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Oct 2018

Hi!

I am at the moment planning out a horror themed adventure for my comic Magic Advisor: https://tapas.io/series/magicadvisor6 (Check it out if you like silly fantasy/ comedy stories with some lesbian romance) :wink:

I want to include and make fun of some typical horror movie / story cliches. I got the whole bigger story planned but I would love it if you could all say some cliches you think are really typical. It would be interesting to know which ones come up the most so it is not just inspired by my experiences with horror :slight_smile:

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    Oct '18
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    Dec '18
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tripping leads to falling down during a chase, never a stumble

  • Jumpscare fakeouts instead of tension
  • Conventionally scary atmosphere (like a hospital, dark mansion, abandoned house in the middle of the forest)
  • Archetypes - the jock, the dumb blonde, the smart one, etc. (watch Cabin in the Woods!)
  • The sacrifice
  • PLOT TWIST!!!!!
  • Normal people with scaaary makeup
  • Terrible CGI that actually ends up looking terrifying
  • "purge" button - button that determines whether everything will go into chaos or become right again (Cabin in the Woods)
  • Awkward sexy scene
  • The main characters are a blonde girl and her jock boyfriend

the car not working at the worst time XD (sorry had another one)

Obvious signs of "Do not enter/trespass" "Danger" "Not safe" that are ignored because people can't read and go through anyway.

I've watched lots of horror short movies and most of them follows the same pattern:

  • Always at night
  • No one has the goddamn light of the room on (most use the table lamp), or don't turn it on, to search for whatever monster/ghost/psycho is there/next room
  • Pizza guy go to an abandoned house and tries to get in to deliver the pizza to a killer (or even a normal house where there are ghosts/monsters)
  • The screaming girl
  • Something grabbing someone's foot
  • Haunted objects
  • No one seems to try to move out from a haunted house
  • The black screen/cut when the said ghost appears
  • Oblivious characters, mostly adults
  • The girl taking shower and something grabs her

Forgot to say, also check the webtoon Witch Creek Road (on line webtoob). I feel like the author got inspired by those cliches and Cabin in the woods lol

Never open a medicine cabinet ... something always sneaks behind you and you see it when you close the mirrored door.

The very last seconds of the film where the monster/killer reappears again to confirm another sequel.

^ Or when you wash your face and look up :sob::joy:

Also, characters who enter clearly dangerous/haunted places, usually alone, and yell out “Hello?” You know they’re about to die.

Sorry, i'm not hearing to list mine, but i'm planning a Romance/Horror webcomic as a next project and was curious about the others' cliches lol
Bet every horror comic creators are deeply staring at this topic right now :joy:

Horror Cliches

Oh no! There no cell service here... I guess we better split up! Wait, what was that noise? Better call out my friends/family's name and say "come on. its not funny".

(Sees first dead body of the token minority character. Runs away screaming)

Were safe now so lets bang because were horny teens.

(Everybody dies except the virgin)

(The virgin kills the slasher/monster)

(Movie ends with slasher/monster opening eye at the last shot confirming slasher/monster is still alive)

I just need to point this out, I'm not sure if it falls under a cliche but, the killer in slash films and such have "magical teleportation" powers. One minute they are outside the house behind a character (seen through a window or something) and the next minute they are in the house about 5 feet behind their victim.

A character screaming as the scary figure is heading towards them and they wait until the last possible moment to run away and end up caught by their pursuer.

those are the top two that come to mind.

  • The dumb protagonist.
    No horror movie would be the same if the protagonist had a little more piece of brain, even it would never be one. If it said "Do not enter" then do not, if the place is haunted then go away, if playing in the wood at night is dangerous then don't do it, case closed.
  • All the ghosts have poor communication skill
    Do you really think scaring and terrorizing people will make them help you? Like come on, you can use your supernatural power to write a very nice letter instead of destroying furniture.
  • Most ends in cliffhanger
    Usually about the bad guy who was seemingly defeated rise back, or a new evil rising
  • The bad guys always have extra HP endurance or something
    While it's okay if said bad guy is a supernatural force, sometimes it irks me when it's fellow human. Like the victim dies by one stab in stomach, but this bastard was stabbed thrice in the chest and shot but still make it to the post credit scene.
  • That character who doesn't believe in ghost/ serial killer and always be an asshole because of it, then they act rash and got killed first
  • Minority character will usually die first (most likely black character) or become some magical aid like shaman or some stuff.
  • Slasher horror movie set in America but no one has gun to defend themselves (Ironically the killer is not wielding firearms)
    I'm not 'Murican but that doesn't sound right, like they said you can buy gun in Walmart, right?
  • Chainsaw as a weapon
    They never ran out of fuel and very lightweight, apparently... Such a practical weapon, yeah.

I swear these gave me the strangest feeling... but I'll add my own:

  • cool machete
  • ghost haunts people because they were murdered
  • it's always an asian girl for some reason
  • if the ghost is a woman, it probably has to do with her abuse/ rape that led her to that moment
  • stupid/ dead parents

everyone suddenly becomes sherlock holmes when they hear a noise or see a shadow

  • Visiting an area (for vacation) that doesn't have emergency staff or police readily available.

  • TURNING YOUR BACK ON THE KILLER JUST BECAUSE YOU STABBED THEM ONCE AND THEY FELL DOWN.

  • All of the adults are useless. No one thinks to go to any of them because they're just that useless. (only exception would have to be if the evil is influencing the adults and making them not care, like in Stephen King's IT)

  • Everyone who shows even an ounce of sexuality is murdered. Because apparently having sex before marriage will get you killed.

  • Token Minority always dies first. And if they don't die in the first movie, they die in the sequel.

  • Who is locking all of these doors?!

  • Why does no one have their phones charged?!

We seem to be focusing rather heavily on slasher stories. That's good but a little restrictive of us. There are other types.

Body Horror cliche: scenes of a character staring into a mirror, trying to understand what he or she is becoming.

Cosmic Horror cliche: The thing which is too strange to be described with human words.

Psychological horror: The killer gets foiled by his or her own flaws, like bursting out a confession suddenly in an Edgar Allen Poe story.

Ghost Story cliche: The protagonist or narrator, as we learn on the last page, was dead all along.

I rather like all of these despite how they are cliches.

One specific for ghost/haunting horrors (usually cheap B movie, but some big ones have done it too, by people, who haven't done even five minutes of research):
The creepy manor/house/castle set in some quaint, sleepy, rural European town. The house is haunted. They manage to commune with the spirit/demon or research lots and discover the reason for the haunting is... someone was killed here.
That's it. Like, 90% of Europe has been a battlefield at one point or another. Most towns are reaaaaally old. My school was built on a destroyed in battle Roman fort. You can go to some places in Europe and they put on a shameful tone as they explain unfortunately this building only dates back to the 1200s. Lots of dead people. Lots of murdered people.
I'm told this is a culture thing, since it's most often American writers writing places they've never been, and that most American towns are newer by a lot so they don't have this desensitization to this stuff but if everyone someone died unnaturally was haunted Europe would be overrun with ghosts. (Maybe we are and just don't realize...)

And history and research and culture aside please come up with a better reason that "someone was murdered" please.

More positively, I'm super fond of the "turn around and nothing was there" trope. It turns up in like every even vaguely spooky thing I've ever written. Love that one. Especially if nothing is constantly there. Not just the glance back and nothings there but then it turns up. Constantly nothing there. But something is. But you can't see it. Tension, you know.