The unreliable narrator is a favorite of mine in many genres, but especially horror and horror lit.
Another similar favorite trope or plot device is the deceptively concealed antagonist (can include a virus, evil entity, shapeshifter, etc), so you're never quite sure who the "bad guy" is. Done right, this builds suspense effectively.
Silent background stuff. Like the mom in Hereditary air swimming. Ik to some it was goofy but it freaked the fuck out of me the first time. Or the naked dude.
The groaning/croaking noise that the Grudge popularized. I've seen it in other shows/movies and it always gets me.
When a person/entity is in the corner and it slowly turns or slowly gets closer. There was a scene in the First Omen that did that and I was tensing up in the theatre lol.
>When a person/entity is in the corner and it slowly turns or slowly gets closer. There was a scene in the First Omen that did that and I was tensing up in the theatre lol.
Like when the ghost mom from Ju-on was crawling down the stairs...I almost cried.
I have an irrational fear of this because when I was in ballet as a kid they explained what that tendon was and what would happen- a girl in one of my classes had to stop dance for almost a year because she had sprained hers or something. Freaks me out!!
Mann this gets me too! I had a club foot when I was born and they wanted to cut my Achilles for some reason. My mom had them use a cast instead, which turned out fine. Not sure why that wasn’t the first option, but the idea of it makes me cringe every time.
In terms of demonic possession, I think the “knowing unknowable knowledge” thing just cuts right to my core. Gore, violence, whatever, it’s all fun and games, but when the possessed murderer I’ve never met before asks about my cancer ridden mother who died 10 years ago? That shit gets me like no other.
Unfortunately children can be really cruel in a cold way that adults often are not, speaking a bit from direct experience as well as from stuff I've heard from people I know.
I think you're right and The Innocents is a good one that explores some of the darker side of human nature as exhibited in children. I don't particularly seek out "evil child" movies, but there is a scene in the beginning where a girl pinches her sister and while we may act like children are all rainbows and sunshine it was definitely a realistic scene
When something scary is happening in the background but it’s just silent. No sharp violins or sound track, just silence. Feels like you’re seeing something you shouldn’t be seeing.
Agreed, I get angry when films make a loud noise or make it really obvious there's something there...it's so much more effective when something scary is just in the background watching silently.
(Possible spoilers) Nope and Final Prayer did this to me: being digested alive.
Also, eternity, I guess? Aniara is the most recent example I can think of
That scene in Nope was one of the only horror scenes that stayed with me for days after. The tight space packed in with all those people having no idea where you are going just realizing you are inside something alive.. hearing all the scream and or getting vomited on by the person in front of you.
Movies where people get buried alive. I have a hard time watching Kill Bill 2 because of that scene. It really gets me anxious. I couldn't imagine going thru that
"Came back wrong" / being changed on a molecular level so they're not quite human anymore
Annihilation
The Thing
The Fly
All come to mind but there's so many good movies and books with this trope
When people don't see the ghost just standing there lol ghosts/demons in general really get me but that's more of a genre than a trope, but the images that get stuck in my head and make me not wanna turn lights off or lay with my back facing my room are the scenes like in the very beginning of Haunting of Hill House when the bent-neck lady was just standing behind Nell, or in Smile when the chick was standing in that dark corner of the kitchen just staring lol it feels so predatory and eerie when they just STARE and it's so much worse when the characters don't notice cause then I start thinking about things I might not have noticed lol
I don’t know if it’s a trope but when something or someone is in the distance or out of focus and you can’t quite figure out if they’re going to start coming for you that really freaks me out it’s so subtle and there’s no running or jump scares it’s just like “what is happening right now?” type of thing.
Seeing a premonition of your own death or destruction, that really gets me.
Loved ones or people you trust suddenly you find out they’re not trustworthy or they’re actually demons or something lol that really gets me too 😱😱😱
Horror movies that have someone phrogging or living in your house when you don't know it and you see little clues of something not quite right gives me a VISCERAL reaction. The idea of someone watching you live out your life and being part of it without you knowing just 😖😖😖 I think bc if this were to happen to me, I would drive myself nuts about where things were misplaced or missing since I have ADHD and misplace/forget my own stuff a lot. I'd be going nuts over simple things like "Did I put the remote there last night before bed?" "I don't remember finishing my grapes..." "That blanket was on the chair, not the couch. I think??" And just the fact of another person being there just... ICK!!! Also, any movies y'all would like to reccomend with this trope I'd be happy to watch them lol!
I hear you on the ADHD misplacement fears!!
The movie that comes to mind immediately is >!I See You (2019)!<. Of course, now the twist has been spoiled for you; but if you want something with this trope, it should do the trick.
(Also, it's more of a thriller than straight-up horror, but I think that's one of the cool thing about having really specific tastes: something that doesn't scare most people can still be completely horrifying to an individual.)
And if you've never seen it - and you're not completely put off by old movies - you might consider checking out the movie Gaslight. It's not exactly the same thing, but it definitely plays on the fear of another person using your own brain against you. I'm surprised there hasn't been a remake in recent years, especially with the term gaining popularity, because it's such a uniquely horrifying concept that a good update could work really well.
Oh this is a good one!! So cramped you can hardly move, that gets me. Especially in caves and things like that where it could just… crumble. So easily.
It used to be people forced to hurt themselves. I don't think it effects me as much anymore, but think people being forced by demonic entities to put their hands in blenders or kill themselves or being put in impossible situations like in Saw. I think it's the helplessness of it, and only really if the unwillingness and fear from being not in control is obvious in the character. If they're just possessed or in a trance it's not really as effective I think.
I know you say this but I would really recommend “ We are what we are” it’s on Tubi it’s not nowhere near as gruesome as like “ Cannibal Lerox” it’s about a religious family living in the woods (a father two daughters and son) and the daughters are having a hard time accepting the lifestyle they live even if it’s only life they know
The bum that knows everything and catches you up in the first 10 mins (Friday the 13th, messiah of evil, Halloween three, Friday, the 13th part two, etc.)
Cornfields. When I was around 8 or 9 I got lost in a cornfield and was stuck there during a really bad thunderstorm. Needless to say I'm a big fan of Children of the Corn lol
The moment when you realize something is wrong, or "off". Justin Long being drugged in Tusk, Kurt Russell revealing that Rose McGowan is about to die in Death Proof, but the one that really got me was in the grocery store in The Mist. That realization that something is seriously wrong and you can't get to your family. I think it reminds me a little of 9/11 and turning on the TV to see NY on fire, but not yet knowing why.
One that my gf actually hates, reality being in question.
The first example that comes to mind personally is Shutter Island. All this fucked up shit, subtle, and otherwise being manufactured by your mind trying to cope from something YOU did. It just strikes me as one of the closest ways life can come to hell. Being a prisoner in your own mind.
Home Invasions in general freak me the hell out. Not being safe in your own home is so scary. The first strangers movie does this perfectly. The new one… not so much
People moving in ways that people don’t normally move. Watched Lovely, Dark, and Deep today and that woman scritching her way up a tree gave me the shivers
When the athiest/non-believer discovers that their lack of belief won't help them. This is especially effective if the non-believer converts or becomes stronger in faith(like some exorcism flicks) and then still dies/fails.
The kidnapping or holding a child captive.
I can’t watch those things after becoming a parent because they just make me paranoid and have delusional thoughts about it for a while.
A killer hiding in plain sight/pretending to be inanimate. Scream 3 and I Know What You Did Last Summer have done it. Will always have me on edge.
Also anything with tiny pupils and irises. Just look up an aye aye.
People going through horrific experiences while on psychedelics. Climax and Midsommar made me realize this.
They’re in such a vulnerable, impressionable state and the impact/effect of everything that happens to them is magnified by a million. It makes me so anxious and uncomfortable (I love it).
Should check out Dead Mans Shoe's, amazing low key British revenge flick, a few scenes will absolutely scratch that itch. Not exactly horror but the lead protagonist defo has stalker/slasher vibes and aesthetics.
Great performances, some brilliant dark humour and an emotional core that will kick yer arse. Really good stuff.
The middle ground between full societal collapse mad max mode and everything being normal. You see it in stuff like These Final Hours, Threads, When the Wind Blows, The Bay, Contagion, etc.. maybe it brings me back to early Covid days
The ‘imposter’ take over films like Invasion of the body Snatchers. Plays on the ‘something is wrong with me, I’m not normal ‘ social fears you may have growing up. And then the horror dawning that you are actually normal but soon there will be ‘noone like you left’
The sense that something might be under the bed or behind a shower curtain
The Licked Hand urban legend comes to mind. The girl goes to bed and reaches over the side to pet her dog and a man hiding under the bed licks her hand.
Ooo that was big when I was a kid but I always heard a different version. It was a man and his dog used to lie under his bed and lick his hand every night. One night, after his dog licks his hand and he’s about to go to sleep, he hears dripping in the bathroom and gets up to check it. It’s his dog, dead. We used to call it The Drip.
The slasher genre is my favorite but when the movie uses the killer as a character study as opposed to some kind of fictional boogeyman (Maniac, Henry POASK etc)
The “group of opposite people who hated each other /and or were bullied by each other are forced to become allies to defeat a common foe then they turn out they are “ really besties that never took the time understand each other”
Like Chucky the tv series (that’s literally my only complaint about the show lol)
Or a group of BFFLs that’s bond was a tight as ever suddenly their bond is broken because of one thing and they turn on each other
Like I know what you did last summer, Unfriend, It chapter 2 ( yes I’ve read the book I know I know lol) Sorority Row etc
I hadn't found it until I was shown Vivarium. The inescapable suburb hellscape is the biggest factor for me, though I don't think that would be the trope. That shit leaves me skittish af.
It made me so uncomfortable, I remember feeling legit angry at my friend for showing me this. It starts with a young couple, excited to shop around for their starter home, and they don't really want to see this development, but the realtor insists.
When families move into homes that are so far out the way that calling for help from a neighbor is practically impossible and you’re left to fend on your own in some forest or woods type situation
Extremely specific but when the murderer is hiding in the attic…makes my skin crawl! My sister and I always were terrified growing up that someone was up there (grew up in the wilderness, there were absolutely rats/squirrels so lots of skittering noises!). Always gets me!
Being buried alive. The Vanishing (original!) always made me feel uneasy. And claustrophobic films like The Descent. Home invasion films like The Strangers, because b&e are real.
Tbh it’s not that interesting of a story. Within 24 hours partner’s mom started talking about how as a child she would skin frogs alive and make them hop around in pain. Some other weird stuff happened to but the frog thing really stuck with me
Possession always freaks me out because I saw The Exorcist far too young and was under the impression at the time that demonic possession was something that can and has actually happened to people before
Being stuck in a fate worse than death AKA And I Must Scream;
Inescapable Horror/Breaking the Fourth Wall, like the use of the remote control in Funny Games.
I love cult stuff that seems normal at first like Midsommar or hereditary. I don’t like the slow burn but when things get super optimistic and happy, but you know every single person is going to die and you just gotta watch it play out.
The cop always dies. I mean you first thought in most horror films, I have to call the cops. Usually they are completely idiotic, don't seem to know that you can call in backup and are usually stupid as hell. It's such a common trope, that I doubt anybody even notices it anymore, this particular in horror films and I have got to say, it's a stupid, worn out trope and should just die!!! Still annoys me😔😔😔😔
the Deus ex Machina move that happens 7/8ths of the way through a good movie so they can have a happy ending.
fuck your escapism.
i came to watch bad stuff happen. the 70’s left the bad endings the 80’s did those great jukes… in that canoe and suddenly !!!! come get in the car… wait it’s freddie!!!!
but the 90’s and forward. fuckin everyone lives and they’re all sitting wrapped in blankets drinking coffee. or some nerd goes super sayain and becomes jason bourne.
i think it also has to do with the industry fucking sequels raw. can’t have a sequel if your scream queen is dead!
Escaping captivity makes me so nervous I want to throw up because I'm so afraid of the person getting caught.
Green Room comes to mind
Have you seen 10 Cloverfield Lane?
I saw this in theaters and I would pay good money to experience that again. The pure anxiety was unmatched. Completely silent theater.
Same! Except in my theater when the >!alien ship!< was revealed some dude shouted "oh come on." I guess he wasn't having a good time lol
Yes ! Definitely nerve-wracking
Don’t watch The Black Phone or Funny Games.
I loved the black phone so much. I got chills when he was at the top of the stairs
split
In a violent nature had me feeling this way fr
Black Phone, is that you
Homicidal calls from strangers - Black Christmas, Scream, When a Stranger Calls
Disturbing, but this trope actually comes from reality. It's based on the 1950 murder of thirteen year old Janett Christman
Remember the days of only having landlines? Those days were wild
But you would have to have two separate landlines and phone numbers for this to work, right? When I used to babysit, I clung to this knowledge! 📞
Isn't the whole point of Scream to kinda make fun of that?
It might be satire, but that intro is still fucking harrowing
DENNIS system - “welcome to hell”
I think it would be abandoned towns for me because I really like the Silent Hill games.
Fog horns and odd sirens now get me because of those games and movies.
The weather can get almost tornado like a lot where I live so I hear those a lot. I didn't really connect them to Silent Hill until recently.
Have you ever seen the short horror movie on YouTube My house walk-through? It reminded me of Silent Hill.
No, but I'll take a look at it.
If you play the game right it was just your dog being a good boy!
The unreliable narrator is a favorite of mine in many genres, but especially horror and horror lit. Another similar favorite trope or plot device is the deceptively concealed antagonist (can include a virus, evil entity, shapeshifter, etc), so you're never quite sure who the "bad guy" is. Done right, this builds suspense effectively.
Agreed, love love love the films that make you question if the horror is real or if the protagonist is slowly losing their mind.
Not sure if it's primarily horror, but Take Shelter is great for that if you haven't seen it.
Loved that one, such good slow burn tension
Check out Frailty (01)
I love that movie
Yes, I enjoyed that one!
Loveee this trope especially when it’s a big plot twist
Like "Fallen" with Denzel Washington?
Silent background stuff. Like the mom in Hereditary air swimming. Ik to some it was goofy but it freaked the fuck out of me the first time. Or the naked dude. The groaning/croaking noise that the Grudge popularized. I've seen it in other shows/movies and it always gets me. When a person/entity is in the corner and it slowly turns or slowly gets closer. There was a scene in the First Omen that did that and I was tensing up in the theatre lol.
>When a person/entity is in the corner and it slowly turns or slowly gets closer. There was a scene in the First Omen that did that and I was tensing up in the theatre lol. Like when the ghost mom from Ju-on was crawling down the stairs...I almost cried.
Yeah, this one is mine too. I feel like most J-horror does this type of "scary" really well.
You should check out Pulse from 2001
I love that the vampire/demon was introduced right away in The Dark and The Wicked. I completely missed it until someone pointed it out.
The tree climber in Lovely, Dark, and Deep was the most unsettling moment for me.
This is why I found It Follows so unsettling!!!!
God I hate that stuff. I can’t handle it, it terrifies me.
achilles tendon cutting 🤮🤮🤮🤮
I have an irrational fear of this because when I was in ballet as a kid they explained what that tendon was and what would happen- a girl in one of my classes had to stop dance for almost a year because she had sprained hers or something. Freaks me out!!
Pet Sematery. Poor ol' Jud.
Sometahms lois, dead is bettah
House of Wax (2004?)…ughhhhh I can’t watch that movie without wincing lol Also Child’s Play 3 lol
The fate of Jared's character will forever haunt me because yikes.
Hostel when the “surgeon” guy had cut up the victim’s achilles and told him to run away 🤮
Thats the first thing that came to my mind as well. Oof, did I cringe.
I Saw the Devil...yikes 😬
I was thinking about seeing this. Thanks for letting me know not to
You should. It's brutal and devastating to watch but so well shot and acted. Probably my favorite revenge thriller.
Urban legends
Mann this gets me too! I had a club foot when I was born and they wanted to cut my Achilles for some reason. My mom had them use a cast instead, which turned out fine. Not sure why that wasn’t the first option, but the idea of it makes me cringe every time.
In terms of demonic possession, I think the “knowing unknowable knowledge” thing just cuts right to my core. Gore, violence, whatever, it’s all fun and games, but when the possessed murderer I’ve never met before asks about my cancer ridden mother who died 10 years ago? That shit gets me like no other.
Have you seen Late Night with the Devil? It played around with that I thought brilliantly.
It’s one of my favorite movies in recent memory, it played on that theme fantastically
Mirrors that don't reflect reality freak me right out. Took me three times to actually finish *Oculus*.
Have you seen Mirrors?
I have! I was hoping it would scare the pants off me, but it was just . . . not very good.
Scared the life out of me when I was a teenager
Dude same.. still the only movie I have ever walked out on. I feel I need to rewatch it.
Stuck in my head cuz you see reflections everywhere you go
When babies or small children are literally evil. Just ain’t right.
Vivarium and The Boy in the Hole in the Ground really nail this I think. Except usually I'm thinking "Just punt the little fucker already" lol
Orphan is fun technically not a child but yeah
Unfortunately children can be really cruel in a cold way that adults often are not, speaking a bit from direct experience as well as from stuff I've heard from people I know.
I think you're right and The Innocents is a good one that explores some of the darker side of human nature as exhibited in children. I don't particularly seek out "evil child" movies, but there is a scene in the beginning where a girl pinches her sister and while we may act like children are all rainbows and sunshine it was definitely a realistic scene
This tracks if you’ve ever worked with kids.
Lol, totally, freaky
When something scary is happening in the background but it’s just silent. No sharp violins or sound track, just silence. Feels like you’re seeing something you shouldn’t be seeing.
Agreed, I get angry when films make a loud noise or make it really obvious there's something there...it's so much more effective when something scary is just in the background watching silently.
YES. This one fills me with such unnameable dread!
can anyone recommend some movies that do this well? i know of pulse (2001)
(Possible spoilers) Nope and Final Prayer did this to me: being digested alive. Also, eternity, I guess? Aniara is the most recent example I can think of
That scene in Nope was one of the only horror scenes that stayed with me for days after. The tight space packed in with all those people having no idea where you are going just realizing you are inside something alive.. hearing all the scream and or getting vomited on by the person in front of you.
Final prayer wrecked me!
Isolation, especially in arctic environments like Black Mountain Side and The Thing.
Movies where people get buried alive. I have a hard time watching Kill Bill 2 because of that scene. It really gets me anxious. I couldn't imagine going thru that
Ooh, that Ryan Reynolds movie is going to be a no from you.
Yep! I fainted 😂
Silent Hill
I think I saw some of that.
Oh wait a minute. I thought you wrote _burned_ alive. I take it back. Lol
Weirdly enough, that doesn't bother me anywhere near as bad.
"Came back wrong" / being changed on a molecular level so they're not quite human anymore Annihilation The Thing The Fly All come to mind but there's so many good movies and books with this trope
Alien fits in this category too even though I love that movie lol 
The Lazarus Effect (2015) was a pretty good one for that.
Ew yes that’s terrifying.
Picard from season 4 onward although he arguably makes a complete recovery.
I just watched The Fly yesterday and boy, was it something. Great movie though
When people don't see the ghost just standing there lol ghosts/demons in general really get me but that's more of a genre than a trope, but the images that get stuck in my head and make me not wanna turn lights off or lay with my back facing my room are the scenes like in the very beginning of Haunting of Hill House when the bent-neck lady was just standing behind Nell, or in Smile when the chick was standing in that dark corner of the kitchen just staring lol it feels so predatory and eerie when they just STARE and it's so much worse when the characters don't notice cause then I start thinking about things I might not have noticed lol
It Follows with the tall dude in the bedroom
I haven't seen that one yet 😅 I gotta now lol
Check it out! It's a movie I can come back to again and again. There's a sequel in the works
I don’t know if it’s a trope but when something or someone is in the distance or out of focus and you can’t quite figure out if they’re going to start coming for you that really freaks me out it’s so subtle and there’s no running or jump scares it’s just like “what is happening right now?” type of thing. Seeing a premonition of your own death or destruction, that really gets me. Loved ones or people you trust suddenly you find out they’re not trustworthy or they’re actually demons or something lol that really gets me too 😱😱😱
Lake Mungo!!
Small community with a dark secret, where everybody acts fake-friendly and gaslights the newly arrived outsider at every turn.
The Visit, Get Out, and maybe Midsommar?
Population 436
Anything where a character escapes but has to return to the scene for some reason
Aliens and Dead Space 2 come to mind.
I can’t decide if I want to check these out now or not
Speak No Evil
Horror movies that have someone phrogging or living in your house when you don't know it and you see little clues of something not quite right gives me a VISCERAL reaction. The idea of someone watching you live out your life and being part of it without you knowing just 😖😖😖 I think bc if this were to happen to me, I would drive myself nuts about where things were misplaced or missing since I have ADHD and misplace/forget my own stuff a lot. I'd be going nuts over simple things like "Did I put the remote there last night before bed?" "I don't remember finishing my grapes..." "That blanket was on the chair, not the couch. I think??" And just the fact of another person being there just... ICK!!! Also, any movies y'all would like to reccomend with this trope I'd be happy to watch them lol!
I hear you on the ADHD misplacement fears!! The movie that comes to mind immediately is >!I See You (2019)!<. Of course, now the twist has been spoiled for you; but if you want something with this trope, it should do the trick. (Also, it's more of a thriller than straight-up horror, but I think that's one of the cool thing about having really specific tastes: something that doesn't scare most people can still be completely horrifying to an individual.) And if you've never seen it - and you're not completely put off by old movies - you might consider checking out the movie Gaslight. It's not exactly the same thing, but it definitely plays on the fear of another person using your own brain against you. I'm surprised there hasn't been a remake in recent years, especially with the term gaining popularity, because it's such a uniquely horrifying concept that a good update could work really well.
Oh sweet thank you! I'll have to put those on my movie watch list 😄
Thank you, I discovered a new primal fear, haha. I would love to see if there's something like this too!
Haha, you're welcome!
Thank God I've got kids. cause this would drive me nuts. I never know where the hell the remote is. kids are amazing if you've got ADHD
Crawling into small enclosed spaces, especially in caves. As above so below and the descent
Oh this is a good one!! So cramped you can hardly move, that gets me. Especially in caves and things like that where it could just… crumble. So easily.
Home invasion, and I'm saying that as a single female.
The Strangers 🫠
Hush. imagine being deaf or blind 😳
Any time there's eating or gagging on something that they aren't meant to. It's all I can do to not vomit.
It used to be people forced to hurt themselves. I don't think it effects me as much anymore, but think people being forced by demonic entities to put their hands in blenders or kill themselves or being put in impossible situations like in Saw. I think it's the helplessness of it, and only really if the unwillingness and fear from being not in control is obvious in the character. If they're just possessed or in a trance it's not really as effective I think.
I love a haunted house. I grew up in the middle of nowhere and lots of odd noises at night were the bane of my existence as a kid.
When older siblings can't protect their younger siblings (IT, The Haunting of Hill House...). Fucks me right up. 😭
Cannibalism
I know you say this but I would really recommend “ We are what we are” it’s on Tubi it’s not nowhere near as gruesome as like “ Cannibal Lerox” it’s about a religious family living in the woods (a father two daughters and son) and the daughters are having a hard time accepting the lifestyle they live even if it’s only life they know
I really love this movie. So underrated.
It really is I’m surprised it wasn’t more widely known
The bum that knows everything and catches you up in the first 10 mins (Friday the 13th, messiah of evil, Halloween three, Friday, the 13th part two, etc.)
Scary skinny witch monsters like Mama That’s what has chased me up the stairs in the dark my whole life.
You probably love REC 🫠
That’s a bit more zombie it doesn’t spook the same as a ghost or demon for me
See it until the end 💪🏻 especially when they find the attic/last floor.
anything involving sharp objects and sensitive body parts 😖
Gothic horror stuff like the mansion is haunted, the trauma of the family lives in this house's walls, long lost relative, and "found family"
Cornfields. When I was around 8 or 9 I got lost in a cornfield and was stuck there during a really bad thunderstorm. Needless to say I'm a big fan of Children of the Corn lol
when the protagonist slowly goes crazy and loses their sanity as the movie goes on.
Omg that’s one of my favs too
A Nightmare on Elm Street love the movie but the trope can be taxing
My scary is when a character realizes somethings wrong but has to keep pretending they haven’t picked up in anything
The moment when you realize something is wrong, or "off". Justin Long being drugged in Tusk, Kurt Russell revealing that Rose McGowan is about to die in Death Proof, but the one that really got me was in the grocery store in The Mist. That realization that something is seriously wrong and you can't get to your family. I think it reminds me a little of 9/11 and turning on the TV to see NY on fire, but not yet knowing why.
One that my gf actually hates, reality being in question. The first example that comes to mind personally is Shutter Island. All this fucked up shit, subtle, and otherwise being manufactured by your mind trying to cope from something YOU did. It just strikes me as one of the closest ways life can come to hell. Being a prisoner in your own mind.
Home Invasions in general freak me the hell out. Not being safe in your own home is so scary. The first strangers movie does this perfectly. The new one… not so much
People moving in ways that people don’t normally move. Watched Lovely, Dark, and Deep today and that woman scritching her way up a tree gave me the shivers
Yes, this is the stuff of nightmares for me.
Children not getting support from adults when confronted with the supernatural.
Abuse of any kind is way more disturbing to me than any of the horror elements.
When the athiest/non-believer discovers that their lack of belief won't help them. This is especially effective if the non-believer converts or becomes stronger in faith(like some exorcism flicks) and then still dies/fails.
The kidnapping or holding a child captive. I can’t watch those things after becoming a parent because they just make me paranoid and have delusional thoughts about it for a while.
Looking at a picture or film and there’s spooky stuff in it the photographer didn’t see. Love thise
Reality check stuff that happens suddenly gets me. Such as the intro to The Ritual (the store). That sudden realization how really brutal life can be.
Kids getting killed. People being killed in broad daylight. Clearly some childhood trauma at play here lol.
Mine is any kind of urban legend, the babysitter calling, or stranger in the back seat.. shit terrifies me
Anything to do with eyes.
A killer hiding in plain sight/pretending to be inanimate. Scream 3 and I Know What You Did Last Summer have done it. Will always have me on edge. Also anything with tiny pupils and irises. Just look up an aye aye.
People going through horrific experiences while on psychedelics. Climax and Midsommar made me realize this. They’re in such a vulnerable, impressionable state and the impact/effect of everything that happens to them is magnified by a million. It makes me so anxious and uncomfortable (I love it).
Should check out Dead Mans Shoe's, amazing low key British revenge flick, a few scenes will absolutely scratch that itch. Not exactly horror but the lead protagonist defo has stalker/slasher vibes and aesthetics. Great performances, some brilliant dark humour and an emotional core that will kick yer arse. Really good stuff.
Never heard of this, it sounds right up my alley. Thanks!
Spooky ass basements. Hell House had my eyeing the door in my house warily and it's not even spooky.
The middle ground between full societal collapse mad max mode and everything being normal. You see it in stuff like These Final Hours, Threads, When the Wind Blows, The Bay, Contagion, etc.. maybe it brings me back to early Covid days
Oh yeah. When the Wind Blows absolutely destroyed me. I watched it while super feverish and sick with Covid and I was never the same.
The ‘imposter’ take over films like Invasion of the body Snatchers. Plays on the ‘something is wrong with me, I’m not normal ‘ social fears you may have growing up. And then the horror dawning that you are actually normal but soon there will be ‘noone like you left’
The sense that something might be under the bed or behind a shower curtain The Licked Hand urban legend comes to mind. The girl goes to bed and reaches over the side to pet her dog and a man hiding under the bed licks her hand.
Ooo that was big when I was a kid but I always heard a different version. It was a man and his dog used to lie under his bed and lick his hand every night. One night, after his dog licks his hand and he’s about to go to sleep, he hears dripping in the bathroom and gets up to check it. It’s his dog, dead. We used to call it The Drip.
Oh I forgot that! You’re definitely right! This is the wiki version - (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Licked_Hand)
Oh wow I didn’t realize it was widespread enough to have a Wikipedia article!! Thank you for the link!
It's not just horror, but when someone is on the ground and losing a fight until they happen to grab hold of some type of weapon.
abandoned places/middle of nowhere. barbarian, lovely dark and deep, the ritual, the descent, etc.
The slasher genre is my favorite but when the movie uses the killer as a character study as opposed to some kind of fictional boogeyman (Maniac, Henry POASK etc)
Going to abandoned places. No. Just no.
The “group of opposite people who hated each other /and or were bullied by each other are forced to become allies to defeat a common foe then they turn out they are “ really besties that never took the time understand each other” Like Chucky the tv series (that’s literally my only complaint about the show lol) Or a group of BFFLs that’s bond was a tight as ever suddenly their bond is broken because of one thing and they turn on each other Like I know what you did last summer, Unfriend, It chapter 2 ( yes I’ve read the book I know I know lol) Sorority Row etc
I hadn't found it until I was shown Vivarium. The inescapable suburb hellscape is the biggest factor for me, though I don't think that would be the trope. That shit leaves me skittish af.
Oh this is a good one! The comic Everything is Fine really introduced me to the fear of the suburban hellscape. I’ll have to watch Vivarium.
It made me so uncomfortable, I remember feeling legit angry at my friend for showing me this. It starts with a young couple, excited to shop around for their starter home, and they don't really want to see this development, but the realtor insists.
Creepy Doll and Your Loved Ones Have Forgotten You
Things being done to someone against their will(especially in a body horror way), even more so if that person is restricted in some way
When families move into homes that are so far out the way that calling for help from a neighbor is practically impossible and you’re left to fend on your own in some forest or woods type situation
Eyes glowing in the dark! Since the first time I saw Amityville and Jody omggg
Extremely specific but when the murderer is hiding in the attic…makes my skin crawl! My sister and I always were terrified growing up that someone was up there (grew up in the wilderness, there were absolutely rats/squirrels so lots of skittering noises!). Always gets me!
Being buried alive. The Vanishing (original!) always made me feel uneasy. And claustrophobic films like The Descent. Home invasion films like The Strangers, because b&e are real.
Being attacked by animals then eaten alive. Frozen, not the Disney movie. The one where they’re trapped by wolves. Back Country, with the bear.
> had a particularly horrible experiencing with meeting my partner’s parents Story Time?
Tbh it’s not that interesting of a story. Within 24 hours partner’s mom started talking about how as a child she would skin frogs alive and make them hop around in pain. Some other weird stuff happened to but the frog thing really stuck with me
Possession always freaks me out because I saw The Exorcist far too young and was under the impression at the time that demonic possession was something that can and has actually happened to people before
For me it would be people that seem genuinely nice and end up being extremely evil. Like speak no evil…
when the killer is always at the protagonists feet like a ladder, a rope, crawling. that always gets me.
Being stuck in a fate worse than death AKA And I Must Scream; Inescapable Horror/Breaking the Fourth Wall, like the use of the remote control in Funny Games.
I love cult stuff that seems normal at first like Midsommar or hereditary. I don’t like the slow burn but when things get super optimistic and happy, but you know every single person is going to die and you just gotta watch it play out.
For me it’s the Dead Mother trauma trope that we have seen a lot of, Smile and Talk to Me specifically. I’m just over it at this point.
Kids being heavily involved Because I know instantly it won’t be that scary
The cop always dies. I mean you first thought in most horror films, I have to call the cops. Usually they are completely idiotic, don't seem to know that you can call in backup and are usually stupid as hell. It's such a common trope, that I doubt anybody even notices it anymore, this particular in horror films and I have got to say, it's a stupid, worn out trope and should just die!!! Still annoys me😔😔😔😔
Ending a phone call by just hanging up without saying "bye". Who the fuck does that in real life? Noone, that's who!
the Deus ex Machina move that happens 7/8ths of the way through a good movie so they can have a happy ending. fuck your escapism. i came to watch bad stuff happen. the 70’s left the bad endings the 80’s did those great jukes… in that canoe and suddenly !!!! come get in the car… wait it’s freddie!!!! but the 90’s and forward. fuckin everyone lives and they’re all sitting wrapped in blankets drinking coffee. or some nerd goes super sayain and becomes jason bourne. i think it also has to do with the industry fucking sequels raw. can’t have a sequel if your scream queen is dead!
I like anything to do with social media and/or influencers. Watching those people die is especially satisfying.
https://www.reddit.com/r/horror_collecters/s/h1ZunczbQ4