Tropescilloscope: Thriller

Trope: Anticipation of action, rather than action itself. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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