Extreme jump scare volume, because loud is apparently no longer enough. Some of us have _neighbours_ trying to sleep. Micromanaging the remote control becomes a distraction.

my icks: dead pets for shock value, mental illness as a plot twist, excessive and long rape scenes, 3+ plot twists shoved into the last ten minutes of the movie

The “just kidding it was just a dream”…whether it’s just a scene in the movie or the whole movie. Such a cop out.

my biggest icks: - cgi gore - jumpscares made for the audience that dont make sense within the movie - faith saves the day - annoying kids wth plot armor - sequels and prequels over-explaining stuff

"How do we do possessions without CGI?!" *The Exorcist*: "I'm *right here*, ya know!"

I love how in Alien the cat survives! You assume it'll get killed but nope!!

Character on the floor being dragged away by some unseen force in every trailer.

I would absolutely love to see a "yum" list for horror movies!

UGH 1) Family moves to a new home and the female teen is "always" pissed and sassy and never wanted to move. 2) Killer/monster "always" does that annoying head tilt as he's looking at his next kill as if that's supposed to be ominous...

What i hate the most is when there is a sex scene in a horror movie and it doesn't matter to the story at all, hopefully that trope will die down, and i don't like the fake out jump scares they just don't work as well anymore.

The cop out jump scares "oh it's just a cat" "oh it's just the friend playing a prank" "oh this is actually supposed to scare me but I'm dulled to the jump scares now"

dog being an exception to the rule in horror movies: When Evil Lurks.

Pet deaths are really the only trigger for me and to then go through all those emotions just for a pet to be used as a prop for 3 scenes is so annoying. Literally when I see a fluffy cutie I instantly get anxious as hell.

Hi Spooky, One particular thing that happens in a lot of horror movies that drives me insane is not turning the lights on. When the characters experience seeing something or hearing something at night in their home and decide to investigate they almost never turn on the lights. This happens a lot in found footage movies. If I heard or saw something in my home I would be turning every damn light on in my home. The other thing that drives me crazy is they almost always remain in their home when creepy stuff starts happening. Thanks

Hard agree about the dead dog, children’s books have been doing that for decades and it was already tired and cliché. At this point I am more impressed when they DON’T kill the animal.

My horror movie icks: •The antagonist of the film being a set of teen boys •Characters knocking out the killer/villain unconscious and then leaving them instead of finishing them off •Overuse of cgi •

There's this trope I don't usually hear people bring up where you have a character who's acting really creepy during the plot of the film, such as staring through the protagonist's window during night, is in their house and doing all kinds of things that are really suspicious that you think that they are easily the prime suspect, but turns out that they aren't...

"Da fuck is that font?" I am friends with a person like that.

Characters that say, “hello?” when they’re alone or being hunted down by an antagonist 😒 I’m so glad “why are you doing this” or pleading with the killer/antagonist had died down, but “hello” always annoys me. And I agree, a snippet of the end of the movie at the beginning is obnoxious. Enjoy those hash browns!

I'm over the, "main highways are closed off, so we gotta take the one lane country roads," and the car breaks down stuff

I completely agree about teasers at the start of a movie. Whenever there's a big, scary opening scene and then it cuts to "24 hours earlier," I let out the heaviest sigh you've ever heard. It's a cheap way to hook the audience, but as you said, we're already there!

A couple of over-used devices in recent horror come to mind: 1) Jump-cut movement for evil entities as they approach protagonist. 2) Exaggerated smile. A little similar to CGI possession, it indicates something has been possessed or turned evil. It works fine in movies like Smile, Evil Dead Rise and Talk To Me but it's been overdone at this point. 3) The music in horror trailers, all very alike now. It's the metronome that turns into a crescendo in kind of a ghost gasp as it grows louder and nearer. You'd know it once you heard it if my explanation falls flat. It's in too many horror trailers. I think I will be attuned to your pet peeves more now.

I have 2 tropes that make me crazy. 1. Zombies sneaking up on people. There are 2 types of Zombies, slow and fast. The slow ones growl, hiss and make disgusting noises. The fast ones very often scream or make a high pitched noise. But in every Zombie movie there is a scene where someone looks around and the coast is clear, only to turn back in the other direction and there is a Zombie standing face to face with them. Zombies arent sneaking up on anyone. 2. People acting casually about something that should send them screaming and running away. A perfect example is the beginning of "Lights out". The lady is walking through the facility and the lights are flickering. When she gets to the office area she sees some sort of scary figure in the doorway when the light is off. When she turns it on the figure diasappears. Then every time she turns it off the figure gets closer. So she just stands there flicking the light switch until shes killed. Any sane person would have seen that creepy figure and taken off like a shot!! I do have 1 Yum. When a movie gets the feeling of isolation right. 30 days of night is a good example. Movies that show the characters stranded alone out in the desert/forest/ocean are my favorites.

I do love the earlier jump scare! It's like saying "put down your phone and watch the movie" lol I'm kinda sick of SA scenes and SA revenge storylines though. I could totally do without all that at this point.

Thank you for mentioning pet deaths right out of the gate! I'd love it if this stopped, too. Great video!

Yessss the possession face was goofy a decade ago, the melty stretch mouth just makes me laugh not fearful lol

Pet death is absolutely my #1 ick!! The only movie I can stand it in is Pet Sematary, since it's the catalyst for the whole plot. Also it's an accidental death and not human cruelty which is less of a trigger for me. Much less serious, but I always roll my eyes whenever I hear the "jump scare violin" 🙄I really like hashbrowns though!🥔

Yes to the Yums list

The exorcism of emily rose scene of her contorted body was such a jump scare! Really shows how much scarier it can be without special effects. Now I want to watch that movie 😂

Regarding the pets dying trope, that's one of things I liked about Thanksgiving, even if it was a small scene.

1- Comic relief; 2- Comic relief; 3- Kennys; 4- scenes of abuse done only for shock value; 5- Comic relief.

08:05 Right!? Like the infamous subway scene in Possession 1981... a performance that is beyond harrowing to look at. Pure hysterical manic spiralling rage. Also, a HUGE part of the mystery of possession is whether it's a neurological disorder or actually 'paranormal' or something in between (and that's real life and the movies). Believe it or not, a Grand Mal/Clonic Seizure is one of the weirdest and most unnatural and scary things you can witness in real life (said with all empathy for the sufferer) - so why trope it up with make-up CGI and dodgy pageantry..?

I hate fake jump scares! Usually are always cats lol

i actually prefer it when texts and stuff like articles etc are shown on the screen instead of in any other way

Definitely want a list of positives to go with this video

That "show the beginning of the third act, then flashback to ___ time earlier" isn't just in horror, but I HATE IT wherever it's used. The 2003 TMNT cartoon started every episode like that, I just got into fast-forwarding to the theme song after a few episodes, and I not only didn't miss anything, it preserved the surprise & tension when it finally arrived naturally.

Absolutely takes me out when a Found Footage film suddenly features shots that could not POSSIBLY be filmed on the device they're claiming it was filmed on (maybe that's just me?) Also, there's a right way, and a wrong way to use Show Don't Tell via darkness: a good example of not being able to see I would say is Skinamarink, where its hard to see, but there's that childlike fear of the dark. A bad one, again just my opinion, is The Outwaters. Straight up could not see what was happening for over 60% of the film because it was just a tiny pinhole light.

The overuse of music in horror movies. Silence is the best way to create tension.

I personally hate the car accident at the beginning of a movie. For me that's lazy writing. Love this video btw.

Thank you for mentioning text messages. Social media has rendered modern horror and thrillers pointless. That's why I prefer vintage horror (Hammers, 60s Italian gothic, 70s giallo). iPhones have taken away the sense of vulnerability.

Evil Lurks dog moment was on point

I think the "teaser" opening is something that carried over from books. Since you don't have trailers for books and they take much longer to consume than a movie, authors sometimes choose to have a prologue that acts like a promise to the reader saying "stick with the story and you're going to get to a place where all this cool stuff is happening and it'll make sense!" Obviously it doesn't make as much sense mechanically in a movie, but I wonder if it started in books and just became a storytelling trope regardless of medium over time.

Amen to the pet deaths issue. Nothing ruins the enjoyment of a film quite like something that reminds me of some of the worst experiences in my life. I would have really enjoyed The Lodge if not for that dog scene, which just left me depressed for days. If I want to be depressed, I'll think about my job. The other big thumbs-up for me is the text issue. I watched a few episodes of Euphoria before deciding it just wasn't for me, and one thing that put me off was an entire conversation done as onscreen text...in other words, done with no acting whatsoever. It's tedious and boring...I don't care if it's realistic. What's the deal with the hashbrowns, anyway?

Maybe not as common now but that black sludge that used to come out of peoples eyes in horror movies was one for me! Wait it was mentioned as well! Lol

An ick of mine are characters that talk about sex all of the time. Pretty common in the slasher genre. Especially if they're played by an actor who looks nothing like a high schooler. 😅

I would have never expected to see Supernatural. 😂😂 But yes, sometimes it looks like the eyes got added with good old paint.

I love that you put in the exceptions too. I agree about the teaser at the start of movies period it might be different for books because you can just put the book down if it takes too long to get into period but with the movie, I don't think the length of time is as much to invest and if you're in a theater, yes, you probably paid, so you're pretty invested. It's so funny that you don't like the text on screen- for some reason I actually like. I don't know why. I definitely want the positives!

I'm right with you regarding all the needless pet deaths. All those spooky, psychic-power nosebleeds need to stop too.

I loved how hybrid found footage was used in AHS: Roanoke. They managed to make it incredibly immersive and suspenseful for the most part and I really enjoyed how it was a meta commentary on social media in itself.

On par with pet death for me is ‘occasional pet’ the dog is such an ingrained family member but then things start getting wild and the dog is never seen or heard from again. Like Will’s dog in Stranger Things. Because Will had a dog, occasionally, in Stranger Things. The kids from Mama, they occasionally had a dachshund. Why even bother?

SOOO true about the dog part. I hate that I knew immediately what was about to happen when I saw a dog in a horror movie, and I hate that I was always right. it may have something to do with how I'm very sensitive when it comes to animal death or animal cruelty even if it's just in a movie. but yeah it got too predictable at this point.

I'm starting to get fed up with close-ups of chopping vegetables. It's been coming up in a lot of the movies I've watched lately and it's almost always played the same way. It's the new "putting your hand in the garbage disposal."

my biggest tick in horror movies is people who are self aware but still do dumb stuff thats why i dont like scream they talk about how to avoid horror conflict but they do the opposite and still get killed

Oh goodness the 'Welcome To Your Possession SPFX Pack' good gawdz. Elements of it were effective early on, but it's like they just squished them all together and it became standardized. My least favorite element is the huge mouth thing, who's only saving grace is that it's become hilarious, but that's not good for the movie. My sense of it is that there are two ways to try to make images in horror; one being looking at the situation and story and with that in mind, figure out what you can do to ratchet up the tension or freak people out (while avoiding things that are too familiar). The other is to have some kind of list of known ways to make something scary, and lean on them and work them in where you can. The second is assembly line, the first is art.

About the pets as props, it happens even more with cats. They're also used as props, and not only in horror films. It's so lazy, as you said. A not horror example is the film Argylle... Geez, the most rubbish film I've seen this year. The way they treat that cat makes me realise why they used such a horrible CGI... But I swear media likes to perpetuate the hate and miss treatment towards cats any chance they get.

When the main character gets a knock on the door in the middle of the afternoon and they walk slowly and nervously towards the door, even though there's no reason to suspect that the person knocking on the door is a serial killer.

I agree with the things mentioned. I too do not like my immersion interupted. ❤ your channel. Lets see the positives now.😊

I like the climax of a film to be shown at the end , not the beginning of the film !

I would love to see the 'yums' 😆 discussion!

Major horror pet peeves, especially in slashers: people throwing weapons away for no reason after using them once. Also, running away after getting a real advantage over the antagonist.

I'm curious to see the ´green flags´ list👀

I too hate the "dog dies first" cliche. Or cat. Or any animal. And I hate horror movies that start at the end.

Giant insects or spiders always make the same high pitched screeching noise. Sure, it sounds scary, but why should bugs have vocal cords?

Things I hate in movies. The fake out jump scare to give into the real jump scare. Or when somebody grabs somebody from behind. Also dream sequences can be a bit boring.

Video idea: horror tropes/cliches throughout the ages!

Excessive flashbacks drive me crazy. Also, info-dumping all the relevant backstory/world building/character motivation in a conversation.

YES! I am so glad to hear you talking about pet deaths in horror media. I remember being a young teen and my father had rented I Am Legend for the family to watch. When the scene came up where Will Smith has to kill Sam because she's been infected by the zombie virus, I got so upset, I refused to watch the rest of the film. My father got pissed off, said I was "ruining family time" by "being a pu$$y". I will never forget his intense reaction to my hyper empathy and my love of animals. It's how he always was, vocally and emotionally abusive. One of my worst movie going experiences was going to see Smile with my cousins. When THAT scene comes up (if you know, you know), it took me right out of the movie and upset me so much, I had to leave the theater because I was having a panic attack. When my cousin found out why I was in the lobby drinking a Coke and trying to calm down, he got upset at the film makers on my behalf. Then he found out what animated movies were playing and bought us both tickets to the next showing. It was so different from my father's reaction and made me feel seen, understood and above all else, loved. That's one of the myriad of reasons why The Lost Boys is one of my favorite horror movies of all time and one of my favorite movies period. There's a moment at the end when one of the main characters' dog, Nanook, has been left outside and the vampires are beginning to lay siege on the house. His young owner Sam races outside in an attempt to save his beloved pet and he does! With a lesser writer, the vampires would have killed Nanook to show the escalation of the stakes, but that's not what happens. Nanook survives the movie and even saves two of the characters from one of the invading vampires. I was so relieved when I first saw the film at 13, relieved that Nanook wasn't even so much as scratched, let alone killed.

Icks: Scary little girl- It was cool when it started and now we can stop; Person who refuses to turn the lights on in their own house when investigating the creepy sound; Long exposition scenes to explain all the evil happening, especially when told by a character that is soon to die or never be seen again.

What annoys me is having a "music video" or several of them in a movie just to fill up time.

please give us the positives too! I would love to watch that :D

i comment here because i dont know how else to recommend you a movie named: In the Earth 2021(mystery,horror) This movie made me anxious and i liked it very much!!

When the protagonists run over an animal on their way to the main horror destination. It's a played out unimaginative horror beat that's supposed to be foreboding. It was old before Get Out did it.

Absolutely hate when they begin a movie with something that hasnt happened yet...

My biggest ick is when the monster acts stupid or inconsistent out of nowhere or at random times. An example I mean is in the movie "Grave Dancers" when the ghosts present themselves, at first the ghost of the woman with the hatchet is going fast trying to attack a guy, then when the people are together pulling the guy away, the ghost is suddenly floating slowly while dragging her foot on the ground.....as though she weren't going fast just moments ago....and she's supposed to be a restless, vengeful spirit.....What? Did she get tired and decide to take a break while still pursuing her victims???....This RESTLESS VENGEFUL SPIRIT??? These kind of inconsistent choices can be exceptional for maybe something like a zombie who just rose from the dead and is still kind of confused and groggy while in the middle of focusing on catching a victim, but if let's say a monster is supposed to be a skilled hunting predator that can hide well, then make sure the monster is not doing actions that would contradict it's character like popping out in jump scares!

Totally agree with "teaser opening" hate. Why do I want to know how it's going to end at the BEGINNING ?

The opening teaser thing oh man! I just rewatched House of Sand and Fog, forgot that’s exactly how it opens. I know that it isn’t a horror movie but drove me nuts haha. Great video as always! 🤘🏻

I'm with you on the 'opening teaser' flash forward sequence beginning. Removes ALL suspense. No one in that teaser will be dead before that sequence so if any of those characters end up in peril before that sequence, there's no "oh no they won't survive" moments at all. I'm just chilling until that sequence ends now. Yeah. It's rarely a sign of a good film.

I'm so happy to see you Emma! I hope you're doing well

What did you think of the found footage (on the digital camera) in annihilation? I personally didn't find that instance bad or lazy, just curious on your own take

Great video, thank you for the hashbrowns! Did you ever watch Personal Shopper? It’s not really a horror movie but it has a sequence near the end of the film where it feels like… 20 minutes of the main character texting someone with no dialogue in between. It’s crazy. It’s probably not that long but it FEELS that long

The off-screen dog death in Jaws was awesome.

Crazy how much we're alike when it comes to horror.

One effect that always takes me out of the story is fake blood that looks fake. The blood looks like house paint. This happens the most in horror movies from the 1970s and earlier. If I see a trailer that shows bad fake blood, I won't see the movie.

A trope that I don't necessarily hate, but I find silly and usually makes me laugh now, is the person who belatedly realizes that they were killed... like their head gets cut off or they're cut in half AND THEN you see their facial expression change. SO EXTREME 😆

I'm with you on most of these. A few "icks" for me are the "bully" character. The throw away character that's just there to be mean to a main character. That's it. That's all they do. Also, False Tension, caused by characters fighting over stupid things, that either don't matter at all, or don't move the plot forward. And something that happened with Smile. Explaining plot points, or monster rules multiple times throughout the movie. I'm mean we get it, we know what's happening, let's do something about it. And finally, hashbrowns

Agree completely about perspective suddenly changing to found footage… But I love it when someone comes across footage or audio in a horror movie

You're such a positive person that i feel like the normal videos are everything you love to see in a horror movie. But it's so fun to see you let out this tiny bit of negativity and complain a little, while still being so nice about it, haha! I say do more of these! Everyone loves when someone is a bit out of character

im soooo with you on the text massages on screen! takes me out every time!

1) Establishing the leads as partying college kids on a break - I never warmed to that even when I was in college and when I see it in 2000's horror movies I'm like "Okay I hate this, when's the monster coming?" It's clearly just there to have them be little idiots motivated by sex and alcohol and nothing endears me to these characters. Wolf Creek fares the best but that's because the annoying stuff is actually toned down. 2) This is a weird one but walking or turning around slowly - especially after the danger is established. It's clearly there to add more suspense but there are ways of doing that without sacrificing the character's very clear need for urgency. It shatters the immersion for me. 3) Jump scares aren't the problem, what is is the loud noise that accompanies them that is not in the diegesis of the film. The more a horror movie has them the more that it feels like the people making them don't have faith in what they're using to startle people. Honorable mention to when a horror movie is nothing BUT jump scares because it becomes expectation rather than startling and that ruins what jump scares actually do.

The awkward texting in Insidious is part of their strained relationship.

I'm a little confused about your 'teaser' pet peeve. What you described is exactly what Evil Dead: Rise just did. They told us what was going to come. That annoyed me because when the characters came up I knew where it was going and I'm like, 'Why did they give it away at the beginning??" I wish you would have given an example of what you meant.

Although not as prevalent anymore I always hated the giant mouth phase movies went through, the CGI mouths that are way too big when a person ( usually possessed ) screams or roars.

This thing that always annoys me is what I'd call a "reality rug-pull" where there aren't enough scares in a movie so they have characters face off against something horrific for a set piece but then wherever they end up doesn't work for the plot so they just have the character wake up and it was a dream, or a preminition, or it was virtual reality, or they time travel out of it. Scary set pieces that end up having no consiquences to the story. Sometimes they can be really well done, but, like jump scares, if you do it too often I just end up never trusting what I'm seeing is real, therefore i never care about anything that happens becuase it could all have no consiquences. It's a way for writes to write themselves into a corner and then cheaply get out of it again and it taints the whole film for me.

A cheap trope I find is only used for shock value is naked elderly woman. There are films in which I can ignore it because the movie is so good, like Hereditary, but it's something that absolutely never adds anything to the plot. It doesn't make the movie better or scarier at all.

This isn’t exclusive to horror, but my biggest one is lengthy exposition delivered in dialogue or monologues that is provided based on the assumption that the audience is too dumb to figure out anything for themselves. Like I don’t need the entire plot explained for me like I’m 5 😭

Hear you regarding text messages on the screen in horror movies, Emma. One of the reasons I hated The Shallows. It felt so cheap, gimmicky distracting and completely unnecessary. 🤨

"wtf is that font" lmfao my inner graphic designer felt that to my core

Good example of PD: Church. It's necessary to the plot.

Hashbrowns sound awesome right now, actually. Yeah, I agree with these points. I think my main pet peeve right now is PG-13 Horror. If I'm on the fence about something, I think I'm going to start staying home when it isn't R Rated. Imaginary is just another in a long stream of toothless PG-13 Horror films, especially from Blumhouse.

Okay first of all, my guess for possession cgi is: Black eyes with the black veins around them and screaming mouths that get stretched beyond oblivion. This was never scary, it will never be scary, stahp it! Secondly: I love your ranting, Emma! ♥Very cool video. EDIT: Hashbrowns ;-*