Tropescilloscope: Blackmail

Pay up or X finds out something you want kept quiet. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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