Hasn't today's society become de-sensitized to 'scary' on film?
The great scary movies are the one's that sneek up on you -- you went to the movie before the hype and left the theater stunned and creeped. That happened to me 3 times -- The Exorcist, Jaws, and Poltergeist. With today's hype machines so active, it's hard for a movie to live up to the anticipation.