Horror Fiction Subgenres

Subgenres of speculative fiction whose defining purpose is to disturb, unsettle or frighten the reader, grouped by that shared intent rather than by the source of the fear. Includes bodily and visceral horror such as body horror, splatterpunk and erotic horror, tonal variants such as comedy horror, folk horror, techno-horror and psychological horror, seasonal and format-specific horror such as Christmas horror and creepypasta, the Chinese jiangshi tradition of reanimated-corpse horror, and monster-centered horror fiction. Ghost, vampire, werewolf and other named supernatural-creature fiction is grouped instead under Paranormal and Supernatural Fiction, since its defining fact is the kind of supernatural being rather than an intent to frighten, and Gothic-tradition and weird-fiction horror are grouped under Gothic Fiction Subgenres and Weird Fiction Subgenres, their own established literary lineages.