Horror is one of those genres that never seems to go out of style. Not only is it entertaining, but it’s the perfect vessel for allegories and metaphors that resonate in society today. It’s a way for writers, readers, and viewers to process some of the frightening things that may be happening right outside their window.

If you’ve been thinking of writing a horror novel and need some inspiration, you’re in the right place. We’ll look at some of the most popular recurring tropes in horror books and films, and how to upcycle them into your own story. Let’s get started!

What is a “trope” in writing?

A trope is a recognizable narrative pattern that comes up in popular genres. This can include plot devices, characters, themes, and more. For example, “the chosen one” is a character trope that comes up often in fantasy novels. Tropes are what readers expect to see when they pick up certain books.

The word “trope” can be used in a positive or negative way—but when people use it negatively, they’re usually talking about clichés (more on that below). Positive tropes are things that readers have seen before and still can’t get enough of. The “enemies to lovers” plot arc is a popular trope in romance novels.

But when a trope is used too often and in the same way, it can become tired and repetitive. Then, a “trope” can take on a derogatory connotation and become a cliché. The trick is to strike a balance between familiar motifs and fresh approaches. We’ll look at how to do that later on in this article.

Horror tropes vs. clichés

Tropes and clichés are very closely related, so they get confused quite a bit. The difference is that while a trope is a familiar narrative pattern, a cliché is a specific trope that has become tired and stale through overuse. Clichés also have the potential to be derogatory to certain people or communities, while tropes have the flexibility to adapt to their audience.

For example, a popular trope in this genre is the “final girl” who survives to the end of a horror movie. A cliché could be something like a sweet, blonde, virginal final girl who all the male characters are in love with. This is one way of using the trope, but it’s been done too many times to be interesting.

Tropes are a creative launching pad; clichés are a crash landing.

Clichés, particularly in horror, can also convey elements like sexuality, culture, and race in damaging ways. Today’s readers know that people are much more nuanced and complex than any one stereotype, and that characters in horror novels should reflect that. For this reason, successful modern-day horror films and books take different approaches to these fan-favorite tropes.

The ultimate list of horror tropes (by genre!)

Now that we know a bit about why we might want to use tropes in our writing, let’s check out this epic master list of horror movie tropes to help inspire your next story.

Gothic horror tropes

The gothic genre is characterized by its moody atmosphere, and a sense of characters being manipulated by the past. It often highlights the divide between past and present, as well as the natural world and human design.

Gothic horror is one of the oldest horror genres, emerging alongside the Romantic movement in the late 18th century. These are some of the most popular tropes you’ll find in gothic fiction.

  • Place as character: a setting that feels alive

  • The wealthy family with a dark past

  • A young woman trapped in a creepy manor

  • Intrusion of the natural world (i.e. botanical horror)

  • Encounters with the spiritual world

  • Secret rooms and compartments

  • A beautiful damsel dying from a wasting disease

  • Light and darkness

  • Strange noises

  • An imbalance of power

  • Storms (often a plot device to strand the main characters)

  • Symbolic animals: wolves, crows, spiders

  • A feeling of isolation

If there’s a dark and stormy night, it’s probably a gothic novel.

Supernatural horror tropes

Supernatural horror deals with life, death, the afterlife, and all the cracks in between. You’ll often find mythic or biblical influences in these stories. They’re a great way for writers to explore what lies beyond the world we know. Here are some of the most popular tropes in this horror genre.

  • Inescapable prophecies

  • Angels and/or demons roaming the earth

  • Near death experiences

  • Demonic possession

  • Divine judgement

  • Cursed artifacts

  • Portals to other realms

  • The apocalypse

  • The creepy child who sees dead people

  • Angels that turn out to be horrifying monsters

  • Angels that turn out to be ordinary people

  • Faith as protection

  • Secret societies

  • The “second chance” reincarnation

  • Reimaginings of heaven and hell

Paranormal horror tropes

Paranormal horror explores unexplainable phenomena and otherworldly creatures in the world we know. This type of horror can overlap with paranormal romance, a genre popularized by series like Twilight and True Blood. Here are some of the most popular tropes of paranormal horror fiction.

  • Houses haunted by an evil spirit

  • Houses haunted by an empathetic spirit

  • A seemingly perfect small town with secrets

  • Alien invaders

  • Alien body snatchers

  • Evil dolls

  • Ancient beings in a modern world

  • Suave, wealthy bachelors with suspicious diets

  • Madness or bestiality caused by a full moon

  • A secret underworld of inhuman creatures

  • Witches as magical creatures

  • Themes of mortality, good versus evil, and fate versus free will

  • Superheroes and other people with unusual powers

  • Cute children with psychic powers

  • The contrast of innocence with horror

  • Stranger danger

  • The reluctant hero

  • Teens who band together to save the world

  • The “jump scare,” or a moment of respite followed quickly by a moment of fear

  • The “false jump scare,” in which the jump scare turns out to be a false alarm

Paranormal horror is a favorite of many authors and filmmakers.

Slasher horror tropes

Slasher horror is a genre most commonly associated with the serial killer movies of the 1980s, although it experienced a resurgence in the 2000s as well. These stories feature an ensemble series of characters brutally murdered one by one. There’s usually an element of mystery as the protagonist tries to find out who the killer is. Here are the tropes you’ll see coming up again and again in these kinds of stories.

  • The secluded hideaway / retreat / summer camp

  • The mask and/or defigurement that hides the killer

  • The big reveal behind the mas

  • A wild teenage party

  • Characters who have sex die first

  • Virgins outlast everyone

  • Stealth morality themes (see previous)

  • Murder instigated by revenge

  • Distinctive non-projectile weapons (chainsaws, knives, various stabby things)

  • Characters making stupid decisions, like splitting up

  • The “Final Girl”

  • The red herring

  • The split personality

  • Villains that are unstoppable and near-impossible to kill

  • Villains that may or may not be supernatural

  • The car that stalls at the worst moment

  • The secondary villain who complicates matters and then dies

  • Useless authority figures

Sci-fi horror tropes

Sci-fi horror uses scientific elements to frighten. This was especially prevalent in the mid-twentieth century, when discoveries were rapidly evolving and there was a fear that scientists were playing with forces greater than they could handle. Today, sci-fi horror might use fear as a way to explore the effects of social media or AI. Here are some of the most common tropes you’ll find in this genre.

  • Intergalactic travel

  • Alternate dimensions

  • Mad scientists

  • Attack of the giant ________

  • Composite humans (aka cyborgs)

  • Government surveillance

  • Time travel

  • AI gone rogue

  • Apocalyptic dystopias

  • Genetic engineering

  • Medical breakthroughs… with a price

  • Lost civilizations

  • Evil robots

  • Evil CEOs who own robots

  • Deadly viruses

Monster horror tropes

Monster horror, sometimes called “creature feature horror,” explores the effects of an unnatural antagonist on a community. These can range from humanoid monsters like vampires to animalistic monsters like Godzilla to faceless monsters like the Blob. A Hollywood favorite, this horror genre offers limitless possibilities. Here are the most common tropes you’ll find in these stories.

  • Monsters that appear human until they eat you

  • Monsters as social metaphor

  • Monsters that aren’t seen on the page until the climax

  • The sympathetic monster

  • The “Danger: Keep Out” sign

  • The scary monster who turns out to be an ally

  • The cute animal that turns out to be lethal

  • The monster is secretly a dude in a mask

  • Humans infected with monsterism

  • Monsters created through scientific experiments

  • Monsters who don’t realize that they’re monsters

  • Monsters locked in dark basements

  • Skepticism means death

  • The monster as pet / slave to the real villain

  • Monsters who just want to be loved

  • Monsters who just want to have a good time

  • Monsters who are impossible to kill

  • Immortal monsters that have seen all of history

  • “One last scare” to leave behind a lingering fear

Comedy horror tropes

Comedy horror is a genre that doesn’t take itself too seriously. These stories might poke fun at earlier horror tropes, or they might add moments of levity to an otherwise-frightening scene. You can think of this as “horror for people that don’t like horror.” Here are some of the tropes you’ll find in this genre.

  • Victims who doom themselves by being dumb as a post

  • Monster hunters who have no idea what they’re doing

  • Unrealistic or over-the-top gore

  • Horror as secondary to real world problems

  • Self-aware characters who know they’re in a horror book

  • Demonic possession as slapstick physicality

  • Teen stock characters

  • Stock characters who subvert expectation

  • Improvised weaponry

  • Low stakes, high risk

  • Juxtaposing horror with the mundane

  • Justified murder

Comedy horror is horror for people that don’t like horror.

Survival horror tropes

Survival horror sees the main characters fighting for their lives against impossible odds. The threat can be natural or supernatural in nature, and may overlap with other subgenres like slasher horror or sci-fi horror. Here are the key tropes found in this type of story.

  • A post-apocalyptic setting

  • Searching for a lost loved one

  • Indiana Jones-style traps

  • A big cash reward

  • A need to travel light

  • Abandoned places

  • Draining batteries

  • Limited ammunition

  • No cell phone service

  • Weapons that break easily

  • A blackout at the worst possible moment

  • Improvised weapons, armor, and barricades

  • Only person with a map goes missing

  • Ordinary, untrained protagonists

  • Getting trapped in a locked room

  • Unlikely team ups

  • No one is who they say they are

  • Themes of mortality and trauma

  • Characters driven by hope

  • Human versus nature conflicts

Dark fantasy horror tropes

Dark fantasy blends magical elements with monstrous antagonists and a horror atmosphere. This is sometimes called fantasy horror or grimdark fantasy. These stories tend to be more horror forward than fantasy driven, using the fantastical elements as set dressing for the horror plot. Here are the key tropes in this genre.

  • Curses and blood magic

  • Monstrous soldiers

  • Power with a steep cost

  • Corrupted religious or spiritual figures

  • Grim, run down settings

  • Mutated fantasy races

  • Morally grey heroes

  • Ancient unkillable evils

  • Magic as a metaphor for mental illness

  • The “crazy” girl no one believes

  • Evil aristocrats

  • Subverted fairy tale archetypes

  • Endless wars

  • Cruel divinities

  • Intersected magic and technology

  • Reluctant antiheroes

  • Eroding humanity

  • Medieval-inspired backdrops

  • Transgressive themes

Folk horror tropes

Folk horror is a rising subgenre that draws on rural and regional folklore. These stories often highlight the power of the land and explore the tension between old and new. Here are the most popular tropes in this subgenre.

  • Isolated settings

  • Botanical horrors

  • Insular communities with a dark secret

  • The naïve outsider

  • Ancient pagan rituals

  • Human sacrifice

  • Lost burial grounds

  • Ancestral curses

  • Forgotten gods

  • Spirits of the land

  • Creepy cornfields

  • Loss of innocence

  • Vengeful spirits

  • A lack of technology

  • Demonization of the other

  • Nature’s revenge against human actions

  • Colonial retribution

  • Deconstruction of social order

Psychological horror tropes

Psychological horror is a more grounded subgenre that explores the terror of the human mind. These stories feature paranoia and fractured identities to create tension, and imply that the worst monsters are inside ourselves. These are the most common tropes you’ll find in this subgenre.

  • The unreliable narrator

  • Gaslighting and manipulation

  • Repressed memories

  • The descent into madness

  • PTSD and trauma

  • Blurred realities

  • Split personalities

  • Obsession

  • Creepy hotels

  • Creepy hospitals

  • Eroding faith

  • Extrasensory perception

  • Toxic relationships

  • Social pressures

  • Nightmares

  • Broken mirrors

  • Confined spaces

Body horror tropes

Body horror is a subgenre that leans into physicality and gore, often as a metaphor for inner transformation. These stories feature the destruction, degradation, or violation of the human body. This genre can overlap with some of the others on this list. Here are the key body horror tropes.

  • Violent transformation

  • Parasitic infections

  • Deadly viruses

  • Zombies

  • Physical mutation

  • Surgical or bio-engineering

  • Trial medical or cosmetic procedures

  • Decomposition in parallel with the plot

  • Vermin and diseased animals

  • Body dysmorphia

  • Shapeshifting, such as lycanthropy

  • Cannibalism

  • Loss of autonomy

  • Themes of physical identity

  • Nature as antagonist

Body horror looks at very common fears through a grotesque lens.

Cosmic horror tropes

Cosmic horror, largely informed by the work of H. P. Lovecraft, explores the terror of the vast unknown. These stories feature ancient forces and sweeping expanses of time, incomprehensible to the human mind. While it can overlap with sci-fi horror, cosmic horror has its own flavor. Here are the key tropes you’ll find in this subgenre.

  • Forbidden knowledge

  • Fear of the unknown

  • Madness and awakening

  • Far off planets

  • Enormous alien monsters

  • Unfeeling antagonists

  • Cults and twisted religions

  • A lot of tentacles

  • Paranoia and dread

  • Humanity as collateral damage

  • Sea monsters in space

  • Posession by mysterious entities

  • The inevitablity of destruction

  • Science as salvation

How to use horror tropes in fresh ways

Just from reading these tropes, you’re probably getting a sense of what these stories look like and the sort of people who read or watch them. Each horror genre has its own unique atmosphere and mood. But when you follow their conventions too closely, a story can start to feel a little formulaic.

If you want to write your own horror story and aren’t sure where to start, this section is for you. Let’s look at how we can upcycle these popular tropes into something fresh and new.

Tip 1: Subvert expectation

A lot of these tropes come with preconceived expectations—that’s how they become clichés. So when you’re applying tropes to your own writing, try to turn those expectations on their head.

For example, you might choose to set your survival horror against utopia rather than the more traditional dystopia, or have your final girl be someone completely unexpected. Or maybe your haunted house isn’t a malignant force, but a force of protection.

Whatever you choose, the goal is to let your readers think they know what’s about to happen—and then surprise them.

Tip 2: Cross pollinate

You may have noticed that there’s some overlap in these lists, because certain tropes can appear in more than one horror subgenre. For instance, you can find zombies in survival horror, horror comedy, even paranormal horror-romance (ew). So don’t feel like you have to stick to the conventions of just one subgenre.

If your story is starting to feel a little stale, see what happens if you borrow a trope from another subgenre. You may find that it takes on a whole new meaning in a new context.

Tip 3: Blur genres

Finally, a horror story can be much more than just horror! Today you’ll find horror stories with overtones of romance, mystery, suspense, coming-of-age journeys, real life history, and tons more.

Try looking at some of the horror tropes above and ask yourself, “What would this trope look like in a romance novel? A police procedural? An urban fantasy?” You may find that this exercise sparks brand new ideas and alleviates that nasty writer’s block.

In the publishing world, the lines between genres are growing ever more blurry. So combining different genres in your horror novel can help you stand out, and give you your own unique approach to these popular ideas.

Use horror tropes to kickstart your story

Horror has been around for as long as there’s been storytelling, and it’s not going away anytime soon. But with such a saturated publishing landscape, it can be challenging for new writers to stand out. The trick is in knowing the genre conventions—the tropes—and finding creative new ways to approach them.

Whether it’s an otherworldly monster who wants nothing more than a deep dish Chicago pizza, or a body horror novel set in a 1980s shopping mall, contrast and innovation will breathe new life into these classic tropes—and inspire some new ideas!