Yeah... most recent Horror movies aren't really Horror. Things like Hostel and Saw aren't horror, they're just gory for the sake of being gory. They try to gross you out, not scare you. Most others just go for the "startle" type fo scares, not actual frightening scares.
Anyway, while this may be a bit biased because I saw these at a much more impressionable age, I have to mention that nothing recent is even in the same leagues as...
Movie title: Pet Cemetery
Release date: 1989
Description: Based on a Stephen King story. After moving into their new home the Creed family's cat is killed after wondering onto the highway. Jud an elderly neighbor shows Louis, the father, to an isolated hill behind the local Pet Cemetery and instructs him to bury the deceased feline there. Not long after the cat reappears at the Creed home, only he is not the same. The docile cat is now vicious and destructive. When their youngest son meets with a fatal accident, the distraught Louis buries him in the same location hoping to revive him.
Movie title: Poltergeist
Release date: 1982
Description: A suburban family living in a small town in California who's home is abruptly invaded by supernatural forces who are anything but friendly, and proceed to terrorize the entire clan. This is a movie that plays like a roller-coaster ride, and once it gets going it never stops.
Movie title: The Birds (or almost any Hitchcock movie, really)
Release date: 1963
Description: A wealthy San Francisco playgirl pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people there in increasing numbers and with increasing viciousness.
Also, this last one isn't that scary but it scared the crap out of me because I saw it when I was 7 AND I had a
My Buddy. The evil in this movie was
Chucky. I then threw it out and my mom found it and thought "This toy is still perfectly good" and put it back on my bed. Freaked me the pineapple out when I got back to my room and it was waiting for me.
Movie title: Child's Play
Release date: 1988
Description: Kid gets a ~2 foot high doll as a gift, except it's possessed by the soul of a serial killer that was recently put to death.
I also feel that this is a good thread to link this
puzzle about "dark movies"... I got all of them without cheating, although it took me several hours.