I’ve been a lover of horror since I was a kid. Growing up, there were not a lot of people around me who liked horror, and—me being me—I wanted to share the gift of horror. I got pretty good at offering recommendations to folks who weren’t huge fans of the genre. Ever since then, I’ve been curious about what drives people to love or hate horror. Because, unlike a lot of other movie genres, horror can really fuck up your mind.
The issue is that horror is extremely subjective. What is scary for some viewers is funny to others.
So how does one measure the severity of horror?
I’ve thought a lot about it over the years and ended up developing the Horror Score. It’s basically a spectrum of horror tolerance.
The Horror Score is calculated from five main components:
- Scares
- Intensity
- Gore
- Triggers
- Tone
The Big Three
Scares, intensity, and gore carry the most weight in the Score calculation. These components seem to be the most universally recognized factors in the horror genre. They’re all rated on a 1-5 scale, with 5 being the high end, and are weighed almost equally among the three.
Here’s what they entail and how they’re ranked.
Scares
What do I mean by “scares”?
By scares, I don’t mean “scary”; I mean jump scares. What scares you is very subjective (think clowns or dolls), but for most of us, a surprising jump scare gets your heart rate going.
What I look for in a scare:
- The timing: if the jump scare occurs on an obvious beat (like the door opens and there’s an unexpected monster that appears) or is more unexpected (the door opens, and there’s nothing inside, but the camera pans to look at the person head-on, and there’s the monster behind them).
- If there are tells: some films have clues that tell you a jump scare is coming. Typically, this is done through the music score. Example: sinister music swells just before the jump scare happens.
Example: A movie with a lot of obvious jump scares will rank lower than a movie with a lot of unexpected jump scares.
Intensity
What do I mean by intensity?
I’m pretty positive most of you know what I mean by intensity. It’s that anxious feeling you get when you’re waiting for something to happen.
What I look for when it comes to intensity:
- What’s causing the intensity: does it come from the movie’s villain? As in, I’m on the edge of my seat because I’m wondering what the villain will do next. Or does it come from the atmosphere? Like there’s this intangible feeling of anxiety from the movie’s plot or even cinematography.
- How long it lasts: is the intensity sustained or sporadic?
Intensity stemming from the villain is to be expected, and thus, ranked on the lower end of the scale. While the amount of time spent in intense mode increases the score.
Gore
Out of all the factors on this list, gore has the most impact on someone’s horror tolerance, which is why it’s factored in a little more heavily than scares and intensity.
What do I mean by gore?
Blood and violence, basically.
What I look for when it comes to gore:
- The amount: how prevalent the gore is throughout the movie (often correlates to the number of k*lls), the amount of blood shown, and how long the gore is shown (think quick cutaway where the gore is more implied than shown vs. we see every detail of the gore).
- The realness: this has to do with how realistic the gore is. This really comes down to two somewhat related factors.
- The age of the movie: gore from the ‘70s is easier to tolerate than gore from the ‘00s, for example. The older the movie, the less realistic it is.
- How good the effects are: modern-day CGI is much more realistic than CGI of the past (even the recent past). Budget can also impact how real the gore looks, as well.
Other Horror Score Factors
There are two other elements I look for: triggers and tone. They’re weighed differently because they’re much more subjective than the main three. Take the pregnancy trigger warning, for example. It’s likely to be more of a negative factor for birthing parents than non-birthing parents.
Triggers
What do I mean by triggers?
These are deal-breakers, of sorts. Elements of a movie that may render it unwatchable for some viewers. Examples: abuse, children, animals, self-harm.
I also include “neutral” triggers, which don’t hold a negative or positive value but may impact the viewer. These are mostly physical triggers like strobe lighting (can cause seizures) or shaky camera views (that trigger vertigo for some folks).
What I look for when it comes to triggers:
These terms actually have two values assigned.
- The first measures how egregious the trigger is compared to others. For example, kidnapping is assigned a lower number than child abuse.
- The second is a score of 1-5 that is based on the severity and prevalence of the term itself. Take an animal death, for example. If the movie implies rather than shows, the term is ranked lower.
The trigger value is capped so the number of triggers doesn’t drive up the score disproportionately. For example, if a viewer’s triggers are children and animals and the movie has both, the movie’s Horror Score isn’t double, if that makes sense.
Tone
What do I mean by tone?
Tone—or mood—has a lot to do with the movie’s atmosphere or outcome. How frenzied the action is or how bleak the ending, for example, will add to the score. Where a comedic atmosphere decreases the score.
What to look for when it comes to tone?
I generally consider the overall tone and the movie’s ending. Sometimes, the cinematography impacts the tone. I hate to say it, but it really comes down to the film’s vibe. What emotion does it evoke when watched?
Tone’s value
Out of all the Score factors, tone carries the least weight. Not all terms hold a positive or negative value; nor do they add up to a significant number. Their assigned numerical value, like triggers, is capped.
Accuracy
The resulting Horror Score isn’t a perfect science. There’s a preset formula that creates the Score, but I’ve built in an override in case the Score seems off.
I do compare Horror Scores across movies, and that’s usually where the adjustment comes in. For example, if Apex (one brutal scene) gets ranked higher than Hokum (multiple deaths that include animals plus non-stop intensity), I would adjust Apex’s Horror Score.
The Horror Score
These five components add up to an overall Horror Score, a spectrum of 1-100. And those numbers are divided into tiers.
- 0-20: these movies are safe for most viewers to watch and don’t have a ton of horror elements. Examples: Hocus Pocus, Imaginary, Poltergeist.
- 21-40: movies that you might recommend to a new horror lover or a tolerant horror hater. They’ve got some effective horror elements, but aren’t real gory. Examples: Final Destination, Hokum, Midnight Mass.
- 41-60: movies that most horror lovers enjoy, though the higher end might be too much for some. There’s likely a brutal aspect to them, but those moments aren’t prevalent throughout. Examples: Annihilation, Apex, The Crazies.
- 61-80: hardened horror fans only! These movies are often bloody or filled with unflinching, on-screen k*lls. Examples: 30 Days of Night, Evil Dead Rise, The Monkey.
- 81-100: this is the “why would you do this to yourself?” category. These movies have realistic gore, sometimes to the point of torture. Even some horror fanatics can’t tolerate these. Examples: Evil Dead Burn, Obsession, Martyrs.
How to Use the Horror Score
First, take the Horror Score quiz. It’ll ask you about your preferences when it comes to scares, intensity, gore, and triggers. These factors are what drives the Score itself.
The quiz also asks about monster preferences. These are not factored into the Score because they’re subjective: some people can’t tolerate clowns, for example, whereas others think they’re funny. This question only excludes certain films within your Score range.
Once you have your score, you can use it to find movies across the site’s functions!
