Tropescilloscope: Red Herring

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

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