Mobile phones have changed the way people think, act and communicate. They’ve also been hell on the horror genre. Smartphones have rendered many classic horror movie tropes ridiculous, or even implausible. However, they’ve also provided opportunities to scare us in new and inventive ways. Let’s look at where modern horror has succeeded, and failed, to enter the digital age.
Horror is a genre that thrives on fear and isolation — we can’t be scared if we feel safe. And what do phones do? Make us feel safe.
Nowadays, a huge portion of the country has instant and constant access to programs such as Google Maps, Find Your Phone and Uber. The moment someone has entered your home, you can dial 000 or activate an emergency app to provide an emergency operator with your GPS location. Mobile phones have taken some of horror’s ability to make us feel alone.
Of course, for many horror films and shows, the easiest thing to do is simply take the phone’s power away. Sometimes figuratively, but most of the time literally. This can work if it’s done right — but there are a lot of ways it can fail, showing how some of horror’s usual tactics are stuck in the past.
Here are the most-common ways horror movies get around smartphones, along with examples of when they’ve worked or fallen flat.
No Signal
There’s a reason there’s an entire video dedicated to the saga of “No Signal”. It’s the easiest trope in the phone book. The heroes are trying to call for help, but they can’t get a bar.
This works when the location calls for it. For example, this happened to Michelle in 10 Cloverfield Lane. Not only was it tense — as she strained against her restraints to get a signal — but it tied into the mystery. Are there no bars because she’s in a bunker, or because there really was an alien invasion?
And in Ex Machina, the lack of reception was purposeful, as Nathan didn’t want word getting out about his project.
However, oftentimes it’s just an excuse for the phone to be a dead brick of nothing. In Jurassic World, Claire’s mobile phone reception was immaculate on that island… right until she needed to warn the boys about the dinosaur. Jeepers Creepers 2 blamed sunspots of all things.
There are also times when the lack of a signal is caused by other forces, like a ghost or signal blocker. The supernatural ones are always my favourite because they’re never explained. It’s just… ghosts hate mobile phones.
This particular plot device worked better in the early to mid-2000s, when phone maps weren’t as widespread as they are today. That said, there are still areas where there isn’t good reception. I visited upstate New York recently, and I got stuck in some dead zones. If you can find one of those sweet spots, your killer’s got an advantage.
Dead Battery
The dead battery might soon replace “no signal” as the most-popular mobile phone cliché in horror. It’s more realistic, can happen anywhere, and prevents the hero from using the phone for any reason, such as checking a map or taking pictures.
It also can be downright terrifying… when done well. The idea of your phone going dead can leave you helpless. Much like having your car break down, it’s a loss of power.
By far, the best use of this has to be Get Out. Throughout the film, Chris wakes up to find that someone has unplugged his phone in the night, preventing it from getting a full charge and guaranteeing it will die sometime during the day. This adds to Chris’s feelings of isolation and makes it harder for him to trust the people around him.
There was also House of Good & Evil, where Maggie had just moved and couldn’t find her charger. A common mistake, but in this case a terrifying one.
That said, it’s also really easy to abuse. The average smartphone can hold a charge for nine hours, but it seems as though phones in movies are dead after 45 minutes.
Let’s not forget that infamous Cloverfield phone, which died right as Rob was about to talk to Beth, so he frantically ran into an electronics store to find a fresh battery.
There was also Drag Me To Hell, where a demon instantly drained Christine’s battery through supernatural means as she looked on in horror. Oh no, not my phone! It was quite silly.
Just Out of Reach
This is any situation where the phone is lost, destroyed, or otherwise taken out of the equation. This can be something as simple as having it slip out of your hands, or as convoluted as a group of friends putting all their phones into a giant bag during their weekend out camping because it’ll help them bond better, like with Hold Your Breath.
This trope has got to be the most ridiculous because if often plays out very stupidly. For example, in the latest Halloween movie, (minor spoiler for current film) Jamie Lee Curtis’ granddaughter had her phone thrown into a punch bowl by her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend. Sure, it succeeds in making sure she can’t be contacted, but throwing someone’s phone in a bowl of punch is not exactly something people do.
However, that doesn’t hold a candle to the silly ploy in 30 Days of Night, when a bunch of vampires snuck into every person’s house and stole all the mobile phones in town, burying them in the snow. Now that’s what I call dedicated.
Part of the Storytelling
A creative solution to the mobile phone dilemma has been to simply make it part of the story. Given the popularity of found footage horror, adding mobile phones is a logical choice.
However, there is a limit. While there are occasional horror films shot entirely using mobile phones, such as Hooked Up, for the most part these type of films combine mobile phones with laptop cameras or other forms of security footage, such as in Paranormal Activity 4 and Unfriended: Dark Web.
I imagine it’s because found footage films need static shots every once in a while, otherwise the Shaky Cam factor is too much to take.
Ignore It
On the other end, there’s the “just make it retro so we don’t have to bother” angle — like, for instance, Stranger Things, which mined nostalgic gold from its 1980s setting and freed those kids from being tethered to anything beyond land lines and walkie-talkies.
Making your horror film or series a period piece is an easy way to avoid the problem, but it does prevent films from addressing issues that affect people today.