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.
Yeah I hate this one. It's probably my least favorite, too. You'd think with the SCP Foundation being over a decade old at this point, writers would realize you can do some creepy shit with the scientific method, skepticism, and experiments.
For example, let's say a house is haunted. Some science nerds go to the house to start investigating how the house became haunted and they conduct a study the same way you'd study animals in the wild. Lions are still really fucking scary when they rip your colleague's head off when something supposed to protect them didn't work.
It's also one of the ways that unintentionally makes characters unlikable. We, the audience, know the protagonist is experiencing something real. Then having some asshole brush them off (especially a man being skeptical of his wife) just makes us frustrated with the film as a film and not with the plot. It Follows was great because even though only one person could see the monster at a time, everyone who cared about the protagonist believed her that she was experiencing something irregular.
It follows is a good example of characters having their decision making affected by the stress of the situation but also acting rationally and seemingly caring about their friends and family