i believe this will always exist, unfortunately, but life and death are partners. some are more interested in the particulars of that partnership than others.

your discussion of horror and slasher films seems spot on, but then i'm not sure about the step beyond, what drives the search for real life gore and violence. i've not ever pursued that but i do like horror. i guess i only need a taste of that visceral thrill, but then i'm chronically anxious.

i'd also argue that modern "morbid curiosity" stems in part from the distance we've placed between life and death in modern times. i'm speaking from a United States cultural perspective, it might certainly be different elsewhere, but death is very sanitized here. the slaughter of animals for food is hidden away in grey concrete buildings, our dead loved ones are embalmed and make-upped and casketed.