Tropescilloscope: Thriller

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

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