"There's the jock. If he doesn't die making out with the blonde, they'll probably make him a jerk so he can last about 3/4 the way through."

Alex had rather lost his taste for horror flicks over the last year, but before that he'd seen enough of them to pick up the basic pattern. Kill off the straight up cardboard cut-out characters first, then pick off the rest as they serve their purpose, building on certain characters so their deaths can be savored at the end.