Tropescilloscope: Thriller

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

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