Tropescilloscope: Nothing Is Scarier

Emptiness used to invoke fear by leaving it to the audience's imagination. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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