: Re: What are the Criteria that Distinguish a Thriller from Horror? The criteria that come to mind are not exclusive to horror novels, so I'm a little confused and annoyed (annoyed because I find

@Pierce369

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My pet theory on this is that horror is about irrational associations between things, while thrillers are about logical connections between things.

In a thriller, a character is usually in danger because of some (at least vaguely) logical and knowable set of circumstances. They play on halfway rational fears (though often exaggerated to the point where they aren't really rational anymore).

In a horror, however, danger usually comes from things that aren't (in the real world) actually dangerous, but unnerve us nonetheless. For example, if several people die in accidents shortly after buying the same painting, we are unlikely to assume it's the painting that did it, but we are likely to associate the painting with these deaths. In a horror story, this association will turn out to have real consequences for the characters.

Often the association is left unexplained, and this failure of reason is a big part of what makes it frightening. It stops us being able to rationalise away our fears.

Of course, plenty of stories do combine aspects of the two, but I think it ultimately comes down to different ways of dealing with fear.

I certainly don't agree with the other answers that say it's about death. I think both genres are possible without any death (or immediate threat of death) at all.

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