5 Biggest Horror Movie Clichs

Posted May 10, 2013 @ 12:54 pm
by mtv editor

Come May 10th, Illuminati Films & Eros International will make up for the Mayan apocalypse by unleashing a zombie apocalypse on the party capital of India. Though the final verdict won't be out till tomorrow; if Go Goa Gone lives up to half the promise of its trailer, Bollywood's slasher genre might just be revived. In what is being touted as India's first zomcom, the makers seem to have taken a mighty leaf out of Hollywood's slasher industry, which has thus far grown healthy on a steady diet of blood, gore and clichs.

As a general rule, horror movies are packed with clichs, from the eerily squeaking door to the pointless, "Anybody there?" Here are five such clichs that the horror industry just can't live without:

• There is a psychopath on the loose; heads are about to start rolling and the first one to die will be your cell phone. The network will pass out and the battery will magically bleed dry. Technology has progressed by leaps and bounds, and yet if you are stuck in a horror movie, all you can do is pray that you come across someone carrying a pocketful of pigeons to send a message across to the police.

• The second biggest chicken after your zillion grand smartphone is your car. The engine will stop working and the doors will conveniently get jammed, making you a sitting duck for the intruder who's been patiently hiding in the back seat; waiting for the next idiot to lock themselves in the car without looking around to make sure no hooded serial killers are already in it.

• Are you the main protagonist of the movie? No? Well, then sorry, but your chances of survival are zero. Studies have proved that best friends rarely ever make it out alive, that couple secretly making out is doomed and it's best if you bid farewell to that boyfriend. 90% of slasher flicks have female survivors; sounds like a random coincidence but for all we know, it could be because we girls are inherently made of sterner stuff.

• The average serial killer, these days, comes well trained; he's done his homework well and chances are he's watched more slasher flicks than you. He knows that if he waits long enough, the group of teenagers who've wronged him will gather at some godforsaken spot for a reunion and he can then start piling up the bodies with ease. High school reunions are a hotbed for serial killings so accept the invite only if you have a death wish.

• The haveli is haunted. Let's stay the hell away from it – Said no one in a horror movie ever. When the villagers asked you to avoid the haveli, it's because every last inch of the place is haunted. Not because Sunburn is holding a secret gig there that no one wants you to know about.