20 Things Horror Movies NEED To Stop Doing

It's a tale as old as time itself, that when just about any horror property gets long enough in the tooth, somebody's going to decide that it's time to drop the veil of mystery and reveal the origins of the monster or serial killer.

Though a villainous backstory can enhance the terror, it's far more common for an origin story to demystify the antagonist to their detriment, only making them less scary as a result.

An especially egregious recent example is The Strangers - Chapter 2, which provided a totally unasked-for backstory to two of its masked killers, in turn undermining the entire "anonymous killer" concept at the heart of the franchise.

Then there's Black Phone 2, which needlessly delved into the young life of The Grabber (Ethan Hawke), largely in order to reveal a contrived link between him and the franchise's young protagonists. 

Much as many modern moviegoers seem obsessed with "lore," there's nothing wrong with presenting a villain whose backstory remains a mystery and whose motivations are opaque. 

Basically, there's a good reason that the recent Halloween movies tossed out the ludicrous Michael Myers lore of the other sequels and reverted him to an ambiguous blank slate on which viewers could project their own fears.