One of the things I hate is (usually amateur stuff on YouTube) in which the person is getting overly scared even when it makes no sense.
Like they'll over act and start hyperventilating at a leaf and saying shit like "Oh my god what is that?!?!?! WHAT IS THAT?!?!" at like...a thud in the distance.
YouTube and Ghost Hunting shows seem to be the worst offender.
Another trope I hate is a horror game one but it's somewhat related; I hate it when the game tells you when to be scared by having a "sanity" effect or by the player character gasp or scream or whatever. Worst is if they have some kind of heartbeat sound effect that plays when you're supposed to be spooked.
But yeah, if a character starts saying shit like "WhAt ThE FuCk WaS ThAt?!" then I just get more annoyed than scared.
The ritual of hear noise/turn around/see nothing/sigh of relief/turn back/die
I can easily imagine that it was once a masterstroke of tension-building, because otherwise every movie for 50 years wouldn't have copied it. But now it's so easy to see coming that it actually flatlines all tension and leaves me knowing exactly what will happen and just waiting for the formalities to occur.
Similar to the "Cat Scare." I see alot of people griping about fakeout jump scares itt, but it was a great idea and novel trick in referring to notecard 1942 when it first appeared.