It’s an easy trap to fall into. When someone asks, “Was it good?” when discussing a horror story, the go-to response is often, “Well, it was/wasn’t scary.” But does horror have to be scary to be worthwhile?
What Do We Mean by “Scary”?
First, we have to clarify: what does it mean to call a piece of media “scary”? Merriam-Webster defines it as an adjective describing something which “causes fright” or alarm. Which, of course, leads to the next question: what is fear?
Entire books have been written on this subject, so to keep things simple, let’s just go once again with the dictionary definition: “an unpleasant, often strong, emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger.”
In other words, something is scary if it makes you fear for your safety—even if irrationally so. Being stuck on the tracks when a train is coming is scary because it is dangerous. Horror stories are scary because they cause us to imagine danger. The more vividly they do so, the scarier they are.
What Do We Mean by “Horror”?
The complexity of “scary” is nothing next to the labyrinth that is the meaning of “horror.” If we turn, one last time (I promise), to the dictionary, when we experience horror as a feeling, we may experience any or all of the following:
- Fear, which we discussed above
- Dread, which is a mixture of fear, awe, and reluctance
- Dismay, which is discouragement as a result of fear
- Disgust, which is a special kind of loathing deeply intertwined with offense
- Aversion, which is disgust but also fear
Horror may also seek to startle us, shock us, or provoke thought and discussion around the darker side of the human experience.
All of this makes horror sound pretty darn unappealing. And yet, the continued popularity of movies like A Quiet Place, books like Mister B. Gone, and games like Phasmophobia or the Amnesia series are a constant reminder of just how much we gluttons for punishment love horror.
Part of the reason is that the horror genre encompasses so much more than even just “horror.” Horror comedies encourage us to laugh in the face of danger, while paranormal romances thrive on the thrilling combination of fear and passion.
Even stories planted firmly in the main horror genre still vary in subtle ways from one to the next. No one, for example, would mistake Bram Stoker’s stark prose for Mary Shelley’s philosophical storytelling, and the Victorian gothic flavor of horror looks and feels very different from modern folk horror.
So does horror have to be scary to “count” as horror?
Why Horror Doesn’t Have to Be Scary
I absolutely adore Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, both the original book and (some of) its adaptations. But does Frankenstein, or his monster, scare me?
No. At no point reading that book did I worry that “Adam” (Shelley never named the monster, but I love the idea that he named himself) was going to sneak up behind me and murder me. Nor was I worried for any of the characters. I went into that book knowing at least the broad strokes of what would happen, if not the details.
Yet, despite that absence of fear, that book burrowed into my brain like a worm into a cadaver and has happily lived there ever since. I’ve been just as happy to allow it to. And whether or not you’re a fellow fan, I think few of us would deny Shelley’s novel its rightful place among other classic works of literature.
Horror can be funny or romantic. It can be thought-provoking or even (in rare cases) inspiring. Often, it is also tragic. People enjoy horror for a variety of reasons, and not all of them hinge on a story’s fear factor.
Yes, it can be a letdown when we pick up a book or walk into a theater expecting to be terrified. Sometimes, however, this disappointment may have more to do with mismatched marketing than a flaw in the story itself. I remember The Invisible (2007) being marketing as a total spookfest, rather than the thoughtful, tragic ghost story the film turned out to be.
So no, horror doesn’t have to be scary to be good. Nor does it have to scare you, or any other member of its audience, to qualify as horror. All it has to do is explore fear in some way. Whether we are meant to share in that fear, get turned on by it, be enraged or upset by it, or laugh it off depends on the writer, the reader, and of course, the story itself.
The Harbinger’s Head is an interactive fantasy horror story about a dullahan and his missing head. It may or may not be a scary story, but if you’re a fan of spooky folklore or dark classics like “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” this one’s for you. Try the first chapter for free today!
