Fear is the anticipation that something is about to occur and the anxiety that it’s going to be terrible. It is a part of our basic biological make-up, evolving alongside humanity as a primary survival instinct.
Fear keeps us alive and competitive as a species, compelling as to avoid danger and making us fearful of pain, afraid of death and cautious of the unknown.
On a larger scale, fear guards as against the breakdown of society and culture by reinforcing behaviours that are biologically advantageous: wariness of outside threats and prohibitions against socially deviant acts such as murder and incest.
When the things we fear actually happened, we experience horror. Horror is the dark realisation and subsequent revulsion that the world is now fundamentally, shockingly and permanently altered.
Despite all of this unpleasantness, we enjoy horror because it is equally conformist and subversive. It is a right of passage in the test of courage. It reinforces notions of good and evil. It creates a rush of heightened emotions. It allows us to safely experience taboo subjects. It reflects the landscape of our nightmares and dreams.