# Help me list the worst Horror Movie Cliches. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 31, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769 "2006-07-31T20:50:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![teemingONE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@teemingONE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teemingONE)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/1 "2006-07-31T20:50:39Z")
Ok, some horror movie cliches are a good thing. Exposed breasts, is the clear winner of this. But what are some bad ones that just bring down the whole mood and, often times, the sympathy for the characters? The ones that remind you, that after all, it is only a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/2 "2006-07-31T20:55:53Z")
The camera tricks of somebody walking into a hallway or up (or down) some stairs and the camera is either following behind closely or is focused on a face close-up. You just know something is going to jump out from the other direction and “scare” you, That and those fucking cats in the trash or the closet or behind the door. ---
**Author:** ![Clockwork\_And\_Candy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b782af/32.png) [@Clockwork\_And\_Candy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clockwork_And_Candy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/3 "2006-07-31T21:12:03Z")
[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_horror_movie_clich%C3%A9s) has a pretty comprehensive article on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/4 "2006-07-31T21:17:00Z")
A squeak, and the camera shows a rat running across somebody’s foot. Nuclear radiation/testing results in a giant creature which the army cannot kill a scientist, accompanied by a pretty woman (who sprains her ankle) finds a way to electrocute the creature. The first time I saw the fungus called Corn Smut, I got goose bumps, because several horror movies had started with something weird in a corn field. Vampires never, ever just jump in and bite. They have to futz around, admiring the victim, so you have time to scream and freak out. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/5 "2006-07-31T21:17:48Z")
[QUOTE=Clockwork And Candy] [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_horror_movie_clich%C3%A9s) has a pretty comprehensive article on the subject. [/QUOTE] That’s no fun, let’s do it by our selves. Oh, but that’s a horror cliche, too. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/6 "2006-07-31T21:29:35Z")
My favorite horror movie cliche: houses built on top of old burial grounds (especially Native American ones). I live in such a house. No spooks yet, but I fully expect that after I’m dead, the new occupants will complain that someone is singing Joni Mitchell songs in the shower. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/7 "2006-07-31T21:32:05Z")
[QUOTE=garygnu] That’s no fun, let’s do it by our selves. Oh, but that’s a horror cliche, too. [/QUOTE] Damn straight it is! Hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/8 "2006-07-31T21:35:09Z")
If the protogaonist is a female and she has a boyfriend… he will probably die, but she won’t discover his body until later. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/9 "2006-07-31T21:40:10Z")
Chicks in bad situations who are never wearing fucking shoes. In junkyards, fields of glass shards, coral and hot coals. PURCHASE SOME FOOTWEAR, LADIES! ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/10 "2006-07-31T21:41:54Z")
If you split up, you might as well kill yourself. but I remember a Tiny Toons episode where they decided _not_ to split up, but walked around in a circle facing out. They still got picked off one-by-one. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/11 "2006-07-31T21:55:07Z")
“An intellectual carrot! The mind boggles!” – from THE THING (1953) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/12 "2006-07-31T21:57:25Z")
Damn. I was going to say “let’s split up so we can find the deadly monster more quickly”. OK, how about “the scientists shouldn’t have played God” ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/13 "2006-07-31T21:58:45Z")
If you don’t bother to visually confirm that you’re talking to whom you think you’re talking to, you’re not. On second thought, that’s not necessarily a horror cliche - even Bond movies aren’t excluded (cf. “Tee Hee” from the end scene on the train in **Live and Let Die** ) If the screen obscures the rest of the shot (looking in the fridge, looking in a mirror), the killer has materialized in that spot. No vehicle required in a crisis situation will start. If it does, you’d better check that back seat. Women have no compunction taking showers in the creepiest of locations. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/14 "2006-07-31T22:02:18Z")
Nobody ever turns on the lights when searching that creepy store room or warehouse. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/15 "2006-07-31T22:02:45Z")
Women, apparently, can not move very quikly unless a man is holding her arm. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/16 "2006-07-31T22:48:59Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] My favorite horror movie cliche: houses built on top of old burial grounds (especially Native American ones). I live in such a house. No spooks yet, but I fully expect that after I’m dead, the new occupants will complain that someone is singing Joni Mitchell songs in the shower. [/QUOTE] So many movies begin with that premise, I believe Native Americans should be banned from burying _anything_. Nothing good can come of it. Let’s see, someone already mentioned the spring-loaded cats; how about the constant thunderstorms? Whenever there’s a killer on the loose, there’s a thunderstorm right there with him, and the electricity will go off, because horror movie houses still have the original wiring from 1942. People hearing a funny noise in the basement will be stupid and go investigate. Females will do it in their nighties. Flashlight batteries have a 30 second lifespan. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/17 "2006-07-31T22:51:49Z")
Watching the Lost boys the other night I saw the one where some folks are running away from something and of course one of them has to fall down and then somebody has to come back and help them up and then they manage to scramble to safety just in the nick of time. ---
**Author:** ![Mouse\_Maven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@Mouse\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mouse_Maven)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/18 "2006-07-31T22:51:58Z")
If a computer is hit by lighting or a huge power surge, it will become an intelligent killing machine, **not** a pile of burnt out plastic and silicon. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/19 "2006-07-31T22:59:09Z")
When stuck in a psychotic hillbilly’s cabin, the guy who’s going to get it next always hides under the bed and the camera POV is the killer’s dirty shoes. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769/20 "2006-08-01T00:44:42Z")
People who live out in the sticks are always creepy and surly and stupid and have filthy habits. Some might even be cannibals. Those who aren’t won’t lift a finger to help cityfolk. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-list-the-worst-horror-movie-cliches/366769.md?page=2)