Tropescilloscope: Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking

Minimum three items: start dark, continue dark, finish weak. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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