To me horror is building trust and familiarity, hinting just enough creeps overtime : to not ruin the climax but to build that state of insecurity, can think of it like playing a prank overtime and once they get accustom to one rhythm of yours, you add something unexpected. This goes for both slow building horror with all the red herrings you trick em with overtime and the fast paced "jump scare-ish" ones.
"Cheap Jumpscares" got a bad wrap because the creator sticks to a rinse and repeat formula. People grew accustomed to "the place goes immediately silent the mc is alone", they automatically suspect "something about to happen". This doesn't mean jump scares are bad, because the more creative ones sneak in tricks 1st (or red herrings) to win the reader's trust before, ultimately luring them into that unexpected jumpscare.
Horror is psychological ride for your reader, like a rollercoaster, trust and relatability in your MC and their surroundings, then eventually ripping it away, putting your reader an uncomfortable vulnerable position.
Understanding what makes people uncomfortable common phobias are useful.
Likewise, not everyone would be creeped out by the same phobias, because of their own personal lives eg. a Snake Charmer. But with your characters, you have the option to convince your viewers of their fears over the course of the story, so when they are facing the phobia it still becomes a gripping experience for your viewer.
The best horror isn't cartoonishly exaggerated, but the ones that feel closer to reality, there's a feeling that something is off (it puts the mind in panic because you're seeing 99% relatable while there's 1% of something that's just odd, and you can't immediately wrap your head around it .)
While my project spawned from an action-horror videogame idea, as a comic it went more for an action-fantasy-shonen combat aspect (as I also merged ideas from a fighting game idea I also had). Chose to keep genuine horror moments so one of the main characters (Owen) became a child while others around him display stylish confidence, he shows genuine vulnerability. Love writing with mystery and 'fear of the unknown' so those remain the backbone of the plot. As both a game idea and comic it focuses on individuals who are carriers of a virus, and anyone within a 30ft radius of them will instantly transform into monsters, so the MCs including Owen are an unwilling threat to others: The fear of having no self control over your action and harming other innocents.
Language to a degree, if its too stylish or artsy it just gets too a gothic-dark fantasy and loses the 'horror'.
Via foreshadowing.
Put yourself in the mindset of wanting to play a prank on your viewer, as mentioned before.
Red herrings to make them form other opinions of what the plot is about, to keep your plot from being predictable and create shocking moments when they are revealed to be false. Meanwhile hinting (foreshadowing) overtime is the way to keep something feeling believable in the setting and "avoid out of no where".
Hope that makes sense, as a fan of horror and silly pranks guess those are things that inspired me, if anything comes to mind again will return and update.
