Tropescilloscope: Mind Screw

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

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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