Who mentioned anything about "scary"?
And all of what you said is subjective really, there are plenty of people who where in fact scared by Resident Evil that where not kids at the time, I had many teenage friends 16 and up that would still get jump scares out of Resident Evil Code Veronica for instance, so sorry but I'm not buying into the notion that "It was dashed after RE2", especially since Resident Evil Code Veronica to this day remains my favorite Resident Evil game.
And its not all about being scary either, its about survival as well as the horror.
Once again let me bring up Code Veronica, that was a game that created a lot of tense moments due to the need to conserve ammo and survive, something the newer games completely lack.
I remember my first time playing through the game and not using my ammo wisely, I ended up fighting the Tyrant on the plane with nothing but a handgun with 20 bullets and a bowgun with 4 explosive arrows, Needless to say it was a tense situation that made me value my ammo the next playthrough.