After reading this thought piece, I can see where Severance has some horror elements in it. But the most horrific element of Severance is that it's marketed as a comedy.

A few of the people behind it have worked in comedy, most notably, Ben Stiller, who has producing and directing credits on Severance, and Adam Scott, the show's lead, known from Parks & Recreation, and Step Brothers.

Even though as someone here pointed out, that this is ultimately a mystery box show, the weirdness is what we're supposed to be making fun of (although in S2, the weirdness stops being fun and becomes scary). Also, it's a comedy because most people don't know what satire is. But really, this leads me to think of how comedy is used as a coping mechanism for dealing with the horrors of life, the pain, and esp. the fear and isolation the think piece talks about.