Tropescilloscope: Adult Fear

Threats and fears that most adults would worry about in real life. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Based on a True Story Adaptation Dye-Job O.O.C. Is Serious Business Evil Is Petty The Voiceless Ironic Echo Dressing as the Enemy Re-Cut Wretched Hive Evil Is Hammy Adaptational Badass An Arm and a Leg Darkest Hour Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Artistic License – Military Villain Protagonist Handicapped Badass Guile Hero Car Fu Rated M for Manly Too Dumb to Live Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun The Ghost Empathic Environment Wounded Gazelle Gambit Non-Indicative Name Intrepid Reporter Nothing Is Scarier Names to Run Away from Really Fast Video Credits Badass Boast Police Brutality Parental Incest Playing Gertrude The Oner The Load Damsel in Distress Taking the Bullet Not So Above It All Unresolved Sexual Tension Stepford Smiler Married to the Job Vomit Discretion Shot Leave the Camera Running Made of Explodium Television Movie Index Bald of Evil Kill 'em All Brother–Sister Incest Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Agony of the Feet Bad Boss Punch-Clock Villain Insult Backfire Artistic License – History Badass Grandpa Anguished Declaration of Love The Place Loophole Abuse Drowning My Sorrows Tranquil Fury Only One Name Failed a Spot Check "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Worthy Opponent Film Noir The Lancer No Antagonist Recycled IN SPACE! The Mafia After the End Anyone Can Die Rule of Three It Can Think Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Fate Worse than Death Early-Bird Cameo Animated Credits Opening Tempting Fate Becoming the Mask Fanservice Extra Epic Fail Horror Comedy Whole Plot Reference La Résistance Works Set in World War II Death by Adaptation Hypocrite Brick Joke Eiffel Tower Effect Catch-Phrase Last-Name Basis Foil Deus ex Machina Silence Is Golden Bring My Brown Pants Expository Hairstyle Change Auto Erotica Bond One-Liner Tap on the Head Action Survivor Affably Evil Shipper on Deck Unusually Uninteresting Sight Rasputinian Death Author Appeal Christmas Movies Index Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Domestic Abuse Badass Normal Amoral Attorney The Great Depression Ship Tease The Un-Reveal Curb-Stomp Battle Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Death of a Child NO INDOOR VOICE Wham Line Totally Radical Would Hurt a Child Broken Pedestal Artistic License – Gun Safety Fire-Forged Friends Evil vs. Evil Get Out! Race Lift Bait-and-Switch Funny Background Event Good Is Not Nice Department of Redundancy Department Tagline Military and Warfare Films Establishing Character Moment No Name Given Chekhov's Gun Advertised Extra The Chessmaster Back from the Dead Riddle for the Ages Chekhov's Skill Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Together in Death Big Eater She's Got Legs Offscreen Teleportation Award-Bait Song Spared by the Adaptation Slasher Smile War Is Hell Action Prologue Running Gag Mystery and Detective Films Self-Deprecation Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Pet the Dog Cloudcuckoolander Well-Intentioned Extremist The Quiet One The Sociopath Heroic BSoD Stealth Pun Four-Temperament Ensemble Ascended Extra Red Shirt Cold-Blooded Torture Bunny-Ears Lawyer More Dakka Black Dude Dies First The Vamp Translation Convention Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Historical-Domain Character Gilligan Cut Better to Die than Be Killed Fan Disservice Trailers Always Spoil Anachronic Order Police are Useless Did Not Get the Girl Cluster F-Bomb Chase Scene Jerkass Central Theme An Axe to Grind '80s Hair All Just a Dream The Dog Bites Back The Lost Lenore Black Best Friend No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Plucky Comic Relief A God Am I Early Installment Weirdness Enemy Mine Zombie Stories Smoking Is Cool Put on a Bus Card-Carrying Villain Cool Old Lady Those Two Bad Guys He Who Fights Monsters Comically Missing the Point Aluminum Christmas Trees Overprotective Dad Beta Couple Word of God Russian Films Take That! Novelization Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Driven to Suicide "The Reason You Suck" Speech He Knows Too Much Fingore Downer Ending Developing Doomed Characters Stuff Blowing Up Large Ham Title Drop Hope Spot Bury Your Gays Parental Neglect Big "NO!" Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Bound and Gagged Extremely Short Timespan Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Be Careful What You Wish For Only a Flesh Wound Exact Words Mad Scientist Decoy Protagonist Logo Joke Arranged Marriage Expy Cat Scare Super Strength Chiaroscuro Bloodless Carnage Needs Wiki Magic Love Posthumous Character Heroes Want Redheads Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Stalker with a Crush Public Domain Feature Films Ungrateful Bastard Pre-Mortem One-Liner Grievous Bottley Harm Kick the Dog No Ending Malevolent Masked Men Belligerent Sexual Tension Freeze-Frame Bonus Pragmatic Adaptation Arch-Enemy Reasonable Authority Figure The Cameo Ambiguously Gay Curse Cut Short Pay Evil unto Evil Destination Defenestration Foregone Conclusion Depraved Bisexual Neck Snap Artistic License – Law I Have Your Wife Face Death with Dignity Children Are Innocent Roger Ebert: Great Movies List MacGuffin Shoot the Shaggy Dog The Atoner Vampire Fiction Insane Troll Logic Precision F-Strike The Remake Woman Scorned Index of Film Westerns Jerk Jock Kubrick Stare Rule of Symbolism Mexican Standoff Suspiciously Specific Denial Big Bad Duumvirate Ghost Fiction Extreme Doormat Ugly Guy, Hot Wife "Shaggy Dog" Story I'm a Humanitarian Truth in Television Asshole Victim Australian Movies An Aesop Insistent Terminology Room Full of Crazy Diabolus ex Machina Dirty Coward Danny Peary Cult Movies List Shell-Shocked Veteran Big Brother Instinct Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Shut Up, Hannibal! Broken Aesop Deliberate Values Dissonance Conspicuous CG Dirty Cop Daylight Horror Eldritch Abomination Fatal Family Photo Wicked Cultured Politically Incorrect Villain I Did What I Had to Do Demoted to Extra Mighty Whitey Apocalypse How Shout-Out Femme Fatale Animal Title Index Motor Mouth Call-Back Determinator aka: The Determinator Bullying a Dragon Thriller Guns Akimbo Accidental Murder Real Life Star-Crossed Lovers Undying Loyalty Disney Villain Death The Power of Love Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Jitter Cam Soundtrack Dissonance Let's Get Dangerous! Dutch Angle Skewed Priorities It's All About Me And Starring Big Bad Stylistic Suck Have a Gay Old Time Older Than They Look Japanese Films Combat Pragmatist Smug Snake Brainless Beauty Peek-a-Boo Corpse In Medias Res Imagine Spot Henpecked Husband Dramedy Deal with the Devil The Chick Double-Meaning Title timeperiod Aside Glance Due to the Dead Not So Stoic Cool Old Guy Blatant Lies Adaptation Distillation Psychopathic Manchild Action Genre Cool Car The Starscream Mood Whiplash The Smart Guy Adorkable Even Evil Has Loved Ones Setting Update Distracted by the Sexy Red Herring Eagleland Heterosexual Life-Partners Romantic False Lead Catapult Nightmare My Greatest Failure Hair-Trigger Temper Pretty in Mink Sequel Hook Determinator Male Gaze Death by Irony Never Found the Body Informed Ability Gender Flip Jerkass Has a Point Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Spell My Name with an "S" As the Good Book Says... Half the Man He Used to Be Monumental Damage What the Hell, Hero? You Have Failed Me Fake Shemp Knight Templar Creator Cameo I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Not Quite Dead Taking You with Me Flashback Superhero Demonic Possession Time Skip Outrun the Fireball Never Trust a Trailer Historical Villain Upgrade Anti-Villain Epic Movie Artistic License – Physics Science Fiction Films Major Injury Underreaction Bar Brawl Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Fourth Date Marriage This Is Gonna Suck Reality Is Unrealistic Nice Guy Mundane Made Awesome Rich Bitch Framing Device Rousing Speech Sealed Evil in a Can Dark Is Not Evil Villain Song Once More, with Clarity! Contrived Coincidence Freudian Excuse The Big Guy Mistaken for Gay Wrong Genre Savvy Not Using the "Z" Word She Cleans Up Nicely Shown Their Work Rule of Funny In the Back Redemption Equals Death Deconstruction Immune to Bullets Karma Houdini Captain Obvious Spanner in the Works Hell Is That Noise Left the Background Music On Hoist by His Own Petard Mama Bear The Hero Artistic License – Geography The Alcoholic Love at First Sight Does This Remind You of Anything? Death by Sex Our Zombies Are Different All Girls Want Bad Boys Corrupt Corporate Executive Sports Stories Ripped from the Headlines Homage Evil Counterpart Villain with Good Publicity Batman Gambit Dogged Nice Guy Product Placement Bloody Hilarious Evil Brit Mercy Kill A Minor Kidroduction Took a Level in Jerkass Improvised Weapon Slasher Movie Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Canadian Movies Badass Longcoat Deadpan Snarker May–December Romance Didn't Think This Through Gainax Ending Show Within a Show Breaking the Fourth Wall Loads and Loads of Characters Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism The Film of the Book For Want of a Nail A Date with Rosie Palms Morality Pet Happily Married Properly Paranoid The Ace One Steve Limit Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Beware the Nice Ones There Is No Kill Like Overkill The Dragon All Men Are Perverts Heel Realization Mr. Exposition Ass Shove Meet Cute Vomit Indiscretion Shot Yandere Dissonant Serenity Armor-Piercing Question Very Loosely Based on a True Story Unspoken Plan Guarantee Author Avatar Unwitting Instigator of Doom Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Same Language Dub Refuge in Audacity Drives Like Crazy The Ditz Genre Throwback Badass Bookworm Double Entendre As You Know Made of Iron Humiliation Conga Country Matters You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Dull Surprise Red Eyes, Take Warning Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Lighter and Softer Bare Your Midriff Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Vitriolic Best Buds Serial Killer Cool Guns Stock Footage Covers Always Lie Would Hit a Girl Drill Sergeant Nasty Getting Crap Past the Radar Up to Eleven Adapted Out Sinister Minister Adaptational Villainy One-Man Army Pragmatic Villainy Slap-Slap-Kiss Evil Laugh folderlabel Heroic Sacrifice Laser-Guided Karma Random Events Plot Composite Character Light Is Not Good Throwing Your Sword Always Works The Bully Straight Gay Gratuitous English Parental Substitute Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Man on Fire Faking the Dead Idiot Ball Storming the Castle Everyone Has Standards Foreshadowing Jump Scare The Stoic Sir Swears-a-Lot Ms. Fanservice The Stoner Big Applesauce Sole Survivor Karmic Death Sanity Slippage Crapsack World Only Known by Their Nickname Only Sane Man Off-into-the-Distance Ending Kids Are Cruel No Celebrities Were Harmed What Happened to the Mouse? Funny Foreigner Canon Foreigner Lock and Load Montage The '60s Drugs Are Bad Alpha Bitch Parental Abandonment Actor Allusion Rape as Drama Death Seeker Vacation Films Hero Antagonist Artistic License – Biology Fanservice Maybe Ever After Faux Affably Evil Exactly What It Says on the Tin Body Horror Break the Haughty Bi the Way Italian Films Reality Has No Subtitles Scary Black Man Reality Ensues Dies Wide Open The Bad Guy Wins Neck Lift Blood Knight Beard of Evil Babies Ever After Betty and Veronica Noodle Incident Madness Mantra Evil-Detecting Dog Make It Look Like an Accident Flipping the Bird It Will Never Catch On Camp Gay Market-Based Title The Cavalry Men Are the Expendable Gender Black Comedy Visual Pun Frame-Up World of Ham Captain Ersatz The Musical Break the Cutie Deliberately Monochrome Retirony Character Development Our Vampires Are Different Defiant to the End Groin Attack Film Noir Index Death Glare Call-Forward Only in It for the Money Pimped-Out Dress Adaptation Name Change Stealth Hi/Bye Attempted Rape Abusive Parents Manic Pixie Dream Girl Darker and Edgier Closed Circle Anachronism Stew How We Got Here Bottomless Magazines Pyrrhic Victory Bolivian Army Ending Hate Sink Dark and Troubled Past A Father to His Men Accidental Misnaming Friend to All Children Narrator Line-of-Sight Name Instant Death Bullet Sci-Fi Horror Mooks The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Moment Killer Dirty Old Man Fantastic Racism Cain and Abel Fiery Redhead And the Adventure Continues Shower Scene Suspiciously Similar Substitute Scenery Porn Roaring Rampage of Revenge Spiteful Spit Earn Your Happy Ending I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Twist Ending Token Minority Adaptational Heroism Black and Gray Morality Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Overly Long Gag You Killed My Father Awesome, but Impractical Jerk with a Heart of Gold Your Head A-Splode Arc Words Every Car Is a Pinto Gold Digger Genre Shift Greater-Scope Villain Meaningful Echo Sexy Discretion Shot Boom, Headshot! Pretty Little Headshots Love Triangle Continuity Nod All There in the Script Retcon German Films Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane All There in the Manual The Stinger Affectionate Parody Air-Vent Passageway Hidden Depths Ax-Crazy Those Two Guys Daddy's Girl Fat Bastard Evil Sounds Deep Eye Scream Off with His Head! Laughing Mad Dramatic Gun Cock Screw the Money, I Have Rules! As Himself Take a Third Option Rule of Cool The X of Y Biopic Hero of Another Story Victoria's Secret Compartment Disappeared Dad Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Not Even Bothering with the Accent Authority Equals Asskicking For the Evulz Disguised in Drag Revenge A.I. Is a Crapshoot Obstructive Bureaucrat Facial Horror Famous Last Words Romantic Comedy Berserk Button Crazy Jealous Guy Amusing Injuries Serious Business The '70s Eureka Moment True Companions Face–Heel Turn The Casanova Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Hypocritical Humor Bond Villain Stupidity Fainting Bilingual Bonus Poor Communication Kills Heel–Face Turn My Beloved Smother All for Nothing Bland-Name Product Shirtless Scene What You Are in the Dark Fun with Acronyms Bloodier and Gorier Mythology Gag Casting Gag Sequel Escalation Creative Closing Credits Bavarian Fire Drill Spiritual Successor Bad "Bad Acting" Big-Bad Ensemble Kill It with Fire Historical In-Joke Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Film Series Silent Movie Real Life Writes the Plot Grey and Gray Morality Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Ambiguous Ending Music Stories Villain Ball Fantasy Films British Films Those Wacky Nazis Soft Glass Broken Bird Knife Nut Gone Horribly Right Implacable Man Book-Ends Cowboy Cop Dark Reprise Dual Wielding Lampshade Hanging Alliterative Name Credits Gag No OSHA Compliance Dumb Blonde Calling the Old Man Out Creepy Child Manly Tears Never My Fault Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Humans Are Bastards Naïve Newcomer Almost Kiss Big Fancy House Not What It Looks Like Dramatic Irony Obfuscating Stupidity Beauty Is Never Tarnished Five-Man Band Manipulative Bastard Took a Level in Badass Abhorrent Admirer Documentary The Hero Dies Rewatch Bonus Red Oni, Blue Oni Offscreen Moment of Awesome No-Sell Disney Death Does Not Like Shoes Race Against the Clock Costume Porn Woman in White Crucified Hero Shot Dark Action Girl Adults Are Useless In Name Only Cruel and Unusual Death The '80s Final Girl Adaptation Expansion Dropped a Bridge on Him Protagonist Title Punny Name Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Suddenly SHOUTING! Villainous Breakdown Age Lift Papa Wolf Oh, Crap! Easily Forgiven Camera Abuse The Alleged Car Gorn Mugging the Monster Redshirt Army Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Toplessness from the Back You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Missing Mom French Films The Brute Black Comedy Rape Reckless Gun Usage Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Bittersweet Ending Obviously Evil Even Evil Has Standards Despair Event Horizon Ambiguous Disorder The End... Or Is It? Leaning on the Fourth Wall Slashed Throat Crazy-Prepared Hollywood Law 20 Minutes into the Future The '90s Psycho for Hire Leitmotif Evil Plan N-Word Privileges Horror Films Fatal Flaw Chekhov's Gunman B-Movie Unreliable Narrator Your Cheating Heart Coming-of-Age Story Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Honor Before Reason Cat Fight Mind Screw Paper-Thin Disguise Disproportionate Retribution Dying Moment of Awesome Adaptational Attractiveness Match Cut The '50s Really Gets Around Adult Fear Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Animal Motifs Butt-Monkey Actually Pretty Funny Gory Discretion Shot Unusual Euphemism It's Personal Mr. Fanservice I Need a Freaking Drink Antagonist Title Action Girl Irony Manchild Male Frontal Nudity Say My Name Bowdlerise Intergenerational Friendship Celebrity Paradox Hollywood Darkness Genre Savvy Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Here We Go Again! My God, What Have I Done? Red Right Hand Martial Arts Movie Dwindling Party Killed Mid-Sentence BFG Ominous Latin Chanting Important Haircut No-Holds-Barred Beatdown The Faceless Interrupted Suicide Improbable Aiming Skills "Well Done, Son!" Guy Brutal Honesty Green-Eyed Monster "Awesome McCool" Name Meaningful Name Small Name, Big Ego Eyepatch of Power Annoying Younger Sibling From Bad to Worse Fish out of Water Scenery Gorn And I Must Scream Psychological Thriller Historical Hero Upgrade One-Word Title Wham Shot Meaningful Background Event Corpsing From Nobody to Nightmare Plot Hole Alas, Poor Villain Cool Shades Retired Badass The Smurfette Principle Villain Opening Scene Blood from the Mouth Improbable Weapon User Hooker with a Heart of Gold Big Damn Heroes The Mole Defrosting Ice Queen Badass in a Nice Suit Anti-Hero Naked People Are Funny Kick the Son of a Bitch Nice Hat Sassy Black Woman Scare Chord Not So Different The Dreaded Sadistic Choice Chewing the Scenery Hong Kong Films The Reveal Training Montage Sacrificial Lion Cassandra Truth Blackmail As Long as It Sounds Foreign