While every horror subgenre tends to have clichés, movies set in haunted houses tend to use more tropes than others. The film often begins with the same plot: a family moves to a new house, either because the couple has had a falling out or because the teenager needs a fresh start. Before long, the house seems full of spirits or at least something odd, and yet the couple insist that nothing at all is going on. The film’s climax features what is supposed to be a terrifying scene as the parents can no longer ignore the sinister elements of the house.
There are several haunted house movie cliches that horror fans would love to see go, because stories will always be much stronger when they have cooler elements that aren’t used all the time.
Carol Anne Freeling (Heather O’Rouke) is an integral part of Fighting spirit, one of the most timeless horror films of the 80s, as she notices the ghosts no one else can see and they talk to her through the television. But aside from that classic flick, the trope of kids noticing something supernatural is going on in their new home isn’t exciting.
By now, horror fans have seen too many movies in which a family moves, often to the countryside, and moves their belongings and furniture into a dusty old house. The small child is often excited and runs to ask for his new room while the teenager is bored, sullen and angry at having to move. The moment the child character sees a ghost and freaks out in the middle of the night, the audience wants something more interesting because the parents never think the child is on the right track.
Whereas Claim (2012) is one of the scariest horror movies, it has a trope that has appeared in many haunted house stories: a family is murdered in the house and their spirits want to kill the new family that has moved in.
It’s become a massive cliché that seems uninspiring and boring. While moviegoers appreciate why this is used, as it gives the ghosts a motive and a reason for the main characters to be scared, it just doesn’t seem imaginative enough. Most of the time audiences know exactly where the movie is going once a character realizes something happened at that property years or decades before and tries to figure out what happened. past.
Some of the worst haunted house horror movies include Cold Creek Mansion (2003) and messengers (2007) which both have a similar plot point: a kind and “innocent” character who lives near the property, often visits and tries to help the family. But at the end of the film, the character turns out to be behind the evil.
This trope is used in so many movies that it’s become boring and doesn’t have the impact it should have. From the moment this kind of character appears on screen, it becomes obvious that this is the role they are going to play, and fans would like to see different characters.
The Insidious The franchise includes some of the best haunted house movies, but the films also include a cliche of those types of stories: an expert who investigates what’s going on. In the franchise’s first film from 2010, Tucker (Angus Sampson) and Specs (Leigh Whannell) are paranormal investigators who visit the Lambert household, and Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) is a passing clairvoyant as well. Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne) want all the help they can get.
While it makes sense for the characters to want outside advice and opinions, it’s happened so many times that it feels tired and cliché. If future haunted house horror movies are going to use experts, they should be unique and hilarious characters who bring something special to the storyline.
Josh also becomes possessed at the end of Insidious, which evokes another cliché concept of this kind of story: a character taken over by a demon or an evil spirit. This story also takes place in Paranormal Activity: The Marked from 2014.
Sometimes a unique ghost story happens, but most of the time audiences get tired of the characters becoming possessed because it doesn’t feel as horrifying as it should. It often comes across as corny and cheesy instead of something to be afraid of, and many of these cliches often come in pairs, as the characters investigate the possessed person with the help of an expert.
