Bedsheets only come up the navel on the man, but go up to just below her neck on the woman. If a man & woman are in bed the man is under the sheet, but the woman is on top of the sheet yet under the blanket. She get’s up using the blanket to preserve her modesty and the sheet stays to preserve the man’s.
Basements are scary. No good ever came out of a basement.
No matter what time of year, there will be a bare-branched tree casting shadows into the protaganist’s bedroom.
A very long kitchen knife will be sitting out on the otherwise bare countertop of an immaculate kitchen when the heroine walks downstairs in her underwear looking for a weapon.
The dial tone of a telephone will immediately buzz when the call is disconnected. There is no lag time of silence first. (Actually, this is a every-movie thing, not limited to horror.)
I once began to form a theory that the killer was the fifth character introduced. It holds true for quite a surprising number of movies, but of course I can’t remember any of them right now.
The music during the dramatic chase scene never includes any accordions or polka themes. And instead of Carmina Burana, how about Beethoven’s Ode to Joy once for a change?