Well, yes, but you don't insist on drenching readers in pools of blood and unavoidable sticky splattering.
I've been guilty of an onslaught of gore in my horror writing on hive in the past, and it is nice to hear your perspective on this tbh as I know some of my horror has been too gruesome for your taste in the past.
Although I do think that a truly gory horror story can be a good expression of the genre myself, I agree with what you're saying that it can be even more effective when suggested rather than described. On two levels; those who are horror aficionados can populate the story from their imagination, and those who are put off by graphic gory description can enjoy it with the suggestion rather than the graphic.
Mostly though, I'm happy that the core idea of this story came across... the inescapable futility of suffering expressed through the dream and the cursed clock. It is a hard universe for a reader to accept, but as long as the core ideal is clear, it works as a story.
It is horrific on that level, and my love of reading and writing horror completely comes from a story that puts people right on the edge of (or even beyond) their comfort zone.
Maybe an acquired taste though 😉
This can be true of gore, and of sentiment. Often a light touch (letting the imagination work) is more effective.
And, the core idea was inescapable for any careful reader :)