Tropescilloscope: Serial Killer

The Trope: Someone who murders many people in separate incidents. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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