Well this is more about Dystopian fiction which is rarely terrifying. I think bleak visions and grim conditions in fiction are satisfying though. I know that wh

Well this is more about Dystopian fiction which is rarely terrifying. I think bleak visions and grim conditions in fiction are satisfying though. I know that whenever I read 1984 I find the very grimness of Winston's life gives me pleasure. The framing of his discussions with O'Brien in the context of torture also is very satisfying. To people who don't read fiction this sounds like sadism but that is not the case. There may be a small pleasure in the simple fact that it is not we ourselves that suffer ("do it to Julia!") but I think that is marginal. More important is the powerful resistance such a world presents to the character which gives it an intense reality and that reality being immersive is the pleasure as it focuses the whole mind on the meaning of what is shown. About actual terror and horror Thomas Ligotti makes some interesting points about this and principally views it as a way of dealing with the actual horror of life which is all too real.