apocalypse - is the #1 show on TV right now, and has been since it's premiere in 2010. It just began its 4th season. It's success has resulted in a spin-off series to begin in 2015.

The Supernatural (demon hunters) is another top rated show that just began it's 9th season. I think it's ratings are somewhere around #4. It also has a spin-off that will begin next year.

American Horror Story just began it's 3rd season (starring the fabulous Jessica Lang). Each season is a different story. First was a haunted house, 2nd was about an asylum with some deranged mad scientist theme and crazy beast he's building (i didn't actually watch that season so I'm not sure of the details), now the 3rd is about two rival clans of witches in New Orleans. (Funny thing about AHS, it's from the same creators of Glee - that gawd-awful highschool musical that is also all the rage - or at least it was).

The list just keeps growing and all the top networks are trying their best to compete for the #1 position in horror and suspense. 

True Blood, Dracula, Sleepy Hollow, Vampire Diaries, The Following, Being Human, several others - (tho Being Human isn't really horror, it's not all that violent, I'd say it's somewhere in the neighborhood of dark comedy and mild suspense), too many to remember and list them all here. All varied in their ranking on the gore meter, but all share a common theme of darkness. Even Once Upon A Time - reworkings of the classic Grims fairy tales - has a distinctly dark and brooding atmosphere. (Many of the original writings were actually very brutal and nothing like what most would consider appropriate for kids today. It was Disney that turned them into kids stories).

The point is, horror is huge among the younger crowds who grew up on movies like Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc. And the majority of primetime entertainment tends to cater to the 20-50 crowds, since that's the majority of their audience. 

Personally I enjoy a good horror story. The more twisted it is, and the more boundaries it pushes, the more I like it, as long as the story is actually good and the violence serves a purpose and isn't just there for shock value (which is the case for most). But that's not all I enjoy.

I think it all represents, on some subliminal level, how people perceive their own lives in today's society. Especially the zombies. The Leave it to Beaver and the Waltons mentality is long dead. I wouldn't be surprised if someone came along and turned those families into zombie flicks too at some point. After all, isn't Cujo Stephen King's interpretation of Lassie?

 

~Shane