Commentary on the current state of the movie industry, Part 1 (of a 3 part series)

This is the first post of a 3 part series, commenting on the current state of the movie industry. The parts are as follows:
violence in movies
sexuality in movies
creativity in movies

This one, kiddies, is on violence...

Were you aware that there is a new genre of movies out there, a subset of the horror genre, called torture-porn? You may know more about this genre than you think- have you ever heard of the movie Saw? Or its sequels, Saw II and Saw III? The genre is called torture porn because the basic premise tends to be that some person or persons are kidnapped and tortured, all for the viewer's enjoyment.

The movies evidently depict extreme scenes of violence, torture, blood, guts, dismemberment, etc. I don't know first-hand because I have no interest in seeing these movies, but based on reviews that I've read, the content is pretty gruesome. Sounds exciting, doesn't it?

I'm being sarcastic, of course, but I guess that some people reading this blog might very well answer with an emphatic yes. I mean, it doesn't really surprise me that "torture-porn" exists, as you can find a sick person to cater to almost anybody's fantasies- what surprises me is that there is actually a mainstream audience for this stuff. People enjoy going to the theatre, grabbing a tub of popcorn, and watching helpless people brutally tortured and killed. Sure, it's not actually real, but at the end of the day, does that make it right?

Now I realize that this is just a subset of the horror genre, and I certainly enjoy quite a few horror movies, but to me, the best horror/thriller movies are the ones that leave it to your imagination. The Sixth Sense, The Others- barely a drop of blood. The Ring, the Grudge- very little blood. And these to me are all great horror/thriller movies.

So, I'd like to hear a response here- if you have seen one or more torture-porn movies, and you liked it/them, I'd really like to know why you decided to see the movie and why you liked it.

Up next- Sexuality in Movies. Why is it PG-13 to feature gruesome murders and NC-17 to feature sensuous love-making?