10 Horror Movies You Didn't Realise Stupidly Broke Their Own Rules
Horror movie plot holes that make no sense. Scream 3, Aliens & more!
More than most other film genres, horror tends to be defined by a series of rules, because how can audiences possibly be scared of what's to come if they don't first know precisely what's at stake?
Whether the antagonist is a masked killer, grotesque alien creature, or bloodthirsty animal, there needs to be clear rules established from the outset so that viewers can appreciate the gravity of what's going on.
But not all horror movies are created equal, and sometimes even good horror films end up breaking their "carefully" constructed rules, whether by accident or because the filmmakers simply hoped you wouldn't be observant enough to actually notice.
These 10 horror films, from bonafide, Oscar-winning genre classics to so-bad-it's-good duds with 0% on the Tomatometer, all took their own rules - some explicitly stated, others totally implied - and blatantly contradicted them.
There's no reason for it other than screenwriters getting a little lazy and hoping viewers would be swept up in the story regardless. While these acts of rule-breaking clearly didn't hurt many of the movies, they do poke massive holes in their overall logical throughline...
10. Pain Can End A Nightmare... But Only For Nancy - A Nightmare On Elm Street
The Rule
Early on in Wes Craven's original A Nightmare on Elm Street, it's established that protagonist Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) is able to wake herself up from a nightmare by burning herself on the hot pipe within it, the implication being that a searing, painful physical sensation is enough to break Freddy's (Robert Englund) hold over someone.
The Breaker
Basically the entire rest of the franchise contradicts this, because the pain of Freddy attacking and striking his victims should surely be enough to wake them from their nightmares, right?
Why does Tina (Amanda Wyss) suffer a horrifying, prolonged death at Freddy's hands without the possibility of escape while Nancy is able to easily free herself?
Elm Street has admittedly never professed to have a vice grip on its own internal logic, and this is evident from the jump. If you want to fudge an explanation you can perhaps suggest that the injury must be self-inflicted in order to escape, but it's a reach.