Even the most inventive slasher movie is going to use some tropes that fans are familiar with. These are often the building blocks of scary stories, suggesting the terror that is to come and how the main characters are going to survive (or not).
While some slasher tropes are annoying because they have been done time and time again, and fans often talk about the ones that they dislike, others actually make sense. There are several plot devices and character types in this horror subgenre that make the movie even scarier and always feel like a good idea.
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The Final Girl
Whilesome final girls are underratedand better than others, as some main characters can be dull, the trope of the final girl is totally necessary for horror movies. Thanks to strong, memorable performances by Neve Campbell and Jamie Lee Curtis, topfinal girls Sidney Prescott and Laurie Strodehave proven that scary films need tough, wise, and fearless characters with a will to survive.
It wouldn’t be a proper slasher film without a final girl, as the final girl fights the killer, stays in control the entire time, tries to save her family and friends, and is the leader who everyone should listen to if they’re smart. Even though this concept has been around for several decades now, it should never go away. The final girl is also the person who the audiences cheers on and cares about the most, which is key.
Technology Fails The Main Characters
There are some horror movies that embrace technology, likeCountdown(2019) about an appthat tells people when they will die. But most of the time, characters are using laptops and cell phones as frequently as audiences use them, which presents a problem.
While there areslasher tropes that should end, there are some that actually work, and that includes characters using technology (often cell phones) that fails them. Slashers from the ’80s and ’90s didn’t have this problem, of course. Characters had no way of texting or getting in touch with friends and family regularly and they couldn’t grab their iPhone out of their pocket or purse and call 911 on the killer chasing them. Now that technology is a threat to the characters actually being in trouble, slasher movie characters often have cell phones run out of battery. While this might be a little cheesy, it does work well, as now the character is truly in danger and has no way of calling for help.
Big House Parties
Matthew Lillard’s characterStu Macher’sScreamhouseis one of the most famous horror movie houses thanks to the party that the characters attend inScream(1996). The characters end up back at the same place inScream (2022), proving that the trope of big house parties is still being used.
This slasher trope is necessary as the killer needs to be able to find the characters all in one place. The party is often the scene of the big showdown of the final girl vs. the villain. The party also creates tension as the killer often murders at least one person there. While a successful, fun, scary, and entertaining slasher film doesn’t need to have a party scene, it does help.
Any Character Could Be The Killer
The “everyone is a suspect” slasher movie trope has endured, and it works, even if some fans wish that it would stop being used. One of the best recent examples of this trope isScream (2022). Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) quickly realizes that she might not know her friends as well as she thought she did and that any one of them could be Ghostface. Of course, this ended up being true, as theGhostface killers inScreamare often people who the main character knows.
It’s more interesting when the killer could be someone the final girl is close to since this gives the killer motive and makes the final girl even more determined to catch them, figure out why they’re doing this, and save themselves..
Is The Killer/Villain Really Gone?
Another slasher trope is thinking that the killer has died and then seeing them again. Sometimes, the final girl defeats the killer, assumes that the horror is over, and then the killer comes back to life. The main character can be successful in killing them for real, but often, there is the feeling that the killer can return at any moment.
There are manyiconic slasher villains like Freddy KruegerfromA Nightmare On Elm Streetthat seem like they can never be defeated. This is important as it sets up sequels and also makes the villain seem even more terrifying. The villain shouldn’t seem too easy to kill because then it’s not creepy or scary at all.
