Terror-In-A-Can Part IV

This is the 4th (and penultimate) blog in a series that I have done around the little joke that all modern horror movies are pretty much cut from the same mold. You can start back with Part I here if you want. Or you can catch up with Part II or Part III.

This blog will cover Stock Scenes #4 and #5, known respectively as , the Marco Polo, and Weapon, Weapon, Who's Got a Weapon?


Stock Scene #4: The Marco Polo

Who hasn't played Marco Polo in a pool as a kid growing up? One person is "it", and closes their eyes and says, "Marco!". Everyone else is supposed to respond with a hearty, "Polo!" Then the "it" person attempts to catch someone by sound alone.

In the modern horror movie, it plays out this way. The Victim, let's say a young girl, steps out onto the front porch...at night. "Johnny? Johnny...where are you? Quit playing around Johnny. Johnny? Is that you?"

You get the picture. Eventually, either A) Johnny jumps out and scares her and everyone laughs, or B) another friend jumps out and scares her and everyone laughs, or C) The Villain jumps out, scares her and...well you know how this usually ends.


Stock Scene #5: Weapon, Weapon, Who's Got a Weapon?

This is a simple rule of modern horror movie making: if a Victim has a weapon, he/she must be separated from it at the worst possible moment. This also applies to any light source.



That gives us Stock Scenes #4 and #5. I'm going to plow ahead and wrap the scenes!



Stock Scene #6: The Marathon

You are correct. You guessed it. The running scene. To keep it simple, this is where the Victim is running from the Villain. This usually ends similarly to Stock Scene #4. The Victim is running, running, running...the Villain is behind them (usually walking, but managing to keep up somehow), running, running, running...the Villain is behind them...running, running...the Villain is in front of them!! Or, it could be a friend. Either way, you get a nice, good startle out of it.


Stock Scene #7: The Not Quite Dead
This scene is really in two parts. You kill them, everyone's finally safe...and then BAM!! They jump back up. They keep on coming back like a bad rash. So the Victim usually has to dispatch of them at least one more time.

Every great Villain is notoriously hard to kill. That's because of one reason: sequels. Why go through the trouble of reinventing the wheel when you can just bring the Villain back to life and feed another set of Victims through the wringer? It saves time and money.


Next time: the Movie!!