...is to get the audience to CARE about the characters
on the screen before they become victims or near-victims.

Anybody disagree?

In my best Ed McMahon voice, "You are correct Sir!"

Good example, Jaws. Spielberg said that after reading the book he wanted the shark to win because all the characters were assholes. When he helped write the script he made a point of making the characters likable. Hence, no Mrs Brody and Hooper affair. Hence, the great Indianapolis speech which explained Quint's hatred for sharks AND made him sympathetic.

None of the sequels did this.

Also, to really grab the audience, put a cute animal in jeopardy of death.

The part of John Carpenter's The Thing that chilled me to the bone was the dog got it.

The dog always gets it

I dunno. I didn't particularly like Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween, but that's imo the best horror flick of all time.

I've only seen one really effective horror film death where I really didn't care about the character.