So Many People Misunderstand Horror as a Genre

Horror, as a genre, does not = scary. Everyone is scared of different things, so if you judge horror based on what you think is scary, it just doesn’t work. I read a lot of Stephen King, but I don’t find any of his horror novels scary; does that mean he doesn’t write horror? No, he does, his idea of horror is just different.

Horror is about the characters being scared; at that point the writer’s job (plus the director visual team/artists/animators if its visual horror) is convincing us why the characters are getting scared in a believable way, which is what separates good horror from bad horror.

Horror is not 24/7 darkness and jumpscares; some horror is in broad daylight and a lot of horror has comedic scenes in it in order to give the audience a sense of comfort before the inevitable shoe drops.

Most of the time people argue over whether something is horror or thriller, but the line between those two genres can be really faint sometimes, but sometimes it’s honestly both; horror in the majority, thriller in last act for example.

It’s when the protagonists are able to have the means to understand and/or overcome the “enemy” that horror transforms into thriller. There’s a fine line between the two genres as horror is based on an unknown “enemy” (unknown being a dynamic term in this context) and a known enemy (known sometimes being different from a solved mystery in this context).

ln most cases, a thriller is about the protagonist and opposition being in a sort of power struggle between one another, unlike horror where the odds are completely sided against the protagonist. Of course, horror is also about overcoming fears, which is why a lot of horror stories become thrillers in the last act.

Same thing with psychological vs. horror.

The psychological genre is an add on genre; it doesn’t exist by itself. Psychological drama, psychological thriller, psychological horror, etc.

Horror is a genre about characters facing their fears and opposing something initially beyond comprehension. A good example is Perfect Blue. It’s a psychological horror with slasher elements.

There’s also the element of style and tone, but that one is not the main defining factor, as many other genres could use those elements in many different ways not exclusive to more horror focused stories.

Horror is not based on what is actually scary, since fear is different for everyone, but rather what is intended to be scary by the author; at that point well written horror stories are based on how good of a job a writer does at convincing the audience why the story is scary to the characters and making it believable they would be scared.

That’s my take on it anyway, but I’d be interested to hear if anyone views horror differently.