Storylines in horror movies have taken a brutal beating throughout the years, experiencing severe challenges while attempting to factor in creativity. John Carpenter’s Halloween helped to cultivate the final girl cliché fans of the genre have been long subjected to, but did it well with psychological and emotional development. Viewers were able to look into the perplexing backstory of Michael Myers and pick up on his occasional emotional ties to sister Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis, in Halloween, was technically his sister in many of the films), specifically through the end of Halloween (‘78) and Halloween 2. It’s in these two films (and the Rob Zombie movies) where Michael possesses such rage towards his own blood that he needs to murder Laurie but somehow never finishes the job.
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Unfortunately, many horror movies use the ‘final girl’ and other tropes with much less emotional and psychological poignancy. The origins of clichés could possibly come from the comfort in the familiar, or the difficulty in coming up with fresh ideas, but what is undeniable is the lack of suspense they create in scary movies because of how predictable they make them. Let go of the age-old clichés everyone has seen a billion times, and something different might actually come about for once (as in the new era of ’elevated horror’). Productions thrive when they move far away from what is considered the conventional formula of storytelling and have fun; audience members can sense the difference between an innovative film and one which uses the unoriginal crutch of clichés. Here’s how scary movies can actually do it right by avoiding these following horror clichés.
Completely Scrap The “Car Can’t Start, Just As The Villain Approaches” Buildup
MGM
Friday the 13th Part 2, Leprechaun, and Mother’s Day are among the many supposedly scary movies which feature this frustrating cliché. Just when a character needs their car to start, it out of the blue breaks down (via dead battery or empty tank). This triggers a moment where the stupid car unexpectedly quits just as the character(s) needs to escape from the murderer, evoking a split second of so-called sheer panic in this horribly overused cliche.
The moment in Jeepers Creepers where Darry (Justin Long) and his sister Trish (Gina Phillips) are trying to start their truck that quit on them (big surprise) is really the most frightening creation of this cliché to date. As Trish and Darry are desperately attempting to drive away, the Creeper creature (Victor Salva) is in the middle of feeding on the tongue of a decapitated head. Not only is this super gross, but it’s also indicative of the Creeper’s confidence in getting to the two just in time. Clichés in scary movies are trite and banal, but sometimes horror does it well.
Make Phone Charger Cameos A Recurring Thing
Dimension Films
Because if viewers ever needed a time to remind them to keep their phones on a nearby charger, scary movies are the most effective way to scare them straight. Despite the fact that phone connections are much better in the 21st century than they have ever been (5g is here and thriving, people), scary movies have no problem with promoting the dead battery rhetoric. Case in point, Drag Me to Hell (which has great fun with the idea of cliché) features the phone dying just as a demonic entity stops at the door where Christine (Alison Lohman) is hiding. Charging one’s phone always indicates a stronger chance of survival.
Whether it’s having no signal (The Hills Have Eyes remake, The Human Centipede) or just dead batteries (Siren, The Roost), phones seem to always stop working in scary movies. Even Get Out, probably the most famous horror movie of the past decade, made a point to frequently mention its protagonist’s always-unplugged battery charger. At least the characters were smart in Cloverfield, taking a break in the middle of the monster attack to stop by an electrics store and get a charge. Now that’s subverting a cliché.
Viewers Are Over The “Based On A True Story” Lie
Warner Brothers
The Exorcist (1973), The Amityville Horror (2005), The Conjuring and even Child’s Play were all allegedly based on a series of real life occurrences. Although some plot-lines have become more fabricated than others, the ‘based on a true story’ cliché in scary isn’t the problem itself. It’s authentically creepy to think about how horror movies are based on true events, however this can sometimes be portrayed manipulatively by producers to use real-life horrors on screen for the sole purpose of increased promotional responses and ultimately growth in box office sales.
It’s also sometimes a downright lie. The coverage behind The Conjuring franchise has been meant to tie a series of isolated tragedies to the film as an attempt to invoke fear in its viewers. Once viewers figure out the supposedly ’true’ story is not true whatsoever, the whole thing feels like a cliché con job; plus, there could be some serious therapy and legal bills production studios should reimburse through litigation (only half kidding). The supposedly ‘based on a true story’ buildup used to invoke fear and panic often don’t actually derive from real-life occurrences but are instead, at best, loosely based. Audiences are mostly wise to this in scary movies by now, and tired of the lie.
Possessed Dolls, So 90s
Please stop making children’s dolls into brutal serial killers for scary movies; it’s not cool. Viewers see this representation of child-like villains again and again, from early Twilight Zone episodes to the eight Child’s Play movies, Dead Silence, Dolls, Puppet Master, Annabelle, and many more; no disrespect to Annabelle, because she is actually a real doll stored in a glass box and can probably break out at anytime, so don’t come for us, Annabelle.
It’s ominous because, although these scary movies aren’t geared directly towards kids, they incorporate children-inspired figures, turning them into psychopathic and monstrous killers that are both heartless and vicious. It’s some weird cognitive dissonance, but, the whole possessed doll storyline in horror movies has become severely old and outdated by now. There’s only so much you can do with it in scary movies, and it’s been done.
