5 Horror Tropes That I Still Love

I am a sucker for certain horror movie moments

When you have watched as many horror movies as I have over the years, you have basically seen every single trick in the book. There are very few surprises left, with horror flicks often leaning heavily on tried-and-true tropes to titillate the audience. There are some that make me roll my eyes and sigh heavily, but there are also others that I love despite having seen them a million times. Here are 5 horror tropes that I will never grow tired of seeing.

1. The Final Girl - All too often in Hollywood, women are reduced to delicate little flowers sitting around waiting on a man to arrive to save the. To Hell with that. In my personal life, I am surrounded by strong capable women, and those are who I want to see shown on the big screen. Give me a woman than can handle an axe and not be afraid to go after the monster or killer.

2. The Haunted House - When I write, I love to have buildings feel like they are characters in their own write. While we have had a million haunted house movies, there is still something cool about strange noises in the attic and creaking floorboards that sets me on edge. Perhaps it’s because I lived in a very haunted place for a couple of years that it all still resonates with me.

3. The Jump Scare - Now, this one comes with a bit of a caveat. If we are getting one every couple of minutes, it feels as though we are being subjected to jumps ahead of an actual storyline. A well-placed, unexpected jump scare will get me every time. For example, the emaciated man strapped to the bed in Se7en. I saw it in theaters and yelled out loud when that skinny bastard moved.

4. Isolated Locations - A lovely looking cabin stuck in the woods, a boat out in the middle of an ocean, and a spaceship drifting through space are just some of the types of locations I am talking about. There is something about being away from civilization and at the mercy of nature that freaks me out. Liminal spaces are starting to creep into that territory for me, too.

5. Ancient, Unexplained Evil - I love a good creature feature, but I hate when the movie gets bogged down in exposition to explain where it came from and why it’s doing what it’s doing. I DON’T CARE. Just stick a damn monster in the middle of a university campus with no reason for it being there and let it run loose for 90 minutes. You can have a scientist mention that he doesn’t know where the damn thing comes from and that is good enough for me. Time isa ticking, so let’s get the body count up.

I almost had less is more in there, but I feel like we don’t see it often enough. For example, there is a scene in Signs where they are all down in the cellar and the door is open at the top of the stairs. The camera stays on it, and you keep waiting for something to happen, but it never does. That, to me, is terrifying because I am painting a picture in my head to fill in that gap, and it is usually brutal.

Anyway, I want to hear about the horror topes you love, and the ones you hate, so drop a comment and let me know.