Good fiction, in my opinion, always acts as a mirror - reflecting the various facets of our nature as conflicted, emotional beings. The clearer the picture, the more refined the reflection, the more evocative and effective the work.
Horror, instead of reflecting those comforting aspects of our personality/character, makes it its business to reflect those parts of ourselves we wish to keep hidden, to dredge the darkest regions of our psyche, to unmask the aberrant desires we so carefully try to cover up.
Horror is dreadfully honest, and I think that's why its draw is so powerful. These feelings, these emotions all yearn for the light.
That is not to say that horror fiction is not redemptive - because that's simply not the case. All fiction is essentially redemptive, or else it wouldn't exist.
I believe that the most effective works of horror always bring it home somehow.
Stephen King has referred to sticking to the "truth inside the lie." I think he hit the nail right on the head with that.
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