I might give watch Terrifier but I doubt it's for me.
I guess that's what I sort of mean -- saying it's "not for me" seems fair rather than just outright calling something trash, chiefly if someone hasn't even watched what they're calling garbage. I couldn't care less about, say, FNAF, which I know nothing about, but like you said, I'd rather say it's not for me than make broad statements on the IP's quality like it's trash or terrible when I haven't even watched/played any of it. (Same with WWE, which I know isn't for me, but I also don't feel compelled to mention each and every time I jump in a conversation that it's "stupid" or something when others are talking about it here like people who are fans should be ashamed of themselves.)
So is the reason that Terrifier and some of the Saw sequels are labeled "trash films" that they lean too hard into gore and edginess without any real meaning behind it and none of the other elements to balance it out? What makes the Terrifier series "trash" and the first two Texas Chainsaw's iconic?
That's the thing -- it's all subjective. I hate the first
Terrifier, and I'm not big on the sequels other than liking David Howard Thornton's performance and Lauren LaVera, but I can acknowledge that they're not trying to be (or pretending to be) elevated horror films. They're special effects-loaded splatterfest schlock films anchored by a solid villain performance, and that's it. For the lane they're in, and for the audience they're going for, I can see why the franchise has fans. It's not trying to be for everyone, and it seems like so much of media discourse nowadays is, "I don't personally like this, so it's the worst thing
ever," with no nuance that not everything
has to be for everyone.
Meanwhile, I love the
Saw franchise. I acknowledge it's not for everyone, and at the same time, I'm not gonna tell people who don't like what they've seen of it (or don't think it's for them) that they're wrong, dumb, or missing out if they're not fans. But what it boils down to is: One person may love
Terrifier and hate TCM, and the next person might hate
Terrifier and love TCM. Neither are wrong in their opinions, but at the same time, neither should be acting like they're more right than the other simply because their tastes are different, and especially in the horror genre where things are so broad, it's okay to not like something that has fans that aren't you without feeling compelled to crap all over it every chance you get (and by "you," I don't mean
you, just generally, haha.)