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here are ten more instantly recognizable clichés from the movies. Maybe, if we ever compile the comprehensive list of movie tropes, screenwriters will use it as the template for all movies that Hollywood chugs out – in which case we should ask for a cut!

This has to be one of the most used clichés in the book: the hero/heroine is trapped in a nightmarish world of dreams, they’re just about to be killed/see their loved one die when they bolt upright, gasping for breath, in obvious distress. Occasionally, the director will spice up the cliché by putting the camera right in the actors face. However it’s done, virtually every horror/psychological thriller will feature at least one. See: Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Hackers, Moulin Rouge

The more cynical movie fan will groan when the saccharine goo that is the “When I was a Little Girl” speech rears its nauseating head. This ploy is a lazy screenwriter’s way to make us feel empathy, or sympathy, for a character regardless of their personality flaws etc. See: Pretty Woman, While You Were Sleeping

Why? Why do people stare at the phone after receiving bad news? What do they expect to see? A fairy pop out of the receiver saying “Just kidding!”? Now that would be something to see… See: Ed Wood,