Bullies are a staple of teen movies in general and also in many horror movies focusing on high school or young adult characters. It can be tough to watch scenes of mean characters treating people badly, as the desire for them to realize how wrong they are is strong.
There are many horror movie tropes that come up often, and one that is often present in slasher films is "Death By Mocking." When this trope is used, the killer doesn't like that there are cruel characters who are laughing at others, and their fate seems decided from the beginning of the story. There's a lot to know about this trope.
According to TV Tropes, the "Death By Mocking" horror trope means that if a character is making fun of someone, that bully is going to die. The villain in the story is mad because they're the one who wants to be mean to people and they feel that this bully is closing in on their territory. This is an interesting trope since there is often a feeling of justice being served. These bullies are also totally confused by their fate as they think that they can laugh at the killer and walk away unscathed, which is definitely not what happens. These death scenes are often some of the most memorable from the genre.
"Death By Mocking" is often used in slasher films and it feels like a necessary slasher movie trope since of course audiences want to see cruel, terrible people be punished for what they have. It's worth nothing that these bullies aren't the only ones who die in these movies, but their death scenes are still memorable, especially since the characters are conceited and full of themselves and never think that danger is coming their way. These characters often laugh at the killers and villains, acting like of course nothing bad will happen to them so they can say whatever they want. They treat the killers the way that they treat everyone else in their lives.
A good example of this horror movie trope is the Netflix film There's Someone Inside Your House. Based on the young adult novel by Stephanie Perkins, the film opens with the killer entering the home of Jackson Pace (Markian Tarasiuk), a jock who bullied Caleb Greenley (Burkely Duffield) for being gay. Jackson is murdered for being such a horrible person. There are some flaws with this film, but it does show that Jackson has behaved in a gross and offensive way and this is why the killer is going after him.
TV Tropes notes that Unfriended (2014) uses this horror trope. Unfriended needs a third entry as the first two movies are so much fun, and in the first story, a group of teenagers are being tormented by the ghost of Laura Barns, a classmate who they were incredibly mean to. Laura is sick of being made fun of and out for revenge. Even the main character Blair Lily (Shelley Henning) has something to apologize for, as she and Laura were best friends, and as Blair became popular, she turned on Laura and treated her terribly. No one is safe here as everyone has a dark part of their past that Laura wants to punish them for. The characters never thought that treating Laura like this would come back to haunt them.
The 1976 movie Carrie has quite the legacy and the adaptation of the Stephen King adaptation is one of the best. It also uses the "Death By Mocking" trope as the main character (played by Sissy Spacek) is teased and tormented. The Pretty Little Liars reboot has horror references, including when twins Karen and Kelly Beasley (Mallory Bechtel) decide to throw blood on Imogen Adams (Bailee Madison) just like in Carrie. Spacek's character is devastated that her classmates have been bullying her for so long, including in the opening scene when she gets her period, and she ends up killing them via her telekenetic powers. Things don't work out well for the bullies here.
The 2006 film All The Boys Love Mandy Lane can be considered an underappreciated 2000s horror movie and it's another perfect example of this trope. The main character, played by Amber Heard, is tired of the way that her male classmates are treating her as they want to use her for her good looks. Mandy and Emmett (Michael Welch) want a bully named Dylan (Adam Powell) to pay for how he has treated them and he's the first person in the movie to die as a result.
After watching several horror movies that use the "Death By Mocking" trope, it becomes clear that when a mean character is introduced, they will likely not make it until the end of the film.