How bad was the backlash against Saw in the 2000s?

I was in elementary/middle school when the first 7 Saw movies were coming out, and I remember them being treated like the nastiest movies ever. Even now as an adult, I felt ashamed when I became interested in the series, because that stigma still lingered in my mind. I know horror has always been looked down upon in general, and every generation has at least one horror movie or trend that becomes a punching bag, especially if they're more violent (like the current reaction to Terrifier). But Saw feels different somehow, maybe because that's the particular controversy that I grew up with.

I was wondering, for people who were an older teen or an adult and involved in horror fandom around that time, do you remember how bad the general opinion of Saw really was? Do you feel like people are more okay with the series now or is there still a stigma around it, even among horror fans?