10 Most Bizarre Horror Stereotypes

8. Mirror Mirror, On The Wall

Night of the Demons
Universal Pictures

Over the decades, horror hounds have been conditioned to think the worst of any and all mirrors seen throughout a movie. Of course, that's down to how this genre of cinema has frequently featured mirrors as a way to showcase certain terrors.

Alexandre Aja's Mirrors is a horror offering that needs no explanation on this front, but there are so, so many other pictures that utilise a mirror to beam out evil forces - whether those forces were seen by a movie's protagonists or solely shown to the watching audience.

Off the top of the head, you can think of An American Werewolf in London, Prince of Darkness, Phantasm, The Ring, What Lies Beneath, The Boogeyman and Flatliners as just a handful of examples of films which showcase a regular household mirror to drum up a scare.

Whether it's as a portal to another world, highlighting a sinister presence hiding in plain sight, or utilised for what turns out to be nothing more than a fake-out or jump scare, these devices designed for vanity have been demonised by the horror genre.

To this day, horror movies have typecast the mirror, mirror, on the wall as a conduit for pure, unadulterated evil.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.