Storylines in horror movies have taken a brutal beating throughout the years, experiencing severe challenges while attempting to factor in creativity. John Carpenter's Halloween helped to cultivate the final girl cliché fans of the genre have been long subjected to, but did it well with psychological and emotional development. Viewers were able to look into the perplexing backstory of Michael Myers and pick up on his occasional emotional ties to his sister Laurie Strode, who became an iconic 'final girl.' Unfortunately, many horror movies use the 'final girl' and other tropes with much less emotional and psychological poignancy.

The origins of clichés could possibly come from the comfort in the familiar or the difficulty in coming up with fresh ideas, but what is undeniable is the lack of suspense they create in scary movies because of how predictable they make them. Let go of the age-old clichés everyone has seen a billion times, and something different might actually come about for once (as in the new era of 'elevated horror'). Productions thrive when they move far away from what is considered the conventional formula of storytelling and have fun; audience members can sense the difference between an innovative film and one which uses the unoriginal crutch of clichés. Here's how scary movies can actually do it right by avoiding the following horror clichés.

Updated on August 19, 2023, by Danilo Raúl: This article has been updated with additional content to keep the discussion fresh and relevant with even more information and new entries.

11 The Jump Scare

Insidious jump scare scene
FilmDistrict

This particular trope can definitely feel cheap these days. Having a jump scare in the middle of a tense sequence is not only idiotic but also devalues the moment when we are supposed to feel scared in any movie.

No modern film is safe from this trope, but also older movies enjoy building up a tense moment just to have a jokester jump out of the blue to the unsuspecting character feeling haunted, or worse, a small animal like a cat or a rodent. The Exorcist III is the best film to use this storytelling tool exceptionally, but everything else after it feels tired and bothersome.

10 The Harbinger of Doom

Tony Todd in Final Destination 2000
New Line Cinema

You can find this narrative figure in many forms in many horror movies. It can be an older person commenting on past events as a foreshadowing of what we'll get in the film or an old lady. Sometimes it's a caretaker on a property.

One of the most effective harbingers of doom is William Bludworth (played by Tony Todd), a coroner who makes a cameo in almost all Final Destination films. He's always explaining to the main characters what they are facing while also offering some advice about how to avoid their fates.

9 Cops Are Incompetent or Corrupt Idiots

Halloween 4
Galaxy International Releasing

Can we talk briefly about how cops, sheriffs, or any authority figure in horror movies is dumb as a doorknob? From Halloween to Friday the 13th, when they are essentially non-existent, cops can do nothing but stay behind the trail of the killer taking out everyone.

When cops seem willing to do their job in any horror film is either because they are about to get murdered by the killer or because they are in on the ruse. The worst offender in this regard is the sheriff in I Spit in Your Grave, who, on top of corruption, is also a rapist.

Related: 11 of the Scariest & Most Important Horror Movies of All Time

8 The Hysterical Girl

Sleepaway Camp last shot
United Film Distribution Company

This cliché has been less used in later years, but every slasher from the 1960s through the 1990s has this type of girl. Usually, someone is obnoxious, outspoken, and dismissive. They are irksome in every regard, and they are the type of character we can't wait to see them gone in these types of films.

Jaws 2 had two of these girls, yet they were revealed organically due to the story's pacing. Scary Movie took aim at this cliché by making Regina Hall play a parody of a character played by Jada Pinket Smith in Scream 2. Brenda Meeks is so obnoxious that the audience takes her out instead of the killer.

7 The Car Won't Start

Jeepers Creepers
MGM

Friday the 13th Part 2, Leprechaun, and Mother's Day are among the many supposedly scary movies which feature this frustrating cliché. Just when a character needs their car to start, it out of the blue breaks down (via dead battery or empty tank).

This triggers a moment where the stupid car unexpectedly quits just as the character(s) needs to escape from the murderer, evoking a split second of so-called sheer panic in this horribly overused cliche.

6 Hanky Panky is a Death Sentence

Friday the 13th 2009
Warner Bros. Pictures 

To name the many, many movies in which a young, attractive couple giving into their sexual urges meets a gory end would take an incredibly long time to list out, as the cliché has been implemented on screen for decades. A young Michael Myers offed his big sister Judith in the iconic John Carpenter classic Halloween, commencing his murderous rampage and giving audiences a plethora of spine-tingling horror hits in the process.

Chances are that if a few characters engage in some naughty behavior in a slasher, they most likely won't live to see the credits roll and will be picked off in a particularly gruesome fashion. Horror films apparently aren't too fond of sexually-liberated people and want to punish them for baring it all on the screen and having a good time, and devoted fans know all too well that a quick roll in the hay will sadly lead to a gnarly death sentence for the participating parties.

5 People in Horror Can't Run

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Bryanston Distributing Company

More often than not, potential horror movie victims will take quite the tumble when being pursued by a knife-wielding killer, and for some strange reason, their coordination seems to fail right in the middle of a crucial chase. From Night of the Living Dead to Nightmare on Elm Street or any of the Friday the 13th flicks, characters just can't help but trip and fall.

This of course happens at the most inopportune time, like when a terrifying murderer is hot on their heels. Any time a protagonist on the screen is high-tailing it away from the big bad, they can't help but sneak a peek to see how far away they are and if they're finally safe, only to get axed.

4 The Phone is About to Die

Drew Barrymore as Casey Becker in Scream
Dimension Films

Because if viewers ever needed time to remind them to keep their phones on a nearby charger, scary movies are the most effective way to scare them straight. Despite the fact that phone connections are much better in the 21st century than they have ever been (5g is here and thriving, people), scary movies have no problem with promoting the dead battery rhetoric.

Charging one's phone always indicates a stronger chance of survival. Whether it's having no signal (The Hills Have Eyes remake, The Human Centipede) or just dead batteries (Siren, The Roost), phones seem always to stop working in scary movies, even Get Out, probably the most famous horror movie of the past decade, made a point to mention its protagonist's always-unplugged battery charger frequently.

Related: Ripped From the Headlines: 5 Horror Classic Movies Based on True Stories

3 "Based On A True Story" is a Lie

Lily Taylor in The Conjuring
Warner Bros. Pictures

The Exorcist (1973), The Amityville Horror (2005), The Conjuring, and even Child's Play were all allegedly based on a series of real-life occurrences. Although some plot lines have become more fabricated than others, the 'based on a true story' cliché isn't the problem itself.

It's authentically creepy to think about how horror movies are based on true events. However, this can sometimes be portrayed manipulatively by producers to use real-life horrors on screen for the sole purpose of increased promotional responses and, ultimately growth in box office sales. It's also sometimes a downright lie. The coverage behind The Conjuring franchise has been meant to tie a series of isolated tragedies to the film as an attempt to invoke fear in its viewers.

2 Splitting Up in Search Parties

Cast of The Cabin in the Woods
Lionsgate 

When a deranged serial killer is on the loose and steadily taking people out one by one, perhaps the best idea isn't to split up just to cover more ground when investigating. There truly is power in numbers, and a character's chance of survival only increases when they decide to stick around and face off against the villain with the help of their allies.

While going separate ways may sound just dandy on paper, the killer is without a doubt doing a happy little jig over the pure stupidity of such a plan, as they magically become more accessible and are able to be picked off slowly but surely. Splitting up has become an often comical approach to outsmarting the bad guy, and it frequently backfires spectacularly for those foolish enough to do it.

1 Possessed Dolls

Bride of Chucky
Universal Pictures

Making children's dolls into brutal serial killers for scary movies is not cool or trendy. Viewers see this representation of child-like villains again and again, from early Twilight Zone episodes to the eight Child's Play movies, Dead Silence, Dolls, Puppet Master, Annabelle, and many more.

No disrespect to Annabelle, because she is actually a real doll stored in a glass box and can probably break out at any time, so don't come for us, Annabelle. It's ominous because, although these scary movies aren't geared directly toward kids, they incorporate children-inspired figures, turning them into psychopathic and monstrous killers that are both heartless and vicious.