Why Shock Value is Total Garbage in Horror

I have watched and heard of so many horror movies that purposefully used the technique known as 'shock value' to get their audience to watch their films. The manga above is definitely known for shock value concepts, but from what I have heard about this series online, this story uses crazy shocking moments in a way that is meaningful for the story it is trying to tell.

But there are other forms of horror media that is used for all the wrong reasons, such as only trying to freak out their audience as much as possible.

One example would have to be a comic book called Crossed. I have read and seen a lot of images of this comic book online, and I have to admit...this series is pretty disgusting and insane for all the wrong reasons. This comic is purposely written as shock value, and I struggle to even get through with reading the stories. One specific story that kind of annoyed the hell out of me involved a random young guy and his girlfriend that was invited to spend time with a rich fool that is apparently known for daring his guests to do the most insane and depraved things.

The rich guy loves to be known for shock value in his own way, and even the main dude in this story gets annoyed with this rich bastard. The main character's girlfriend apparently is totally fine with this environment, and the main character is obviously bothered by this. The rich fool has every guest play an acting role, that goes way too far over time in the comic.

The only one with a lick of common sense was the main character, and he is forced to play the loser in this group, as his girlfriend freely wants to get with any man or woman to appease to the rich guy, to show that she is enjoying playing her part as a promiscuous woman. I felt bad for the main character in the beginning when his girlfriend tried to defend her actions, but it was just all an excuse to cheat on him constantly, right in front of him, in the most diabolical ways.

The main character goes crazy, and decides to seek revenge, by having the Crossed monsters appear to the rich guy's mansion, getting everyone tortured and killed in the worst ways imaginable. The main character was also willing to get his own girlfriend, and become infected himself, to continue his own version of what shock value should actually be like, wanting to one up the rich guy for thinking he was such a 'shocking guy to be around.'

In other words, this comic was pretty stupid.

The plot was just so weird and not original whatsoever. I get that some rich people are crazy, but why did the main character choose to copy this guy?

To get away from the shock value concept, what if the main character decided to run away instead? If he was an actual good person, this dude could have just run away from the situation, knowing that the Crossed were going to show up to the property at some point. There was no point in staying anyway, because his girlfriend left him for a bunch of people, and everyone else in the story sucked. Instead of going for pure shock value throughout the entire comic book, the main character could have just gotten out of there, and the comic would have led to a warped lesson of what happens to people who act like complete assholes.

But the writers for this kind of comic book are known for only shock value concepts, so they purposely had the main dude go crazy, and get everyone killed while joining the infected.

Shock value should have a 'good punch' for the horror media when it comes to the story. I have seen so many great horror movies that use shock value in a way that mostly pisses me off, and it's a shame that so many horror movies would rather purposely shock their audience than present a good story.

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn