By JUSTIN REESE – When done properly, a horror movie can be one of the most invigorating, exhilarating, and thrilling experiences one can have. Unfortunately, most audience members have seen the same horror movie cliches over and over again, making these “thrilling movies” not so thrilling.
From classic thrillers such as Scream, The Ring, and The Shining, all the way to the recently produced horror movies like IT, all include these stale cliches. Whether it be the mundane splitting of the group or the infamous car stalling, all of these and more are horror movie cliches to look out for during the next trip to the movie theater.
The most common of cliches being the very predictable, splitting up the group. This is the common Scooby-Doo type cliche. The group is completely unharmed but someone had the great idea to split up the group because obviously, pairs of people are much stronger than a large group of people. Sophomore Tyler Pruitt thinks, “It shows a lack of creativity in writing. Writers should really push the limits of premise and conflict to find something that fits our generation now, not the 70’s.”
Perfect, the protagonists have finally made it to the car and are ready to get away from the scary murderer. Time to drive away, right? Oh wait, the car battery is dead, the tires are slashed, the brakes have been cut, and the car is out of gas. When hasn’t this corny cliché been used? This cliche isn’t exclusively used in horror movies, it’s also used in many genres such as comedy.
Apparently, technology isn’t as great as it was thought to be. Of all times for a car to break down, being chased down by a murderer isn’t the most ideal position. Freshman Hannah Reilly thinks this ruins the movie saying, “The car stalling is overused and it doesn’t provide any suspense because most people can already predict what can happen from seeing other movies.”
Those who have watched any horror movie have witnessed a protagonist walk into the room everyone knows not to go in. The dramatic irony of these situations is just plain old and unoriginal. Freshman Kaitlyn Marshall states, “That it is overused, but it honestly depends on how the plot of the film is conducted and interpreted. If it’s a well-made film and the cliche is done tastefully, then I think it’s okay.”
It is commonly seen that horror movies are chock-full of corny, overused, unoriginal, and mundane cliches that, for some students, can ruin a film. Even though these cliches may be predictable, they don’t completely ruin these movies and a good horror flick can still make for a great Halloween experience.
[Photo by Justin Reese]
Photo Caption: “Junior Marie Marcoline gets into the spirit of Halloween while watching Stephen King’s IT.”
