By Eric Myford
You probably already know what I'm going to be talking about before I even get into this, and yes, I'm talking about killing the animal. It's a trope in countless horror movies and for the most part, it never even serves a purpose. I'm sure initially this whole trope was started simply for shock factor, but it's gotten to a point where it's no longer even shocking, hell, we expect it to happen. Show a cute pup on the screen and every seasoned horror fan will say: “Well, he's going to die.” But why is it still a thing? For the most part, horror fans don't like it. We don't like it because the off camera squeal from a dog that has just run off into the darkness is unpleasant. But not only do we just not like it, it's cheap and ineffectual. Rarely ever does it propel the story forward and it has just become a thing to do.
All that said, there are of course exceptions, as we do know that in some horror movies, animals are the antagonist. Sure you have your sharks, gators and bears mixing it up with some human prey, and we really don't feel bad when that animal gets it in the end because it's an apex predator and probably killed off most of the cast by the time they meet their demise. That's a fight for survival and you have to do what you have to do. We get that. Even when you're treading into their territory, nobody is just going to wrap themselves up in a sleeping bag with seasoning and say: “Hey, Mr. Bear, enjoy a person burrito.” Hell no, you're going to go all Revenant on that son of a bitch and try to take that sucker out any way possible.
But what about domesticated animals? Prime example would of course be Cujo. When a beloved pet becomes your worst nightmare. But we get that too. Cujo went rabid, and frankly he was going to die anyway, so we understand when a mother takes him out in order to protect her child. It's still tough to see because we know he can't control himself and early in the movie we get to see him as the big old marshmallow he was. But it had to be done. Also, can we just take a moment to appreciate the make-up job on that dog? Still outstanding even to this day.
There is another caveat as well and that's the unnatural animal. Take Church from Pet Sematary. Literally a zombie cat and quite the little hellspawn. Frankly though, I would be pretty pissed if someone raised me from the dead while I was peacefully chilling in the afterlife, so I get his rage. But still, that cat became something that should not exist and frankly, he needed to be put down. Along with all the possessed, mimicked and other evil animals of horror films. Also, it's integral to the story and not just something thrown in. For everyone who is writing horror movies out there and you have an animal death, just think on it for a second. Is the death impactful to the actual plot? Is the animal's very existence even necessary for the story? If not, just take it out, you don't need it.
And then there are those movies that not only have animal deaths, but the actual animals are killed on screen. Now that's rough to watch. I understand the director doing it in Cannibal Holocaust to make even the human death seem real in that movie, but I still don't like it. Hell, he even said he regrets doing that. And then in a movie like Africa Addio, well, let's not even get into the horrors of that movie. Needless to say, it makes the slaughter of Cannibal Holocaust seem palatable, if such thing were possible. So we definitely never need to see that again.
But let's also take a look at the opposite end of the spectrum and make mention of those rare horror movies where the animal is the hero. Bad Moon for example, and how everyone who watched that movie fell in love with Thor. That dog was an absolute badass and took on a goddamn werewolf for his humans. Easily one of the most beloved horror movie dogs of all time. More of that. Hell, Bad Moon wasn't even an incredible movie but that aspect of it made it so much better and sold me on enjoying it.
So in closing, let's do better. There are many horror cliches that could benefit from no longer existing and for me, this is number one. It's primarily used to cover up weak storytelling because the person writing it couldn't come up with something better, so they just travel down the well worn path. Often for no reason whatsoever. You don't need it to sell how evil the antagonist is, you don't need it for shock factor, it's tired. So retire it. Besides, it makes Charlie sad, and you don't want to make Charlie sad, do you? *Cue Sarah McLachlan music*
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