The research is devoted to those features of Leonid Andreev's oeuvre, which tie him with the tradition of horror fiction. The aim of the work is not only to determine the place of Andreev in the genre history, but to define specific literary techniques and devices, which the writer uses to infuse the climate of fear and suspense to his writings. Specific function of Andreev's color-writing, the role of suspense in the narrative development, the motives and characters, referring to the canons of the horror fiction genre are probed in this work. To illustrate those, his short novellas "Eleazar", "Through haze" and the novellette "Scarlet laughter" are studied. The article will be useful to those, who study Andreev's prose and wants to expand the boundaries of the previously studied factors, which influenced his works, as well as to those, who take interest in the history and the peculiarities of the horror fiction in the Russian and foreign literature.
