Horror movies are going too far

I saw Obsession last night, and I walked away feeling genuinely unsettled, but in a way that felt like too much. I'm a casual horror fan, and I understand true horror fans probably relish in what I'm talking about, but to me, it feels like audiences are getting desensitized and so every horror movie has to contain the most gruesome, unsettling, distrubing shit possible just to deliver on what audiences expect / maybe want / need to feel in order to make an emotional dent relative to what they're used to seeing.

I know you could argue that's just the film doing a good job at what it's trying to do -- and in fairness, I think that's somewhat true. It was a well made film, and clearly was trying to leave the audience deeply unsettled, but it just felt like... too much.

Yes, I realize this is a taste thing. I guess I'm just expressing this to see if I'm the only one whose taste resides in something slightly more restrained.

I remember feeling the same way leaving Talk To Me. Undeniably well made and executed, but just so deeply disturbing and unsettling that I left the theatre feeling low and kind of disturbed in a bad way.

I want to leave a horror movie feeling unsettled and disturbed in a somewhat fun and provoked way, like I rode a rollercoaster that was thrilling and crazy, not like I just got trucked by a linebacker and I need several days to recover from it.

It feels like the intention these days is to just make something as demonic, depressing, fucked up and disturbing as possible... and these filmmakers are skilled enough, the production values are high enough, and everyone on board is talented enough to really succeed at hitting the target... but it feels like, to me, what they're aiming at is slightly off.

I think about Midsommar; super disturbing and messed up at several points in the movie, but doesn't feel like it's going for max levels of disturbing just for the sake of it; it feels like those moments are woven smartly into the milieu of the premise and it ends (spoiler) with a backwards moment of emotional triumph as opposed to Obsession which (spoiler) ends in something dark and traumatizing to an extreme degree. I'm not saying the film wasn't thought provoking, or effective at what it's trying to do, it just felt somewhat gratuitious to a fault.

I think my strongest argument as a counterexample to illustrate what I mean is It Follows -- to me, that is a genius modern horror film that's always stuck with me. It uses mood, music, tension and subtle performance to create dread and scares and something memorable without going to the most extreme conclusions possible to try to etch itself in your mind.

If you disagree, I'm open to your thoughts and would love to hear your perspective on what you connect with or appreciate about the more extreme films. I guess I'm honestly trying to understand because audiences are eating those types of films up but for me I just walk away feeling a bit sick even though I appreciate the genre when it's done with even slightly more restraint.