10 Annoying Movie Tropes That Can Ruin A Horror Movie
Phone not working? Car not starting? Who isn't tired of these cliches?
What’s a horror movie without tropes? The subgenre is built on a standard set of rules that it seemingly needs to follow to even be considered part of the arena in the first place.
The genre thrives on doing what it says on the tin, needing to adhere to those rules to satisfy its audience. After all, who wants to see a vampire movie without some bloodletting? Well… then you get Twilight. But that’s a whole other kettle of fish; a kettle that is definitely not horror.
On the other hand, the horror genre has been around almost as long as cinema itself, so clichéd tropes are plentiful. When used with all the excitement of ticking off a checklist, they’re never welcome. Tropes can also be a sign of lazy writing, often used to fill plot holes or conjure a scare by copying movies that did it better, and then watering down the trope as a result.
There’s no quicker way to sour an audience than hitting them with the same cliche they’ve seen a billion times ad nauseam, or draining sympathy for the surviving characters by making them behave stupidly.
Simply put, some things have outstayed their welcome.
10. Uncharged Phones/No Signal
Oh, how modern tech has evaporated the fear of isolation. Up until the late ’90s, horror movies could easily strand characters without a payphone nearby, and the lack of contact with the police didn’t need much explanation, as shown in the likes of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes.
However, pesky mobile phones pretty much solved that problem in real life. Stranded in the middle of the desert with some creepy hillbillies eyeing you like you belong on a spit? Just pull out your phone and call 911 - problem solved.
So now, for the past two decades, we’ve had the obligatory scene where a group of teens is stranded in the woods, and everyone checks their mobile phones. Coincidentally, no one remembered to charge their batteries, bring a power bank, has a signal, or data roaming; you get the picture.
We live in a society where most young people are plugged into something at all times, and the dread of being disconnected - even briefly from Instagram - is more terrifying than a maniac wielding a chainsaw, so you better believe they have some sort of back-up plan.
It’s a tough pill to swallow for modern audiences, and one that needs to be remedied with at least some form of creativity.