Tropescilloscope: Nothing Is Scarier

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

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