Your most hated horror tropes/cliches

[Prizmik]

Hello everybody, I hope all are doing not bad.


Be it written stories, films or games, horror themed media is of great interest to me. However some elements that appear in such media make me annoyed rather than scared.


I would like to share three of my most disliked horror tropes and clichés to start with and hear what are yours.


These can be from any media. Please add explanations for why you dislike the things you mention.


I will start:


Things smiling at you: Mostly found in RM horror games and creepypasta. This is an extremely common cliché used in an attempt to make a monster scary. I always found this tactic to fail at its aim completely, as a recognizable, relatable emotion in the monster sooner evokes hatred than any other feeling.


Serial killers: Usually used as the main horror hook in lots of different media. The campy way they are used and the sheer silliness of them is not only missing the true terror in psychopathy, but also confuses the very discussion of horror, with tales of terror. I am not saying serial killers are not scary, but I am saying that they are almost always a terrible pick for horror.


Younger people as protagonists: Be they killed in the end of the story or not, the large trend of setting certain horror scenarios with children, teens or young adult characters as main characters is a dreadful idea. At worst, it inadvertently renders horror as a thing of youth, something that young people have to deal with or grow out of and not a universal, needless to say this defeats the very notion of horror.

 

[Bloodmorphed]

Over Excessive Jump Scares. What I mean by this is, jump scares are fine. However using them so much that it loses its meaning is not okay. In a game that would last about an hour 4-5 jump scares is probably something I'd be okay with. No 1 every other minute.

 

[Matseb2611]

I definitely agree on teenage protagonists. It's so overdone. Whenever I watched any horror films like that, I often rooted for the villain, because the protagonists were so unlikeable.

Some horror cliches I dislike:

Creepy children. Way too many horror films have overkilled this trope. Whether it's the child ghosts, or kids which talk to ghosts, or some other stuff. It's no longer original in any shape or form.

Pointless jump scares. You know those times when a protagonist goes to look for clues in some dark area only to be startled by a cat. I hate those. They do not add to the horror at all.

Edit: Just thought of another one.

Unrealistic Inconveniences. Like you know, a phone line suddenly goes down at the exact second the protagonist tries to call for help or some other unlikely coincidences like that.

 

[optimum45]

I will only add that when a "good guy" makes a really, really stupid decision, then I root for their death.

Horror only works for me if it's something I can't break down.  If someone makes a bad choice that leads to their own demise somehow (i.e. hiding behind the chainsaws) then I expect it, and it's not going to work.

I find that a genuinely terrifying bad guy is one that will out-wit you anyway, even if you don't make any mistakes.  You're just doomed.

 

[Prizmik]

Over Excessive Jump Scares. What I mean by this is, jump scares are fine. However using them so much that it loses its meaning is not okay. In a game that would last about an hour 4-5 jump scares is probably something I'd be okay with. No 1 every other minute.

Jumpscares do not scare, only startle. They do nothing for the horror, the fewer you have the better. Having more than one would be pushing it.

Creepy children. Way too many horror films have overkilled this trope. Whether it's the child ghosts, or kids which talk to ghosts, or some other stuff. It's no longer original in any shape or form.

Could not agree more, can not stand the creepy children thing. If the "monster" is something you can trample running its probably a bad idea to use it. There is at least one film that used it well, that being "The Ring" (American remake), but that's probably because you barely get to see her.

I will only add that when a "good guy" makes a really, really stupid decision, then I root for their death.


Horror only works for me if it's something I can't break down. If someone makes a bad choice that leads to their own demise somehow (i.e. hiding behind the chainsaws) then I expect it, and it's not going to work.


I find that a genuinely terrifying bad guy is one that will out-wit you anyway, even if you don't make any mistakes. You're just doomed.

If the horror story gets into a pattern of, misdeed and punishment, it is bad horror (if horror at all). Because simply put, bad or stupid deeds are being punished. That is the reverse of horror, its a universe that is fundamentally just, rewards good people and punishes the bad. This should be avoided in horror.

 

[Warpmind]

The big, dumb, brutish monster suddenly starts acting in a cunning manner for no reason OR the cunning, sneaky monster suddenly starts doing immensely dumb things for no reason. Those really grind my gears. The sneaky, cunning monster getting flustered because the protagonists somehow figure out his game and start circumventing his moves, that's fine, but the horrible intellect suddenly suffering brain damage for no reason is right out.

Also, "the black guy dies first", "the blonde dies first", or Narrative forbid, "they have sex and die immediately afterward" need to go. Those have gone from trope to cliché to "quit flogging the horse, it's dead" long ago...

 

[Bastrophian]

Only everything in this LP

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4AGxpiX2l8s

(love cup quake...but this game is NOT scary...).

 

[Wavelength]

Jump scares.  Any jump scares.  Any sudden movements or loud noises.  Because they do startle me, which makes me enjoy a work less and they don't add anything whatsoever to it.

Graveyards.  These are supposed to be a quiet, reflective, peaceful, and sad place and to me it's way at odds with the way it's usually presented in horror (as a place where bad things happen).  It could be unsettling in a good way to have certain psychological creepiness take place in a graveyard, but I can't think of a time I've seen it done in a way that I approve.

Finding bodies, especially mutilated or grotesque ones.  I generally hate death as a theme and hate it even more as a gimmick, but this device takes it to a whole new level for me.  I don't think the use of dead bodies is scary, I think it's disgusting, distracting, and disrespectful.

For me, horror that "works" is the type that gives you the sense something is wrong ("why is this hospital abandoned?"), or mysterious ("these panicked letters I found sound like lunacy; what were they writing about?") or concerning ("why is this girl so emotionally scarred?"), or brings up a theme that's unsettling to think about ("how long would my free will last if I were tortured?"), and leaves you the psychological space to let your mind play with what and why.

Twilight Zone did this pretty well, and is probably the most impactful horror I can name in my limited purview.  Game of Thrones does it really effectively at times, even when it's just trying to set up suspense.  Even a relatively tame series like Harry Potter can deliver effective horror at times; it botched an attempt at horror somewhat in the climax of the fourth book (too many spoilers to name the sequence), but nails it in the first half of the Ministry of Magic sequence in the fifth book.

 

[The Stranger]

Teenage protagonists overcome an eldritch evil. This always irks me. As does teenagers going to a lake, cabin in the woods, or some other isolated area to be picked off one by one by something or another.

I like horrors in which the horror is not defeated or overcome, leaving the audience unsettled because things have not returned to normal. I want to feel disturbed, horrified, and scared at the end of a horror film\game\book.

 

[lemongreen]

I'd like to list a few:

Creepy dolls, may go with children, but there seems to be a lot of them used lately and it's getting annoying.

I know they've already been mentioned (multiple times... it's just that much of a problem, I guess), but just jump scares in general; they either annoy me or give me a headache.

Random chase sequences (especially when dashing is disabled)

Gore... just gore. Yes, it's unsettling, but it's also extremely disgusting (especially when it's just everywhere)

Mythos that makes no sense (not really the worst problem with horror, but if you haven't thought the background completely through maybe it's best to just leave it open-ended)

Fridge logic puzzles (I'm not quite sure if that's the correct term, but horror games sure do like to run on them)

Story ends with things returning to normal. These kinds of "horror" stories annoy me to no end; these character went through trauma, escaped "evil" and just... went on with their regular life? 

With that is the "sequel bait" endings where even if the protagonists beat the antagonist (usually a psycho or demon) there's some sign given in the ending that the antagonist isn't actually beaten just so the story can continue. (this doesn't count the "Evil Dead" movies or any other series where one "evil" is defeated to only bring about another) 

I'm going to stop there (I could probably think of tons more)    

 

[Rachelsaurus]

The protagonist has lost their memory. Not really hated, I just think it's quite over used. "[name] wakes up with no memory of their past" seems to be something I'm reading quite a lot.

 

[Dark Horseman]

Horror game devolving into action game with dramatic, large last boss (refer to any resident evil). All enemies being killable or very easy; Silent Hill: The Room scared the **** out of me with its immortal ghosts.

RM games in particular? New sound effects go such a long way because the currernt ones have no dread in them. The menu sounds make me feel like I'm playing Puzzle Fighter or something.

 

[markjacks]

Only everything in this LP

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4AGxpiX2l8s

(love cup quake...but this game is NOT scary...).

Good one!

 

[GrandmaDeb]

Yeah, not much of a horror fan. But I do hate


creepy children


creepy dolls/toys


body parts falling off


I mean, there's thinking man's horror and there's scare my girlfriend on a cheep first date horror, and everything in between, I guess.


I still get the creeps from the original "Don't be afraid of the dark."


/me shivers

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

All these dislikes makes me wonder people *love* about horror.

I like psychological horror.

 

[Warpmind]

Basically, I think a large part of the horror problem is that the genre has become largely too predictable and reliant on cheap jump scares to elicit responses.
There're still a few little gems popping up where they've figured out that the most effective horror is based on what you CAN'T see, ass opposed to the Big Scary Things that jump out and eat your face...

 

[Clord]

I don't really "hate" story elements but something silly happens often in the horror genre when it comes to the high budget Hollywood movies.


Constant "fake jumpscares" like character suddenly appearing during daytime as attempt to make you suspect certain people as the "real killers." Especially when it's an obvious baiting to try make you think that they are the killers and then a story "reveals" that they are not.

 

[Bloodmorphed]

Jumpscares do not scare, only startle. They do nothing for the horror, the fewer you have the better. Having more than one would be pushing it.

Could not agree more, can not stand the creepy children thing. If the "monster" is something you can trample running its probably a bad idea to use it. There is at least one film that used it well, that being "The Ring" (American remake), but that's probably because you barely get to see her.

If the horror story gets into a pattern of, misdeed and punishment, it is bad horror (if horror at all). Because simply put, bad or stupid deeds are being punished. That is the reverse of horror, its a universe that is fundamentally just, rewards good people and punishes the bad. This should be avoided in horror.

I disagree. Jumpscares play their part well if done right. The jumpscare itself may not induce fear, but the thought of it does. I do not scare or startle easily, it's very hard to do so to me in a movie or game setting. You have to go all out for me. Jumpscares (if used right), sound, enviroment, and the thought of a terrifying jumpscare can happen any moment, but never does until least expected. THAT is what gets me, and no one does it good enough for me to care. Amnesia is probably the closest thing that was actually scary for me.

 

[Prizmik]

All these dislikes makes me wonder people *love* about horror.


I like psychological horror.

Horror is definitely my favorite genre. The problem is that people do horror, but lack understanding. When something doesn't work, it is easy to point at the bits that don't, but when something does work, it is often difficult to say why, because for something to work, it has to work as a whole. I intend to write a post on horror theory some time in the future, talking about what makes for good horror.

Finding bodies, especially mutilated or grotesque ones. I generally hate death as a theme and hate it even more as a gimmick, but this device takes it to a whole new level for me. I don't think the use of dead bodies is scary, I think it's disgusting, distracting, and disrespectful.

I am so sick of this fixation on death too. Some people have gotten the false notion into their heads, that the essence of horror is "death", fear of death, or dealing with the inevitability of death.


It cheapens horror greatly and cuts it off from its source.

I disagree. Jumpscares play their part well if done right. The jumpscare itself may not induce fear, but the thought of it does. I do not scare or startle easily, it's very hard to do so to me in a movie or game setting. You have to go all out for me. Jumpscares (if used right), sound, enviroment, and the thought of a terrifying jumpscare can happen any moment, but never does until least expected. THAT is what gets me, and no one does it good enough for me to care. Amnesia is probably the closest thing that was actually scary for me.

I see. Let us talk about jumpscares, so we might see why you are mistaken.


You agree that the jumpscare itself is not scary, so I will not try to prove that further. When we speak of horror, we mean something more than a "scary haunted house attraction", horror is a literary genre, applicable to a lot of media.


The aim of horror is not to simply startle, spook or even scare you, but to also make some sort of sense (have meaning) while doing so. If you have a good horror set up, the viewer/player/reader, is already under tension, because of the meaningful work that has been done to get to this point. If you have the participant scared at this point you already have them scared, having a jumpscare in there will not increase the scare (as we agree the jumpscare it self is not scary only startling).


On the contrary, having the player be jumpscared, primes them for a "set up- pay" off cycle, they start seeing the horror set up not in the terms of internal meaning, but external set up- pay off dynamics. With every jumpscare this initial effect is increased and it becomes worse horror with every time. It stops being engaging in terms of meaning, and only engages the player mechanically. In other words, like you said, what is scary is "the thought of the jumpscare" and to decode that we can say: "It is scary because we are anticipating startling punishment".


This is completely unnecessary, because not only is the jumpscare superfluous, but it is also detrimental to the horror, of the horror piece, since it sabotages engagement through meaning. The scary place is no longer scary because, it is where friendly laws of reality crumble, but because I am anticipating the jack in a box.


I do not disagree that the anticipation of being startled can be scary, however I have full conviction that it is terrible horror. People can be spooked, startled or even scared by many things, but if we can't make sense of it in terms of meaning, it should not enter the horror discussion and just be left for the kiddies or the truly bestial.

 

[Bloodmorphed]

I'm telling you jumpscares - in my opinion - are not useless. They serve their purpose, again, if used properly. Saying it does nothing to add to the game is just ignorant. Again though, it has to be done right, if it is not, then I agree. It can't be useless, it has to have meaning, sometimes it does, and sometimes it's done good. It's just very rare for someone to utilize it correctly.