Creepy Ghost Girl:
The New Horror Movie Cliché
Friday, October 3, 2003
I love horror movies, but recently I’ve noticed a trend that must be stopped! This trend is quickly becoming a tired cliché (are there any other kinds?).
What cliché am I talking about? A cat jumping out at a tense moment? Every main character dying off one by one leaving a lone heroine to just barely escape alive? No, I’m talking about what I like to call the Creepy Ghost Girl
I’m sure the first real instance of Creepy Ghost Girl was in The Exorcist in which an ordinary sweet little girl is taken over in a demonic possession. Suddenly sweet little girl ain’t so sweet no more.
And it was scary. It really was. But now EVERY horror movie that comes out seems to have a Creepy Ghost Girl in it, undoubtedy under the assumption that we’ve never seen it before. Like I’m going to wet my pants with fear thinking, “Wow, I was expecting a wolfman or something, but I sure wasn’t expecting a little harmless girl. That shit is eerie!”
Creepy Ghost Girl also usually acts calm and serene, she’s usually dressed in a nightgown, and she speaks in an otherwordly ethereal voice. Usually she says things like, “Go back! You should not have come here.” Or else she’ll say “Please help me,” and then either evaporate or walk away in a quick, disjointed skeletonlike manner as if to remind us: she’s Creepy Ghost Girl.
The poster for a remake of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead seems to be the latest offender. But Creepy Ghost Girl has also been popping up in the trailers for Matrix: Revolutions and Halle Berry’s seemingly cliché-ridden Gothika.
Now, you may feel free to substitute ‘ghost’ for ‘zombie’ or ‘alien’ or ‘vampire’ as you see fit. Creepy Ghost Girl’s resume includes such hits as The Ring (and its American remake), Dark Water (and its inevitable Ameircan remake), Ghost Ship, Fear Dot Com, the Sixth Sense, The Others, Stir of Echoes, 13 Ghosts, Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows, Resident Evil, Angel, and, of course, The Shining. (Note: after compling these links I found that 6 of them are Warner Brothers movies. Why does that not surprise me?)
So might I suggest other types of creepy ghosts, such as the effective Creepy Grandma in Exorcist 3? What about a Creepy Ghost Hamster? Or a Creepy Ghost Mortgage Broker?
Please! If I have to see another little girl with hollow eyes named Samantha whisper to me, “He’s coming for you. He’s coming for you all!” only to slink off into the shadows again I might just stop watching horror movies altogether.
Robot Johnny says:
True, the Exorcist girl is not really a ghost, but I thought she still sort of got the ball rolling, but you found some earlier ones!
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Zombie Claire says:
We so have to get Jen to watch The Exorcist. Let’s trick her. We’ll tell her it’s Return of the Jedi, but we put the wrong tape in and OH WELL better WATCH THE WHOLE THING. What do you say ???
Maggie says:
I don’t like how all these kids are all of a sudden in scary movies and how only the kids seem to be only to hear, see, communicate with the dead people and what not. It’s annoying if you ask me. I mean, the whole movie may not be revolved around this central idea. But there always seems to be some creepy kid in all the movies who knows and sees all. I hate it.
Zombie Claire says:
Yay, the creepy ghost girl rant!!! You said you’d write one!
I don’t think Regan in The Exorcist was a true creepy ghost girl, as she was only possessed by a demon.
Ghost girls tend to be ghosts and they usually aren’t main characters, and the point of them is to freak out the main characters.
The first ghost girl I can think of is the one Deborah Kerr sees in The Innocents (1961). She’s the young ex-governess at the manor house and she floats about in the weeds wearing black and may or may not be possessing the children, she’s trying to tell Deborah Kerr something but what!!?
There’s also one in Don’t Look Now (1973) where Donald Sutherland is increasingly worried that his dead daughter is following him around Venice. That movie is creepy.
And in The Haunting of Julia (1977), Mia Farrow thinks HER dead daughter is hanging about, but it’s an entirely different ghost girl. I remember this movie had a scary choking scene which was very disturbing. If your kid ever chokes on something, DON’T stab them in the throat so they can breathe, it won’t work!!
emily says:
I’ve found that along with the creepy children who know all, there are often the creepy childrens’ drawings that show up too. Like in “Paperhouse” or “Amityville 2” and most recently in “Cold Creek Manor” (which isn’t really a true horror, but nonetheless.....) God! There are soooooo many!
Robot Johnny says:
Creepy Childrens’ Drawings can also be seen in The Ring, Dark Water, and the I-Can’t-Believe-I-Saw-This-Movie, Dragonfly.
james says:
Wow, someone else who saw Paperhouse? I saw that, oh, at least ten years ago and haven’t ever met anyone else who’s seen it. Wow.
james says:
Ooh, how about Lars von Trier’s “The Kingdom”? That’s the best!
emily says:
Yeah, “Paperhouse”. It’s good in that clicheed creepy-children-who-know-all-and-draw-about-it kind of way.
And what’s I-can’t-believe-I-haven’t-seen-it “Dragonfly”?
Kokie says:
You cant forget the creepy grandma in the shining