There are plenty of Horror fans out there that love the cheese factor of horror films. Horror literature is in a somewhat different boat but still there are things in certain books we question. For as much as we enjoy the ‘I knew it’ aspect of horror, several aspects get the ‘not again’ reaction from fans.

I put together ten of the most annoying aspects we have seen in horror over the last several decades. They are not backed up by any official list but are my personal ‘not again’ clichés. In no particular order let me give you all ten.

1) Sex equals Death

Over the last 25 years of horror it is almost to the point where if we see any character have sex or at least shows nudity, they will be considered a ‘must die’. From Friday the 13th, to Nightmare on Elm Street all the way across the galaxy to Aliens 3.

2) Women’s Perfect Hair

I have been on hiking trips and have worked hard labor side-by-side with women. One thing remained a constant among the toughest of gals roughing it, either tuck that hair in or look like a mop! Not in horror. In just about every horror film women retain a perfect hair day regardless of the danger. Even in some horror reads you don’t find a ladies hair getting in the away. Just once can we admit the ladies have got to get their hair ready for a tough time?

3) Bad Ideas are Logical

Somehow in horror you get the entire group to agree on ‘splitting up’ or ‘going into a dark place’ or even ‘going outside where the killer is and check’. You think the opposite would make more sense to stay alive but not in horror. Characters seem to be obsessed with placing themselves in danger.

4) Authorities are useless

Off the top of your head how many cops do you think get killed in horror? I can mention at least 5 horror films in 10 seconds where the law officer gets killed from pure stupidity. The ones trained to handle the killers and are armed just can’t do anything right in a horror film. We can do better than that can’t we?

5) Speed of Technology

It is amazing how fast technology works in films. This is not just limited to the killers but also the good guys. It is awesome how a hacker can break into a computer, how a killer beats a state of the art security system, how monsters develop immunity to new technologies. When fighting for your life in a horror film, you can forget the latest and greatest as it is a 5 minute speed bump before your death.

6) Explosions and Fire are not effective

Can someone please explain how killers in horror only get slowed down by big explosions or are fire proof?  Even if you are new to horror, you must have seen a character set of a big explosion or burn a place down and say ‘no one could have survived that’. 30 seconds later, the killer comes out still ready to fight. It has always fascinated me as to the ‘why’ this keeps getting repeated.

7) No Gun Owners

With the amount of guns in the US, you figure these killers would break into the wrong house. It’s almost as if they have a sixth sense of who doesn’t have a gun in their home. And the few characters that get their hands on some guns have little to no gun training. If this were in most other countries, I would buy into it, but not in a US town setting.

8) Prolonged Standoff

Another subject with guns is the utter cliché of the standoff with guns. You get that in horror films and series where the good guy has a gun and the bad guy has a knife to a loved one’s throat. Guess what happens? The good guy puts down the gun and the bad guy gets his way. Standoffs never work out for the good guys even if they have superior firepower.

9) One Hit KO’s

How many times is this going to be overplayed? The good characters can get knocked out by a single blow to the head while the killers don’t have to worry so much about that. Even worse is when the good guys wake up, they have a small headache but not much else. No concussion or contusion to worry about.

10) Falling when running away.

Our favorite cliché had to be mentioned on this list. The developing of two left feet when you are being chased by a killer. It is a must have! The clumsiest victims to pick from. Do horror movies still do this? Yup!

What did you think of my 10 choices? Say in comments.

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