Eldritch. And not just “this guy is old”, but some real eldritch shit. The monster has plans and somehow a regular person just happened to get in their way. There is no hope, no reason, no chance of survival. The only thing the character can do is mitigate the damage to their psyche.

Zombies. I have 1839+ zombie movies

Probably eldritch/cosmic horror or something sci-fi-ish. I kind of view horror as a kind of speculative fiction where most titles are huge disappointments. I still watch a fair bit just hoping that there will be An Idea. Something that will make me re-think my life and haunt me for years like any good book does.

No body horror or crime or anything plain, cheesy, or tropey like zombies or vampires. Or torture porn of any kind.

Body Horror.

Things going wrong with the human body are viscerally frightening.

See: David Cronenberg

“Situational,” if that’s a thing? Especially with surreal elements.

Curve short film as example. I’m existentially afraid of spillways now.

Another example which is body horror on the surface, but the situation is the real scary thing as you find out alongside the main character exactly how fucked up things are in his world and how betrayed he is by authority: Operator (link is to the 2nd in the series, but that’s the one where the plot takes off)

Pop culture examples:

• Doctor Who (2005– series) S04E10 “Midnight”
• Enigma of Amigara Fault (yeah it became a meme but it fuckin got to me)
• Triangle (2009 film)
• Get Out
• Twilight Zone (Peele series) S01E06 “Six Degrees of Freedom”

Jordan Peele is a modern horror legend

Folk horror.

Generally films where the “good guys” don’t win, but if I had to pick a single genre that’d be cosmic horror. In the Mouth of Madness, Event Horizon, Color out of Space, Annihilation, etc.

I love the incomprehensible horror where it’s impossible to figure out their intentions or goals at all. Otherside Picnic did this, and I liked it a lot.

My favorite kind of comedy is a horror comedy! But none of those are really horrifying, they are using the horror as part of the punchline. Ready or Not and The Menu were two that I really enjoyed recently.

But my favorite kind of horror is body horror, especially if it has some kind of futuristic, alien, or supernatural effect. Something that is not part of our normal reality, possibly with menacing intent but also with something that is just doing its supernatural thing that ends up causing harm. I want horror to make me feel uneasy and full of dread in some way to find it horrifying, whether from cold and uncaring actions or the effects the thing has on the characters, as long as I am anticipating something wrong is going to happen and I am not sure what it will be. I especially love a dark or ambiguous ending!

Unfortunately this means most horror movies are enjoyable for the first two acts and then they often fall apart in the third act by either overexplaining or leaning too hard into jump scares. They lose the effect that not knowing brings, or introduce something that undermines what was causing the dread.

if you haven’t seen: “the stuff” it would be right up your alley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_ROA_ZEGfA (trailer)

prefer psychological horror myself- i.e. ‘the shining’ or ‘hereditary’ and such.

Kind of a toss up, but zombie is up there, along with eldritch/lovecraftian. After that, it’s old school slasher, which is often comedy after the first two or three in a given series lol.

ambient. one that makes you think it is there but isn’t. generally not a monster but a situation slowly spiralling out of control.

imo, part of the scare is the impending danger and the signs that it will catch up to the main characters. bonus points if the characters try to fight it with a bad decision.

Snuff