There are several factors. First, the isolation of the room. It's just one room, and the character is cut off from the outside world. Second, the psychological aspect. The main character's mind is constantly being toyed with. The room makes him question his own sanity. Third, the ever - changing nature of the horror. It's not a static situation but a constantly evolving nightmare that keeps the reader on edge throughout the story.
The idea of being trapped in a small room with an inescapable horror. You can't just run away easily.
For his scariest novels like 'It', the fear of the unknown is a big factor. We don't fully understand the true nature of It. Also, the vulnerability of the children characters makes it scarier as we naturally want to protect the young. And the fact that It can be anywhere, hidden in the sewers or disguised as something friendly, is truly terrifying.
In 'The Shining', the setting plays a huge role. The large, empty, and haunted hotel. The long corridors and the feeling that something is always watching. Also, Jack's transformation from a normal father and husband to a crazed killer adds to the horror. It shows how isolation and the power of the hotel's evil can break a person.
The unknown nature of the threat in the water. It's just a black, shapeless thing that attacks them. You don't really know what it is, and that's really scary.
It's a combination of things. First, rats are often associated with dirt and disease, so just the idea of them is off - putting. In the 'Rats Story', Stephen King also makes them very aggressive. They don't just scurry away; they actively hunt people. And the way he describes their appearance, their beady eyes and sharp teeth, really adds to the terror. Also, the fact that they can be everywhere, in the walls, under the floors, makes it seem like there's no escape from them.
The unknown. We don't really know what the Boogeyman is exactly, and that's what makes it so scary.
For many of his scariest stories, it's the way he taps into our deepest fears. Like in 'It', the fear of the unknown and of things that go bump in the night. He also creates really vivid and disturbing characters. In 'The Shining', Jack Torrance's transformation is both believable and horrifying.
King's use of setting. He often sets the story in normal, relatable places like a family home. So it makes us think that such a horror could happen anywhere. For instance, a child's bedroom which is supposed to be a safe place but in the story becomes a place of terror.
The goriest short Stephen King horror stories are terrifying because they tap into our deepest fears. The gore is a way to shock the reader into a state of unease. In 'Survivor Type', the extreme gore of self - harm and cannibalism makes us confront our own mortality and the limits of human behavior. In 'The Mangler', the gory scenes of people being mangled by a machine play on our fear of industrial accidents and things out of our control. King also uses the gore to build an atmosphere of horror that is hard to shake off. His descriptions are so detailed that it's as if we are witnessing the gory events ourselves, which is truly terrifying.
The psychological depth. Stephen King has a knack for getting into the minds of his characters. In his scariest short stories, he often explores the darkest corners of the human psyche. For example, in 'The Mist', the fear of the unknown and the breakdown of society under extreme circumstances play on our deepest insecurities.
The psychological aspect. He gets into the minds of his characters, both the victims and the 'terrorists'. This makes it feel very real and relatable.