Tropescilloscope: Mind Screw

A work looks weird due to its alleged symbolism. (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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