Horror operates through two mechanisms: visceral shock (jump scares, gore, body horror) and psychological dread (atmosphere, suggestion, the unseen). The greatest horror films combine both. The Shining uses long tracking shots through empty corridors to build unbearable tension before releasing it.

Body horror — exemplified by Cronenberg's The Fly and modern films like Midsommar — attacks the audience's sense of physical security. Psychological horror attacks their sense of reality. The best practitioners understand that what the audience imagines is always worse than what you show them.