Tropescilloscope: Blackmail

Pay up or X finds out something you want kept quiet. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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