http://movies.aol.com/worst-movie-cliches/action

I once started a word document, listing a number of dramatic clichées I would never use in a script, and when I saw this link today I thought it'd be appropriate to start a thread on.


List of clichées I vow never to use:

Here, take this medalion/bracelet/lucky arrowhead my father gave me.
I hate this one. Somehow in movies key characters always find the time to give their love-interest (or a whiny child) a token of their love in the form of a lucky charm that’s gonna ”protect them”. And the other character always goes: ”No, I can’t take that! Your father/dead wife/native american grandmother gave you that!” to which the giver replies ”Hold on to it for me, you can give it back to me later" or something along those lines.

Also it's worth noting that often this charm doesn't bring that good luck as the wearer often ends up dead.

Tell my wife I love her…
When minor characters die (especially in war movies) they always want someone to tell their wife or kids that they love them and the scene always goes like this:

DYING SOLDIER
Tell my wife I love her…

OTHER SOLDIER
You’re gonna tell her that yourself! You hear me! I won’t let you die on me! Damnit Charlie!

For once I would like a dying person to own up to something really embarrassing on his deathbed. Like:

DYING SOLDIER
Tell Jimmy I cut the cheese that time in the elevator….he’ll know what it means…

OTHER SOLDIER
You’re gonna tell him that yourself! You hear me! I won’t let you die on me! Damnit Charlie!

The Deus ex Machina gunshot.
This is one of the most common ones and kinda difficult to completely avoid. The hero wrestles on the floor with the bad guy over control of the gun/knife/bomb-remote and the bad guys gets the upper hand. He’s just about to strike an ice-pick into the heart of the defenseless hero when…BANG! A previously assumed dead character stands in the background with a loaded gun. This one really irks me when I see it.

The Rookie gets it.
Very prevalent in cop-movies. The fresh eager recruit on the force joins our heroes against the baddies. And you just know his tenacious naiveté is gonna get him killed. If we get a backstory on him then very often he’s just been engaged to his high-school sweetheart or a baby’s on the way.

I’ve never taken anyone to this place before…
Here’s one from romantic comedies especially. Every Freddy Prinze Jr. flick has one of these moments. He’s on a date with his love-interest and he takes her to this amazing remote and magical place like a secluded orchard where he ”used to look at constellations and try to figure out the world” and he’s NEVER EVER taken anyone there before.
It can be anything from an art studio to a garden by the sea. Just something than emphasizes how emotionally profound the lead character is. Even though he’s Freddy Prinze Jr.

All girls know karate.
Man, I hate this one. Not that I mind girls who know karate (that’s hot), but I hate how every single girl in an action movie can do a round house kick or throw Kiai’s left and right. This is probably a reaction to the timid female stereotypes of the past, but come on, let’s not go overboard. According to movies, you can’t be a good female cop unless you know martial arts, ’cause that’s the only way you can ’make it in a MAN’S world’. I would like to see more women throw sucker punches or head-butt (old) people.

All Asians know karate.
Well…pretty self-explanatory.

The hero gets shot in a non-vital body-part.
The hero has to get injured somehow so we get a whiff of death, a sense that he almost didn’t make it. This is accomplsihed by shooting or stabbing the hero in the shoulder or the thigh or the arm or any place that stings like hell but doesn’t kill you.


Add more.

Hehe good ones.

How about,

Hey, we're a bunch of horny teens, let's go to an isolated cabin in the woods where we can get drunk and have sex, and then go out into the woods and look for a guy with a machete and a hockey mask.
I don't know...Over the top?

Quoted from sniper Hehe good ones. How about, Hey, we're a bunch of horny teens, let's go to an isolated cabin in the woods where we can get drunk and have sex, and then go out into the woods and look for a guy with a machete and a hockey mask. I don't know...Over the top?

Too obvious, isn't it?

That's so original! I think I'll use that for my next movie play!

~Zack~

Quoted from Zack That's so original! I think I'll use that for my next movie play! ~Zack~

The cliche that annoys me most is....

Oh,  I've just been bitten on by a zombie, but I'm not going to tell the small group of slow-witted people I'm traveling with because then they will kill me. I'll just wait until I'm a zombie, they'll find out then.

Ugh. Who thought of that?  >


Matt.

Quoted from chism The cliche that annoys me most is.... Oh,  I've just been bitten on by a zombie, but I'm not going to tell the small group of slow-witted people I'm traveling with because then they will kill me. I'll just wait until I'm a zombie, they'll find out then. Ugh. Who thought of that?  > Matt.

Haha, I'd probably be just as selfish. If not telling anyone gives me life for a couple hours more, then that's a small price to pay. For me, that is. Screw the others. I'm not gonna take one for the team.

Quoted from Death Monkey Haha, I'd probably be just as selfish. If not telling anyone gives me life for a couple hours more, then that's a small price to pay. For me, that is. Screw the others. I'm not gonna take one for the team.

Hmmmm, that actually a good point.

If you wanna survive a zombie movie then your best bet is to be one of the zombies.

You just can't kill em all.  

Also gotta side with Rob on the above. Nothing gets me in the mood for sex, drugs and booze more than imminent slaughterings.


Matt.

Quoted from sniper Hey, we're a bunch of horny teens, let's go to an isolated cabin in the woods where we can get drunk and have sex, and then go out into the woods and look for a guy with a machete and a hockey mask.

Why didn't anyone tell that to [hack]Eli Roth?[/hack]

Because they knew Eli Roth wouldn't make such a movie, duh!

~Zack~

How about the not so ugly girl makeover into a not so much prettier girl?

... But he did! CABIN FEVER is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Cliche, after cliche, after cliche, not to mention bad script, acting, directing, special effects... everything. And the actors weren't even that cute. If the actors had been cuter, it might've been better... maybe.

(So I just realized that CABIN FEVER doesn't involve a man with a hockey mask, but the kids are still attacked by something. It's all the same to me.)

Cabin Fever was a brilliant fim made on a low budget. You are aware that the movie is NOT to be taken seriously... aren't you?

~Zack~

Brilliant? HA!

It's trash.

Cabin Fever (I've never seen it) was filmed at a Boy Scout Summer camp place I went to a few years ago. When I was out taking a class, they took us to the cabin they used for outside shots.

-Chris