"sometimes doesn't". I gave myself wiggle room precisely for the few standouts. My experience of Frankenstein, though (if that's what you're talking about with

"sometimes doesn't". I gave myself wiggle room precisely for the few standouts. My experience of Frankenstein, though (if that's what you're talking about with Shelley) was that it was almost (almost!) entirely ineffective as horror, and is held up mainly by a couple of really good chapters that basically lacked anything horrific or frightening. If I'd approached the book without preconceptions I'd not have been likely to firmly categorize it as horror, I think. It's more like a Greek tragedy with a shifted setting (which is more than hinted at in the full title) and even the other members of that category that contain monsters aren't usually considered horror. I'd probably have placed Frankenstein outside of horror, as more of a Greek-mythology throwback tale, had I lacked the existing bias of "Frankenstein is a horror-genre thing".