Tropescilloscope: Thriller

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

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