{"id":115812,"date":"2021-02-02T13:54:58","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T18:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=115812"},"modified":"2021-02-02T14:27:06","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T19:27:06","slug":"9-horror-movie-cliches-that-need-to-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/9-horror-movie-cliches-that-need-to-die\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Horror Movie Cliches That Need to Die"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F9-horror-movie-cliches-that-need-to-die%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=115812&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2018Fess up. We\u2019ve all shouted at the screen during a horror movie.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cDon\u2019t go in there alone!\u201d \u201cGrab that knife!\u201d \u201cThe monster isn\u2019t dead yet!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Been there, rolled our eyes at that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Modern horror movies have their own clich\u00e9s we\u2019ve grown exhausted by. Sure, the genre still teems with dopey decisions and head-smacking feats of bravery.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some things never change.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">These newer tropes are just as exhausting. So, as the new year in film continues, let\u2019s hope they die a quick, painless death. O.K. perhaps a wee bit of pain is in order.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>That Jangly String Score<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Horror movie music goes through stages much like the content itself. The \u201880s leaned heavily into the synthesizer scares, something Netflix\u2019s \u201cStranger Things\u201d dutifully summoned. Lately, horror movies rile us up with their discordant scores punctuated by over-plucked strings. It\u2019s like the Hulk\u2019s very first violin lesson.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The unsettling \u201cUs\u201d summons strings to get us in the mood, and it clicked because director Jordan Peele \u201cgets\u201d the genre. A similar approach powered \u201cHereditary,\u201d one of 2019\u2019s most contested horror films.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like any movie clich\u00e9, the plucked strings effect initially scared us as intended. Now? It feels so warmed over we\u2019re left shrugging our shoulders, cynically waiting for the inevitable (jump) scare.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Creepy Kids<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There\u2019s something psychologically telling about films anchored by creepy little boys and girls. Some did it better than others, like the twin girls in Stanley Kubrick\u2019s \u201cThe Shining\u201d or lil\u2019 Gage in the original \u201cPet Sematary.\u201d \u201cThe Grudge\u201d similarly made inky-haired kids a singular fright.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, the impact isn\u2019t as extreme.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maybe it\u2019s because the kiddie monsters themselves aren\u2019t given enough back story. That\u2019s why 1976\u2019s \u201cThe Omen\u201d remains such a great example of the creepy kid genre. Young Harvey Spencer Stephens proved inscrutable, or at least until his father approached him with a very sharp dagger.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Anything Found Footage-y<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some movie trends take years, and years, to fade away.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Take 3D screenings. A handful of directors took full advantage of the optics, like James Cameron\u2019s visually arresting \u201cAvatar.\u201d The rest, along with their respective studios, used it as a naked cash grab.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Over time, 3D movie ticket sales started to dwindle, the novelty wearing off on a dubious public.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A similar slow fade can be seen with found footage horror movies. \u201cThe Blair Witch Project\u201d unofficially kicked off the sub-genre, but we saw a crush of like-minded titles after that 1999 smash. The \u201cParanormal Activity\u201d franchise made millions for its studio, but it, too, ran out of creative steam.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, finally, the spigot is mostly turned off. Still, some micro-budget filmmakers lean on found-footage thrills to keep their budgets low. Think recent efforts like \u201cHost\u201d and \u201cFollowed,\u201d the latter mostly viewed through a computer screen.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The format rarely makes sense and, without the sense of surprise \u201cThe Blair Witch Project\u201d delivered, should be used sparingly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Twitchy Monsters<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Monsters shouldn\u2019t sashay across the screen like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. They lumber like Dr. Frankenstein\u2019s creation after a round of Long Island Iced Teas. Still, the newest trend finds creatures that move in twitchy bursts, accompanied by the sound of sticks snapping all at once.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Showing Too Much<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Director Steven Spielberg famously wrestled with \u201cBruce the Shark,\u201d the mechanical beastie at the heart of his breakout smash, \u201cJaws.\u201d The darn thing wouldn\u2019t cooperate during the production, so he worked around the clumsy tech by showing it less than expected.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Less is so often more, as was the case for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mentalfloss.com\/article\/31105\/how-steven-spielbergs-malfunctioning-sharks-transformed-movie-business\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Spielberg\u2019s beach-born shocker.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI had no choice but to figure out how to tell the story without the shark,\u201d Spielberg said. \u201cSo I just went back to Alfred Hitchcock: \u2018What would Hitchcock do in a situation like this?\u2019 &#8230; It\u2019s what we don\u2019t see which is truly frightening.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today\u2019s filmmakers don\u2019t have any Bruce-like problems. Even small-budgeted films can make their monsters look shockingly life like. So we often see far more of the monsters than necessary. That lessens their frightening impact, not to mention slow reveals typify the best horror movies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Meta Wise Cracks<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The creative team behind \u201cScream\u201d deserves the blame here. The Wes Craven original wasn\u2019t the first to reference horror genre tropes mid-movie, but it did so better than most genre films.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Voila, instant movie trope.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The overrated \u201cScream\u201d franchise leaned hard into nitpicking horror cliches throughout the killing sprees. Other films followed, with varying degrees of success.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The 2011 hit \u201cThe Cabin in the Woods\u201d built its entire structure on classic horror tropes in order to subvert them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Great. Fine. Clever even. But it\u2019s enough. Meta storytelling too often feels lazy, like leaning on superior classics to gussy up the inferior one in play.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Unearned Sequel Bait:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What\u2019s worse than sitting through a dispiriting, if not downright awful, horror movie? Watching it tease a sequel in the remaining minutes. You can practically see the producers rubbing their hands together, hoping against hope their film will be the next horror franchise.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">More often than not, the final moments are as embarrassing as the previous 90.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The original \u201cHalloween\u201d technically set up a sequel by showing Michael Meyers survive not just six bullets to his body but a drop from the balcony. The revelation did more than set up a franchise. It enhanced the movie\u2019s chills by suggesting this \u201cboogeyman\u201d can\u2019t be killed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Too many horror movies attempt a similar ending but with a fraction of \u201cHalloween\u201d director John Carpenter\u2019s mastery. It ends up looking desperate, not diabolical.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Children\u2019s Toys Coming to Life<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pop Quiz: How do you know a movie house is haunted? Easy! The children\u2019s toys start moving on their own. That could mean a rocking chair creaks back and forth or a windup toy springs to sudden life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">These toy movements typically happen early in the film. The directors are holding back on the big scares, for now. The sight of an innocent toy moving on its own suggest much worse things will follow, at least on paper.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now? It\u2019s a clich\u00e9 that leaves us bored.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Revealing Kid Drawings<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Is there a creature lurking in the house? Just snatch a page from a kid\u2019s sketch book to find out. Weaponizing kiddie drawings is supposed to summon terror or a growing sense of unease.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instead, it\u2019s often used as a cheap scare tactic or a way to push the plot along.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even worse? The crayon drawings (it\u2019s always crayons) all look similar, with stick figure families and monsters that took an entire crayon to bring to life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>BONUS: Hillbilly Horror<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Has any group been mocked as aggressively as rural Americans in the horror space? \u201cDeliverance\u201d isn\u2019t a horror film, exactly, but its redneck villains inspired a generation of similar ghouls.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The recent \u201cWrong Turn\u201d reboot fell back on the local yokels to flesh out its chills in the first act. That\u2019s an update, of sorts, on the franchise\u2019s core villains, a trio of inbred types who feast on flesh.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">No group should be immune from becoming a horror movie villain, but the constant use of toothless, bearded hillbillies is all played out, thanks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>member<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018Fess up. We\u2019ve all shouted at the screen during a horror movie. \u201cDon\u2019t go in there alone!\u201d \u201cGrab that knife!\u201d \u201cThe monster isn\u2019t dead yet!\u201d Been there, rolled our eyes &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1892476,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4871,4865,4868,4874,3693],"class_list":["post-115812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cliches","tag-horror","tag-movie","tag-need","tag-that"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1892476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}