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it seems to me its generally more rare for the 'general public' to like a horror movie and more often its only fans of the genre and maybe some critics who dig a particular horror film.

the big question is what you mean by general public. sometimes critics like a film - Blair Witch and American Psycho (the movie) had some really strong reviews and a lot of more academic critics really hail those films - but the average filmgoer doesn't care or even really hear about them (although i'd say blair witch was an exception). this reminds me of a book i've mentioned on here before - and i'm thinking of it because a friend just returned it to me and its sitting on my desk - that talked about those fairly rare films that were both great horror films and extremely popular. it listed 10 - *thumbs to index* - that caused a huge public sensation and 'redefined the notion of horror' - as the author writes. For the good of the order i'll list the ten:
Dracula, The Thing from Another World, Psycho, Night of the Living Dead, Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, Silence of the Lambs, Scream and the Sixth Sense.