Tropescilloscope: Blackmail

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

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