10 Tricks Horror Movies Use To Scare You

The trope-heavy nature of many horrors means that we can fall into a boring pattern. We know when to expect the jump-scares, how to pick apart the clues that give away the ending or the twist, we feel like we know every beat of what is going to happen sometimes.

This is why when a film comes along that genuinely shocks us, it can renew the sense of fear that has been dulled by all the blunt horror plots that came before. And if it can keep the momentum of shock after shock, we can ride through the movie on a high wave of tension and nerves.

It is an unfortunate side effect of horrors propensity for 'paying homage' (which half the time means copying) that many of the first films to do something revolutionary have lost their sting, but we have to give them some credit for first introducing a truly expected twist even if it has since been bastardised.

We’ve had Psycho and Scream kill our (supposedly) leading ladies, Carnival Of Souls pull off the now classic ‘but she was dead all along’ gimmick, all sorts of game-changing shocks that left audiences wondering what would possibly happen next. It’s safe to say that if you can completely pull the rug from under an audience, they’re placed on unfamiliar ground that breeds uncertainty and unease.