Authored by Rodney Southern in Movies and Television
Published on 09-15-2009

Every horror movie these days seems to be pretty much cut from the same mold. There are some exceptions, but they are increasingly rare as time goes on. When the slasher movies from the early eighties began, the movie studios realized they had a formula that they could easily replicate. They then proceeded to produce zillions of horror movies that each were less unique than the one before. The only thing that would usually change would be the form of the killer. While horror movies have grown up in recent years, even today we still get the horror movie typecasts on a regular occasion. Every horror movie seems to have some variation of these typecasts.

The Goofy Comic

Every horror movie has that funny guy. Usually they will also be goofy, misunderstood and unattractive. This typecast has been a staple of horror movies for many years, and it seems to be the horror genre’s mildest attempt at building sympathy for a character. It is usually rather easy to feel sorry for the comic dude, because he is usually a decent guy that uses humor to cover up his inadequacies. The problem with the comic is that they always send his antics over the top and make him annoying instead of someone that we can like. It is never too bad though, as the Comic is always killed off rather early in the horror movie.

The Loose Women

It seems as though every single horror movie ever created has had no less than one loose woman, and usually there are several. There is always that one, however, that will flaunt herself all over the screen, have sex with the first available person, and then die a gruesome death. It is a virtual requirement for the horror movie, and is partly a statement about loose morals in our society. It also is an unfortunate way to put cheap thrills up on the screen.

The Attractive Heroine

The hero of the horror movie almost always is a beautiful woman, and she is almost always the only smart character in the entire movie. Still, she will make a number of mistakes to put herself in the most horrid situation possible. Despite her brains, she will find some way to give herself no chance to survive, and survive anyway. This character will almost always have some extremely redeeming quality, so as to cement her place as the hero.

The Heroine’s Love Interest

This is the guy that will be the “good guy” throughout the movie. They will attempt to make him seem as though he will never be killed, and then kill him anyway. He will be of the highest morals, and will carry himself as likeable throughout the movie. In the end, he has to die so that the audience will have an emotional buy in for the finale with the heroine. This character is also the most likely candidate to come back to life at the end of the movie to somehow save the heroine. There has to be a love scene to be interrupted at the end, right?