I have a love/hate relationship with clichés in horror movies. For one, I find poorly written, cliché-ridden films the easiest to review because I’m a sarcastic asshole and part of me lives to mock things. But when I’m taking the genre seriously, searching for that ever-elusive genuine scare, clichés are a disappointing sign of lazy screenwriting and studios’ desire to satiate audiences who are either too dumb to know any better or sadly just don’t care.
You’re all familiar with them and probably roll your eyes every time you see a demonic child doing a spider-walk towards our protagonist or a suddenly irresponsive cell phone displaying the “no signal” message during a crucial moment.
So, I’ve taken it upon myself to start a little project to point out the various clichés we love and loathe. Rather than a long, wordy blog post, I’ve chosen to briefly introduce each cliché (hopefully at the rate of one per week, but we’ll see) and create a compilation video showcasing its awesomeness/douche chilliness. This week’s inaugural cliché is…
The False Alarm – Our protagonist is home alone. They’re planning a quiet night of studying in their bedroom before bed but an odd noise disturbs them from their plan. Of course, they leave the safety of their bedroom to investigate (another cliché, itself). The camera, positioned just above their shoulder, follows them as they head toward the source of the noise – a closet, perhaps. The noise occurs again. Our protagonist hastily flings open the door – CUE SHRIEKING SOUND EFFECT – to reveal….a cat! They scream and then scold the animal for freaking them out.
There are dozens of instances of the false alarm – a sudden shoulder grab, a character pretending to be dead, etc. This overused device is meant to create tension and then reveal it to be a ploy so that when the real kill or attack happens, you won’t be ready for it. It never really works, yet it just won’t die. Let’s take a look.
#1 by Amanda on January 25th, 2010
I liked this device better when it was called foreshadowing. But the fact that you put your own reel together is cool.
#2 by Matt on January 25th, 2010
I don’t think the false alarm is necessarily always foreshadowing as it isn’t always indicative of specific things to come. The examples used in my video are meant to illustrate how filmmakers use a mock scare to keep audiences on their toes. For example, the clip I pulled from The Gravedancers where Alison runs down the stairs, abruptly runs into Dominic and a loud sound effect is played doesn’t foreshadow any upcoming action in the narrative. It’s just there to make you jump. That said, some examples do foreshadow future events. Thanks for checking it out.
#3 by Unk on January 25th, 2010
This is so awesome, great job! I’ve always loved the jumping cat routine because it usually does not resemble actual cat behavior at all. For example that scene from F13 pt2…that poor cat was thrown through the window! I’ll never forget that in the first Species movie they actually used a squirrel to accomplish this goal… hilarious! Can’t wait to see what you come up with next!
#4 by Jay Clarke on January 25th, 2010
That was great man! So many memories. Did you not include Jamie Lee and Charles Cyphers (Sherriff Brackett) “Everyone’s entitled to one good scare.” bit from Halloween because there was no sound cue?
#5 by Matt on January 25th, 2010
Thanks, guys! Really appreciate the comments. This took me a long time to assemble.
@Unk – the cats are priceless and yeah, definitely noticed how the poor thing was obviously just hurled through the window! I’ll have to check out that Species one. Sounds awesome. Looking forward to doing another one of these.
@Jay – Definitely an oversight on my part to not include that one. There are dozens more that I probably should have included. Thanks for checking it out!
#6 by Chris on January 25th, 2010
Great Job Matt, It’s amazing how many film makers were willing to repeatedly use that dumb cat Jump. I wonder who was a site from the ASPCA while they were hurling the cat through the window. You know it had to take like seven takes too. “Okay, chuck Fluffy through again, ACTION”
#7 by Ryne on January 26th, 2010
I hate how when it is a closet false alarm, it is almost always a cat. What is with cats! Why not a mouse, or even a sleeping dog? Cats get a bad rap, I feel.
#8 by Greg on January 28th, 2010
Nice entry! I think I’m gonna enjoy this Cliche special. I do feel the False Alarm itself has its uses. It does build up tension and it’s usually best when a film-maker knows what he’s doing. A lot of those false alarms were pretty crappy. One aspect of horror films that I do love is the aspect of misdirection. The false alarm is another sense of misdirection the audience, but once again, people either do it well or don’t.
My favorite type of false alarm is definitely the Bus. It was first created by Val Lewton and is used quite frequently in his other horror films. The first time it’s used is in Cat People.
From wiki…
“Lewton and his production team claim credit for inventing the popular horror film technique called the “bus”. The term came from the scene where Irena is walking behind Alice; the audience expects Irena to turn into a panther at any moment and attack her. At the most tense point, when the camera focuses on Alice’s confused and terrified face, the silence is shattered by what sounds like a hissing panther—but it is a bus pulling over to pick her up. After the excitement dies down, the audience is left uncertain whether anything supernatural or life-threatening actually happened. This technique has been adapted into a great many horror movies since then. Anytime a movie creates a scene where the tension rises and dissipates into nothing at all, merely an empty boo!, it is a ‘bus’.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXvG0E3s4wo
#9 by Matt on January 28th, 2010
Thanks, Greg. I agree with you that false alarms do have their purpose and when executed well, can scare the crap out of you for a second. That info on the “bus” was very interesting. I have a lot of catching up to do on my classic horror films. Looking forward to doing another one of these and hope to post it sometime next week.
#10 by DLR on February 1st, 2010
Great compilation! False alarms work if they’re done well but they seldom are. Club Dread does a good job making fun of them (and I was happy to see them in your video!)
#11 by Greg on March 1st, 2010
Are we ever gonna get Volume 2?
#12 by Matt on March 2nd, 2010
Yeah, I know – I have an idea in mind but I’ve been slacking on putting it together. They’re a ton of work to assemble but I hope to have one done soon. Have to go away for business most of this month so it may not be until the end of March. Thanks for the encouragement though!