Tropescilloscope: Serial Killer

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

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