Tropescilloscope: Red Herring

A misleading and distracting "clue". (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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