Basic Trope: Blonde-haired characters always get killed in horror movies.
- Straight: Alice is blonde, and the second victim of the killer (after her black best friend, Bob). Her brunette friends Claire and Danielle make it out.
- Exaggerated:
- All the blonde characters in a horror film die.
- Alice also happens to be black.
- Downplayed:
- The killer seriously injures Alice, but she otherwise survives. Her darker-haired friends have lighter injuries.
- A Serial Killer whose trademark is that he only kills blonde women.
- Justified:
- Alice is a Dumb Blonde, and does something idiotic that gets her killed.
- Alice is an Alpha Bitch, making her an Asshole Victim at the hand of the killer.
- The killer has a grudge against blondes (or a liking for them).
- Alice's blonde hair stands out in the dark.
- A quirk of the ancient curse that keeps the undead killer alive and the origin culture (only blondes were allowed to be priestesses of the goddess of death who prepare the dead for judgement) means that they can kill him permanently and leave him in eternal torment for his crimes. He thus considers them high priority targets.
- Inverted:
- Alice is the only blonde, and the only survivor.
- The serial killer's victims all have dark hair.
- The serial killer turns out to be a pretty blonde girl.
- Subverted:
- Alice is about to be killed by the killer, but she kills him instead.
- Alice dies, but she's not a natural blonde.
- Alice is Not Quite Dead or died a Disney Death. Claire and Danielle find her near the end, freaked out but alive...
- Double Subverted:
- ...She's then promptly killed.
- Parodied:
- The killer's about to kill Bob... then sees Alice, and kills her instead.
- A Parody Commercial markets a bottle of dark hair dye by claiming it'll keep serial killers away.
- The killer sees Alice, who has albinism, and is disappointed when he realizes she doesn't have platinum blonde hair but white hair and sulks off disappointed. Alice is offended that she isn't considered good enough by him to murder over such a fine distinction.
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- Everybody Lives
- Hair color has no apparent effect on survival rate.
- Enforced: The writer is aware of the Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold trope, and kills an innocent blonde to up the stakes.
- Lampshaded: "Claire, I'm doomed! I'm blonde!"
- Invoked: The killer specifically targets blondes.
- Exploited: Bob dies first, alerting the group to the presence of a killer. Danielle has a murderous grudge against Alice, so she convinces her to dye her hair blonde.
- Defied:
- Alice becomes a Crazy Survivalist in an effort not to become a victim because of her hair color, and survives.
- Alice dyes her hair dark upon learning that there's a killer on the loose.
- Discussed: "Okay, we have to be rational about this if we wanna make it out. Alice, sorry, but because of your hair, odds don't look too good for you."
- Conversed: "Oh, a B-list horror movie. Wanna bet how long 'til the blonde gets the chop?"
- Implied: The film opens with Claire and Danielle at Alice's funeral. They're mentioned to have survived a killer, who got Alice. At the funeral, we see in pictures that Alice is blonde, but we don't see other victims.
- Played for Laughs: The killer's about to stab Alice, sees her dark roots, realizes she's not really a blonde, then backs away, apologizing.
- Played for Drama: Alice survives, but barely, and associates the trauma she experienced with her blonde hair. She experiences a myriad of emotional issues related to this before eventually dyeing her hair dark.
Back to Slashers Prefer Blondes.
