Tropescilloscope: Scare Chord

A single musical note (or more if needed), coming out of nowhere in order to enhance the creepiness of a sudden scene. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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