After mentioning that I am a fan of horror flicks, a friend asked why I thought people liked such films. I said I wasn't sure but that I assumed people liked them for all sorts of reasons. People are different and what they find appealing about horror films varies from fan to fan. I'm sure there are some common reasons but few we could consider universal. "Fair enough," she said, "why do you like them so much?" This should be a much easier question, but it was more difficult to answer than I thought it would be.
Part of what makes the question challenging is that I don't like all or even most of them. There are subgenres within horror I don't care for, though there are exceptions. I don't usually like films described as "torture porn," but there have been a few I have found worthwhile (e.g., Audition). I mention this because the reasons I like one horror subgenre might have little to do with why I like another. For some, the appeal is the special effects or the cinematography. For others, it is the plot and character development. It makes it tough to answer the question in a general sense, but I'll do so anyway.