Horror Tropes That Need To Die

How many times do I have to see the “unreliable female protagonist” horror trope play out? While Paranormal Activity perfected the trope, the premise has been played out to varying degrees of success before and since. We get it, the house isn’t haunted, the unreliable female protagonist is.

But what is she haunted by? Past trauma? Evil spirits?

Or is she haunted by the fact that some legitimately creepy stuff is happening that’s obvious to the viewer while everybody else in her support system chalks it up to female hysteria and an overactive imagination?

The “cabin in the woods” horror trope saw its absolute peak in 2011 with, you guessed it, Cabin in the Woods. When a film that’s so freakin’ meta comes out and has that much fun with a tired plot line, filmmakers trying to do something more serious have never been able to recover from this film. We got Evil Dead and Cabin Fever, do we really need to move forward with this one?

The concept of “the most dangerous game” has been part of the horror trope lexicon ever since the real-life Zodiac killer referenced the short 1924 Richard Connell short story of the same name when he was writing his cryptic and taunting letters to the authorities during his killing spree in the late ’60s.

Ever since, the horror landscape has been inundated with that whole hunting humans for sport story line that always ends the same way. The Frozen Ground, Alone, and the much less subtle Surviving the Game all have one thing in common: a lone lad or damsel in distress has to defy all odds and systematically hunt and execute their captors.

Oh, I just got invited to an elegant dinner party hosted by an eccentric chef who may or may not be primed for murder? This horror trope has ruined my life because all I can think of is how I would make sure my survival skills are sharp while inviting the person I like the least to be my plus one. But at the end of the day, I’ve seen The Menu, so I know that a cheeseburger is the ticket to my salvation, satiation, and survival.

Okay, here me out here. I’m not necessarily tired of this particular horror trope, but I’m wondering how far this whole “let’s vibe on existential terror” sentiment will actually go. My curiosity is piqued, but how many Oz Perkins copycats are going to come out of the woodwork after Longlegs finishes making its rounds. Oh, the killer’s just out of frame watching our protagonist’s every move?

No big reveal with this horror trope?

Maybe the serial killer is the friends we made along the way.

Michael Myers, Jason Vorhees, Freddy Krueger, and even Ghostface to a lesser degree all have one horror trope in common. Super strength. At least Ghostface kind of had an explanation (there are a lot of different people wearing the Ghostface mask).

But then again, how would so many franchises run themselves into the ground if we were able to effectively kill the bogeymen in question?

Most horror movies try to gin up publicity by saying that they’re based on a true story. But like most horror tropes, this one doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Conjuring franchises, and The Exorcist are all allegedly based on true events. But when you look at the source material, the real-life events are far less sensational than what’s being depicted on-screen.

If we’re taking this many creative liberties in the first place, then why bother with this horror trope at all?