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Author: Scorpion451

Jun 29th 2014 at 1:26:55 PM

I think this is a case of several people saying the same thing in several different ways:

*What nemurumaeni is saying: Blood is not always played for horror.
**Very true. Most {{Action Survivor}}s end up with at least a little battle damage, and surgery doesn't ''have'' to be played as horror. This trope, however, covers cases where it ''is'' explicitly played for horror- its all about the context. I also agree that BloodSpatteredInnocents and CouldntFindAPen are without a doubt {{Subtrope}}s of this one.
*What dan004 is saying: Blood is a PrimalFear.
**Even a jaded ER surgeon used to seeing blood constantly is going to find the Shining's elevator full of blood at least a ''little'' bit disturbing, because ''it simply isn't right''.
*What xanderiskander is saying: If a work goes out of its way to involve blood when it doesn't have to, it's probably playing it for horror.
**Agree, this is one of those "You know it when you see it" tropes, but there ''is'' middle ground- FirstBlood in a fight sequence, any of the StandardBleedingSpots,a [[OnlyAFleshWound flesh wound]] with a bloody bandage over it, or the state that an ActionSurvivor usually ends up in would not be this trope. Again, its all about context.

Also, make sure you keep the distiction between {{Horror}} and played for fear- clowns can be played for fear, but a MonsterClown is horror. If something is Horror, its inherently disturbing, with no room for YMMV.