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Movies => Bad Movies => Topic started by: InformationGeek on May 20, 2010, 09:08:21 PM



Title: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: InformationGeek on May 20, 2010, 09:08:21 PM
I've seen this brought up before in shows I've watched.  A lot of people say the black guy dies first (Great joke from Evolution by the way), I've notice the dumb blonde seems to kick the bucket pretty quickly as well in a bunch of movies, and I've also heard that the funny guy goes first as well.  Since you guys seem more slasher, horror, and similiar movies in the past then me, what do you think?  What character type seems to die first in these movies?


Title: Re: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: WingedSerpent on May 20, 2010, 09:22:25 PM
Funny guy usually survives for awhile.  First person to die is usually someone not important to the main cast.  Or a sibiling that brings in the main character.


Title: Re: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: retrorussell on May 20, 2010, 11:08:39 PM
I agree with the above statements about who seems to die first.  The people the directors make you hate (b*tch or a**hole of the group) seem to last awhile, so you can savor their death when it finally comes.


Title: Re: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: Jack on May 21, 2010, 07:05:39 AM
Usually a couple of people in the prologue get it first.  Quite often they give us a quick nudie scene and then it's off with their heads!  As far as the main cast, all too often it's the hot babe, which was the only reason I was watching the crappy thing in the first place.  Comic relief character, obnoxious camcorder guy, anyone who I want to personally kill - they always seem to last a long time.  If you look at who's got the smallest number of lines in the beginning of the movie, they're pretty likely to be an early victim.


Title: Re: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: AndyC on May 21, 2010, 08:54:21 AM
Usually a couple of people in the prologue get it first.  Quite often they give us a quick nudie scene and then it's off with their heads!  As far as the main cast, all too often it's the hot babe, which was the only reason I was watching the crappy thing in the first place.  Comic relief character, obnoxious camcorder guy, anyone who I want to personally kill - they always seem to last a long time.  If you look at who's got the smallest number of lines in the beginning of the movie, they're pretty likely to be an early victim.

Yeah, the comic relief sticks around a while. And the norm in horror movies since at least the early 80s is to make the black guy a badass with lots of personality and a colorful way of putting things - The Keith David model. I suppose that's a direct influence of the Blaxploitation heroes of the 70s. So the black guy often gets saved up either for a really big death, comes to an uncertain fate only to show up later at just the right time, or occasionally makes it all the way through. Off the top of my head, I can think of Keith David in The Thing, Ernie Hudson in Leviathan, Bill Duke in Predator, Richard Jones in Event Horizon, the sergeant in Jason X and maybe a couple of others.

I agree, the first to die is usually somebody even more expendable than the rest of the cast. Someone who is not likeable or colorful enough to keep around, that they really didn't feel the need to flesh out, given the short screen time.



Title: Re: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: Nukie 2 on May 21, 2010, 07:41:38 PM
The crazy old man!


Title: Re: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: AndyC on May 21, 2010, 10:27:02 PM
The crazy old man!

True enough. Once he's told everybody they're doomed, he's pretty much performed his function. :teddyr:


Title: Re: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: vukxfiles on May 22, 2010, 04:56:28 AM
The fat lady sitting near the street eating a banana


Title: Re: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: BTM on May 22, 2010, 05:33:54 AM
I've seen this brought up before in shows I've watched.  A lot of people say the black guy dies first (Great joke from Evolution by the way), I've notice the dumb blonde seems to kick the bucket pretty quickly as well in a bunch of movies, and I've also heard that the funny guy goes first as well.  Since you guys seem more slasher, horror, and similiar movies in the past then me, what do you think?  What character type seems to die first in these movies?

In a slasher film, usually it's the guy in the "prologue" couple.  That is, we see a couple in the beginning of the film who start making out and, in order to set the mood (and give us some early gratuitous nudity) the guy is killed, girl screams tries to run away, and then she gets killed.

Now, if it's a sci-fi film involving some kind of laboratory monsters, I'm guessing it's usually the scientist that created it who dies while the creature escapes whatever confinement it's in.


Title: Re: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: The Gravekeeper on May 24, 2010, 12:28:37 AM
For slashers, it really depends on the particular time period it was made in. In earlier ones, the black guy really did die first. Nowadays it's much more common to have early throwaway characters die first just to demonstrate how brutal the villain is. How do you know they're a throwaway? Well, do they have a name? Do they have at least two personality traits? Are they developed in any way at all? No? Then they're probably going to die. "Probably" is the key word, of course. Many horror movie creators are horror movie fans, so they know all the horror tropes and may decide to subvert them (building up your expectations for something, like a cat scare, and doing something else at the last minute, like having a cat scare and then having a mutilated corpse or the villain pop out somewhere else in the frame right after).


Title: Re: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: Chainsawmidget on May 24, 2010, 12:53:20 PM
The crazy old man!

True enough. Once he's told everybody they're doomed, he's pretty much performed his function. :teddyr:
Yeah, but usually nobody finds out the guy is dead until much later.  They'll stumble onto where the killer placed it to frighting them, even if the killer is something that has no reason or way to plant bodies like that.

As for who dies first, I'd put money on the only big name celebrity in the movie that they couldn't afford to cast for more than a few quick scenes. 


Title: Re: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: voltron on May 24, 2010, 07:17:47 PM
Usually the nerdy guy.


Title: Re: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: diamondwaspvenom on May 27, 2010, 03:18:07 PM
As far as I know, the least developped/cannon fodder character(s) in a horror movie is always the first one to die. Take  the first deaths in Friday the 13th as an example: we are barely introduced to the two lovers in the flashback scene and after about two minutes, they get slashed. There's no back story on these characters, they just almost have sex and then die.

While it's an annoying cliche in many horror films (mainly in slashers), it's possible that the film needs these throw away "props" to reveal the deadly nature and potential power of the monster. 


Title: Re: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: AndyC on May 27, 2010, 03:28:08 PM
As far as I know, the least developped/cannon fodder character(s) in a horror movie is always the first one to die. Take  the first deaths in Friday the 13th as an example: we are barely introduced to the two lovers in the flashback scene and after about two minutes, they get slashed. There's no back story on these characters, they just almost have sex and then die.

While it's an annoying cliche in many horror films (mainly in slashers), it's possible that the film needs these throw away "props" to reveal the deadly nature and potential power of the monster. 

Like the redshirts in Star Trek. I never thought about it that way.


Title: Re: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: JPickettIII on May 27, 2010, 03:36:55 PM
Usually a couple of people in the prologue get it first.  Quite often they give us a quick nudie scene and then it's off with their heads!  As far as the main cast, all too often it's the hot babe, which was the only reason I was watching the crappy thing in the first place.  Comic relief character, obnoxious camcorder guy, anyone who I want to personally kill - they always seem to last a long time.  If you look at who's got the smallest number of lines in the beginning of the movie, they're pretty likely to be an early victim.

Not sure if the was mentioned but in the Dusk Till Dawn II movie with Robert Patrick.  The killed off Bruce Campbell and Tiffany Theisen real quick and can't remember why.  So what I am trying to say is that they kill off important (or people who think that they are important) people quickly too.

Later,

John


Title: Re: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: retrorussell on May 27, 2010, 09:30:55 PM
Often times when someone early on in a flick is having a really bad day (one crappy thing after another happens to them, not necessarily related to a killer chasing them, but a flat tire, pouring rain, car towed, etc.), they get the ultimate indignation handed to them: homicide!


Title: Re: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: WyreWizard on May 28, 2010, 10:22:51 AM
If you ask me, the ones who should die first are the writers who thought to fool us with this unrealistic crap.  Then again, they work behind the cameras.


Title: Re: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: El Misfit on May 28, 2010, 09:38:42 PM
usually the guy who first gets very wasted at a party and walks home (he won't be caught with DWI/DUI  :wink:)


Title: Re: Who Dies First in a Horror Movie?
Post by: vukxfiles on May 29, 2010, 02:34:42 AM
The fat clumsy guy