WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
I’ve used the term ‘lost trope’ because, for all intents and purposes, it is rare to find a film nowadays where the non-white character is killed off first. Obviously you have the outliers like Scream 2 (and a couple of recent films mentioned below) but I think in a way Wes Craven deliberately used those cliches in the franchise. I think this idea faded away as the decades went on because it may have been deemed as being rather racist.
Slaughter High
At the crux of this film, it’s a revenge story – but then again what slasher film in the 1980s wasn’t? This is why I feel sorry for Digby when he gets killed. He’s just the school janitor, he had no part in the prank from the opening of the story so why does he have to die? Would he have originally factored into Marty’s plans? Did he know that Digby would have been there the same night he invited his victims to their old school? You get the feeling that he decides to use Digby as a prop to scare Skip and the others as he deliberately pins him to the back of a door. The one thing that surprises me though, as his body wasn’t too far from the toilets, how did it take until only Carol is left alive for him to be found?
Side Note: This film wouldn’t have been out of place in my Death by Sex article.
Christine
You know what’s clever about this? You don’t actually see what happens to the victim. Yeah, unfortunately the character has no name – might as well have put him a red jumper and be done with it (that’s one for the Trekkies out there). The guy is casually sitting in the car and in my opinion, his death is punishment. You know how normally in horror films the deaths come across as senseless killings? Well, I think Christine kills the guy because of him dropping the ash from his cigar on to her seat.
Kill Bill
I felt like I need to include this one for two reasons. One – it is a completely different genre to what you would usually expect this trope to appear in. Two – it only works if you take the film in order of the scenes that are in front of you – not the actual chronology of the deaths committed by The Bride. Let me explain. For those who have seen Kill Bill, you will know that O-Ren Ishii is actually The Bride’s first victim but, she is not a token character because she isn’t the only Chinese character to feature in the film (supposedly there’s at least 88 of them). However, the first character we see The Bride kill is Vernita Green – aka Black Mumba. Now, unless you want to count an uncredited cameo by Samuel L Jackson, she is the only black character in the film and is the first to die. Therefore, she fits this trope rather perfectly.
Chronicle
Everyone usually associates this trope with horror films and this film is definitely not that. I guess some would consider it a superhero film because of the powers the three boys gain but they never really do anything good. Especially when it comes to Andrew. Anyway, I had always believed that the token minority death came due to an act of stupidity on Steven’s part but in the end it turned out to be something so much worse. With the increase in Andrew’s powers and the turmoil that goes on in his personal life, he accidentally kills Steven with a bolt of lightning.
Gremlins
Now, I know we’ve talked about this film previously in my Unconventional Christmas Films article but this wouldn’t be the first time I have talked about a film more than once (can you say The Princess Bride?) Anyway, I think this is one of those moments that a bad thing happens to a good person because they end up in what is, unbeknownst to them, a bad situation. To make it worse, the science teacher is the only character of any real consequence, let alone being the only black guy, that dies in the film. Billy brings him one of the spawn from Gizmo’s ‘accidental’ wetting for scientific purposes. There’s no malice in the situation because at this point no one knows the danger that has befallen their small town. Unfortunately, this single act leads to the fatal end of Mr Hanson.
The Shining
I don’t know if it’s because I have read a lot of Stephen King books before I saw this film for the first time but I honestly believed that Dick Hallorann was already dead when we are introduced to him. It’s because of this that when Jack ultimately kills him, it caught me by surprise. If I’m honest, it’s inevitable that he is the first to die because of the fact that the main cast is so small and Jack fights the turmoil to kill his wife and son for so long. Truthfully, if Hallorann had just stayed away and not returned to the Overlook Hotel to be a hero, he would probably still be alive.
