Tropescilloscope: Adult Fear

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

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