User blog comment:Creeper50/Blood Color Makes a Difference/@comment-26475800-20170129001432

There is a good number, if not most, of my stories that don't talk about blood at all. In fact, I've written more horror stories that omit blood completely, more so than the ones that have blood. Blood is not needed for a story to be creepy.

As for what color the blood should be, I disagree with your examples whole-heartedly. When someone bleeds a lot, the blood would be darker. If it's just a scratch or something along those lines, it wouldn't be as dark, because there's a lot less of it coming out. So a rose red blood, would be good for a scratch and deep red is better for a puddle of blood. Also, you used oxblood to describe blood. That's saying "the blood looked like blood". It doesn't help the person to see what is happening at all.

On top of that, yes, you can describe the blood. But for the most part, if someone is bleeding you can just they were bleeding. Unless, of course, if their blood is a different color than it normally would be. Like oozing green blood, or pus yellow blood leaking from their eyes. Something along those lines, it would be more important to say what the blood looks like.