Tropescilloscope: Adult Fear

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

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