You probably already know what I'm going to be talking about before I even get into this, and yes, I'm talking about killing the animal. It's a trope in countless horror movies and for the most part, it never even serves a purpose. I'm sure initially this whole trope was started simply for shock factor, but it's gotten to a point where it's no longer even shocking, hell, we expect it to happen. Show a cute pup on the screen and every seasoned horror fan will say: “Well, he's going to die.” But why is it still a thing? For the most part, horror fans don't like it. We don't like it because the off camera squeal from a dog that has just run off into the darkness is unpleasant. But not only do we just not like it, it's cheap and ineffectual. Rarely ever does it propel the story forward and it has just become a thing to do.

All that said, there are of course exceptions, as we do know that in some horror movies, animals are the antagonist. Sure you have your sharks, gators and bears mixing it up with some human prey, and we really don't feel bad when that animal gets it in the end because it's an apex predator and probably killed off most of the cast by the time they meet their demise. That's a fight for survival and you have to do what you have to do. We get that. Even when you're treading into their territory, nobody is just going to wrap themselves up in a sleeping bag with seasoning and say: “Hey, Mr. Bear, enjoy a person burrito.” Hell no, you're going to go all Revenant on that son of a bitch and try to take that sucker out any way possible.