30 Movie and TV Tropes You Can Never Unsee
Movies, TV and commercials have milked the awkward high-five for all it’s worth
![30 Movie and TV Tropes You Can Never Unsee](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/5/2/973452_320x180.jpg)
Show of hands (or comments, since we can’t see your hands) if you’ve ever remained besties with your ex? It can’t be as common as sitcoms would have us believe, can it? If any of our exes walked into this coffee shop right now, we’d lie that we were writing a novel and pray they don’t ask any follow-up questions. Man, we hope that none of you still have your hands up.
![CRACKED COM Enough of the new hair = character development shortcut. It's time to be a little more creative.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/7/4/969774.jpg)
![This savage woman who lives in the jungle has clearly had an appointment with her beautician lately. CRACKED COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/7/3/969773.jpg)
![... TELL US NOW. Why is every superhero a serial monogamist? CRACKED Heather S. says Not every superhero film needs a love interest. Especially if they don't serve any purpose beyond being a love interest.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/7/2/969772.jpg)
![TELL US NOW. ... Sharon G. is sick of implausible CSI tech. I'm still searching for that computer program CSIs use to take a grainy low resolution video and zoom in on the license plate to get a crystal clear image with perfectly legible numbers. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/7/1/969771.jpg)
![MR. & MRS SMITH Perfect Gift... الله Card TMNT SPIDER-MAN WALL-E DAWN OF THE DEAD X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE *Awkward Elevator CRACKED.COM Music*](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/6/8/969768.jpg)
![GRACKED.COM SNOW PLANET. DESERT PLANET JUNGLE PLANET A planet with more than one type of biome? Only Earth.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/7/0/969770.jpg)
![Friends Only You Prem CRACKED.COM Don't worry, if someone loves you just book a flight and they'll chase you to the airport to stop you from leaving them... ...right? She's Outta My League Love Actually](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/6/9/969769.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM New Girl Friends Are you best friends with your exes? How I Met Your Scrubs Mother](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/6/6/969766.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM GOTH GIRLS KNOW DARK MAGICI Bellatrix Lestrange Nancy Black Alice Random spell caster AND ARE ALL BAT-SHIT CRAZY.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/6/7/969767.jpg)
![Just friends. 80 $ Many conversations about crappy love lives. Finally realize that they should have been together ALL ALONG. GRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/6/5/969765.jpg)
![Do you recognize that background actress? Yeah, she'll be important later. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/6/4/969764.jpg)
![The romance develops quickly. CRACKED.COM Canon THE BIG TWIST? She's working for the bad side.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/6/3/969763.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM A character makes a wish.. Regrets making it.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/6/2/969762.jpg)
![Someone acted sympathetically towards the protagonist during his struggle to unravel a conspiracy? they are secretly the mastermind behind it! GRACKED.COM X](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/6/1/969761.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM ORPHANED? Congratulations! Someone is DEFINITELY trying to kill you.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/6/0/969760.jpg)
![If a character gets a gift, STARTREK transporter - room - SAN FRANC BONJOV you can count on that gift getting ruined by the of the episode. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/8/969758.jpg)
![TIRED HORROR TROPES THAT STILL WORK HARBINGER OF DOOM Horror movies are inherent masochistic, as we watch them knowing full well things are gonna get ugly. The crusty old man who warns the protagonists not to go any further makes this very clear. The meta-parody of all things horror The Cabin in the Woods had a character literally referred to as harbinger. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/9/969759.jpg)
![TIRED HORROR TROPES THAT STILL WORK CREATIVE MONSTERS We love when horror movies go the extra mile and come up with new types of monsters with which to scare us. We saw original monsters in recent movies such as Lamb, Sputnik, Impetigore, The Borderlands, and of course, It Follows. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/6/969756.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM FBI TIRED HORROR TROPES THAT STILL WORK THE SKEPTIC IS PROVEN WRONG Ghost Stories, and of course The X-Files during its prime, made great use of this trope. But our favorite example is John Cusack's character in 1408. Seriously, we need more smart horror movies taking their time with a smug skeptic - only for them to be forced to swallow their skepticism.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/3/969753.jpg)
![TIRED HORROR TROPES THAT STILL WORK NOBODY BELIEVES YOU That moment when the main character is all alone against their threat and nobody believes them is truly a pleasure of the genre. If even their sanity is doubted? Even better. The Invisible Man was already pulling this paranoid, suffocating trope very well, and then the restaurant scene happened. Well done, movie. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/5/969755.jpg)
![TIRED HORROR TROPES THAT STILL WORK MID-FILM PLOT SWITCHES We're so used to established genres, that a midway change in genre, plot, or style can feel refreshing and keep us on our toes. Psycho is of course the grandaddy, and Audition and Abre los Ojos go from romcom to psychological horror. Recent examples include/See You, The Perfection, and Mother! CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/7/969757.jpg)
![TIRED HORROR TROPES THAT STILL WORK STATIONARY FOUND FOOTAGE The genre is full of tired tropes. One we really like, however, is when the camera simply stops shaking and we're left with a still image of explicit or implicit horror. Perhaps because it's based on real events, a modern example we love is the final massacre scene in Ti West's underrated 2013 movie, The Sacrament. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/4/969754.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM TIRED HORROR TROPES THAT STILL WORK JUMP SCARES Its overreliance by mediocre horror movies does not mean this trope is bad. Recent movies with amazing jump scares include It: Chapter 1, Hereditary, Rec, Lake Mungo, Insidious, The Descent, and We Need To Do Something. Special mention to David Lynch's Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire - who knew even artsy directors had it in them?](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/2/969752.jpg)
![... TELL US NOW. ENDLESS HENCHMEN Francisco M. says, The amount of henchmen willing to die for them. Some in matching uniforms and masks. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/0/969750.jpg)
![... TELL US NOW. THE END DOESN'T JUSTIFY THE MEANS Payton C. says, Hi. I'm the villain that has a really sensible goal to achieve. Something that the average viewer might actually agree with. I'm going to drown a school-bus full of orphans now. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/5/1/969751.jpg)
![... TELL US NOW. MEETING YOUR MATCH Brad J. says, In superhero media, when the villain has the exact same powers as the hero. It's BORING. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/9/969749.jpg)
![... TELL US NOW. MONOLOGUING THEN LEAVING Don C. says, Leaving the hero in a death trap and leaving after their monologue without even seeing if he's dead. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/7/969747.jpg)
![... TELL US NOW. UGLY = EVIL Khoi C. wants media to retire the association between evil and physical unattractiveness. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/8/969748.jpg)
![... TELL US NOW. WAIT, HEAR ME OUT Murilo V. is sick of When the villain is about to shoot the hero in the face and the hero says 'wait' and the villain proceeds to wait and listen to everything the hero has to say. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/5/969745.jpg)
![... TELL US NOW. SYMPATHETIC BACKSTORY John S. says, This is more of a modern trend, but we don't need complicated, sympathetic backstories for every villain now. I don't always want to feel bad for the bad guy because he had a bad childhood. It's ok for a villain to simply be evil sometimes. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/6/969746.jpg)