Why classroom scenes are a horror movie staple

Since the protagonists of your average horror movie are teenagers, it's not such a surprise that one of the genre's set pieces has become the classroom scene. From Halloween to Hereditary, we unpick four of the most memorable.

Horror filmmakers often use classroom scenes to unpack the themes of their movies, allowing viewers to make metaphorical links between the film's villain and more abstract concepts like destiny and existential dread. 

Teenagers in horror films can find themselves drifting off as their teacher waxes lyrical about Hamlet one minute, only to be rudely awakened by masked serial killers and demonic old ladies the next.

If you thought you had painful memories of your schooldays, check out what these guys had to go through.

Halloween (1978) - Laurie has a date with destiny

What's going down? Studious Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) is distracted from her English class by Michael Myers watching her at the window with murder on his mind.

Today's set text: The concept of fate in the novels of Costain and Samuels, both of whom seem to be made up. Costain may be the 20th Century historical novelist Thomas B. Costain, but he's certainly a left field choice for a high school reading list.

Key quote: "No matter what course of action Collins took, he was destined to his own fate, his own day of reckoning."

Best bit: Laurie being the archetypal goody two-shoes and getting a question right despite being distracted by a man in a mask staring at her from across the street.

What it says about the movie: Michael becomes faceless, motiveless evil personified. Laurie can't escape her fast approaching encounter with The Shape, just as we all rush blindly towards terrible accidents and fateful decisions.

Love Halloween? Why not play our Halloween drinking game.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) - Nancy has bad dreams

What's going down? Nancy (Heather Langenkamp) drifts off in class and is plagued by traumatic visions of her dead friend and the murderous Freddy Kreuger. That serves her right.

Today's set text: The supernatural in Julius Caesar and Hamlet, although no one is entirely sure which play is which. One of Nancy's classmates starts reading a soliloquy from Julius Caesar which somewhere segues into one from Hamlet.

Key quote: "According to Shakespeare, there was something operating in nature, perhaps inside human nature itself, that was rotten."

Best bit: The sinister slowed-down Hamlet quote as Nancy nods off – "I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I had bad dreams" (Act 2, Scene 2 if anyone was wondering).

What it says about the movie: It links Freddy's evil to his supernatural survival after death. His predeliction for child murder and the mysterious force that allows him to menace teenagers in their dreams both have their root in something "rotten" in nature.

It Follows (2014) – Jay spies the eternal footman approaching

What's going down: Jay (Maika Monroe) flees her English class, pursued by a demonic old lady.

Today's set text: The classic modernist poem 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' by T. S. Eliot.

Key quote: "I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, / and I have seen the eternal footman hold my coat, and snicker, / and in short, I was afraid."

Best bit: Disasterpiece's sublime music rising to a fever pitch as the monster approaches and the teacher reads: "I am Lazarus, come back from the dead / come back to tell you all." The demon later disguises itself as two of Jay's family members, could it have shapeshifted into her dead grandmother in this scene?

What it says about the movie: There are several metaphorical readings of the monster in It Follows, but this scene suggests that it's a metaphor for mortality. It's always coming for the characters at a steady pace wherever they are in the world – just like their inevitable deaths.

Read more about It Follows in our roundup of the scariest ever horror movie scenes.

Hereditary (2018) – Peter is a ritualistic sacrifice

What's going down: Don't you just hate it when you get possessed by the ghost of your little sister while analysing Greek tragedy.

Today's set text: Ancient Greek tragedy trilogy the Oresteia by Aeschylus.

Key quote: "Iphigenia's murder was commanded by the gods. So really Agamemnon had no choice."

Best bit: That scream.

What it says about the movie: From the opening shot which shows the characters inside a doll's house, it's clear the Graham family are at the mercy of a higher power. Peter (Alex Wolff) is just a pawn in a sinister plan. The characters in Greek tragedies, particularly the Oresteia, are similarly at the mercy of fate and the gods.

*Spoiler* The Oresteia explores how the murder of her daughter Iphigenia led Clytemnestra to murder her husband Agamemnon on his return from Troy. Annie (Toni Collette) is also driven to extreme behaviour after the death of her daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro). *Spoiler*

Love Hereditary? You might want to check out director Ari Aster's super messed up short films, as we examine how they sowed the seeds for his feature debut.

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