Why is the horror genre so popular on Blu-ray?

[parklife]

Today I watched two documentaries about VHS collecting – Rewind This! and Adjust Your Tracking – and it got me thinking about the apparent popularity of horror and/or exploitation fare on home video. In both documentaries, most VHS collectors seemed primarily interested in horror films (especially low-budget ones) and it seems like a lot of Blu-ray collectors go after similar stuff. Looking through the "Post Pictures of Your Blu-Ray Collection" thread, I see huge fans of Scream Factory and releases like the Friday the 13th box set prominently displayed on shelves. Independent studios and distributors like Code Red, Synapse, Blue Underground, etc. seem to put out a ton of "trashy" horror titles to a very welcoming audience.

It's interesting to me because VHS and Blu-ray are completely different formats that provide completely different movie-watching experiences, yet horror films seem to be popular on both. Did collectors who bought these kinds of films on VHS just move onto the next format, continuing to buy the same kinds of films?

My two main questions are: why are these kinds of films released in such a seemingly high volume, and why do they have such a devoted "cult" following?

Some more questions for members who collect horror on Blu-ray:
- How much of your collection is made up of such films?
- Did you start collecting the genre on Blu-ray or on a previous format?
- How does the feeling of watching a "sleazy" horror flick on Blu-ray differ from watching one on another format? Personally, I think the technical superiority of Blu-ray legitimizes works that I would otherwise dismiss as "trashy." VHS kind of has the opposite effect for me, and cheapens the look and feel of pretty much everything. However, a VHS collector in Adjust Your Tracking insisted that the clarity of Blu-ray ruins effects that aren't as clearly visible on VHS.
- Does Blu-ray provide the optimal viewing experience for these kinds of films? The VHS collectors in the two documentaries seem to favour the technical crudeness of tapes and VHS transfers over proper aspect ratios, bonus features, or increased resolution.
- How does the artwork for horror films compare between Blu-ray and previous formats? Do you ever buy BD releases because of the cover? The collectors in the docs praise VHS artwork and say that it was often the main reason they bought certain films (they also admitted that the cover often generated high expectations of quality or intensity that the film itself did not live up to).
- Does rarity/limited availability affect your purchase habits? A lot of these horror titles seem to have short production runs and occasionally a high price tag.
- Does it matter to you whether these titles are new or used? Referring to the VHS collectors once again, they seem to love the "history" of their tapes (visibly indicated by wear at certain points in the film, edits that reveal content taped over other content, etc.).

Obviously there would be far different answers if I asked the members of a VHS forum, but I'm really interested to read your thoughts!