If a character dies in a car crash, he will do so in a way that causes the horn to blare continuously.
Automatic Customer Bell
All establishing shots of small town Main Streets are inevitably accompanied by the sound of a bell ringing as a customer opens a door.
Awake and Ready to Scare
When a character touches another to check whether theyre sleeping or dead, the immobile person inevitably wakes up and grabs him in tune with a strong musical note.
Bartlett's Law
Whenever one character recites a quote from memory to another, the second person already knows it, and tells him or her the origin. If it is from the Bible, the second person always knows which chapter and verse.
Doing Radio
A characters lines describe what we can see happening on the screen. Critic Rich Elias tags an all-time classic when he observes that Jack, in "Titanic," says, "Lets get out of here! This place is flooded!"
Ali MacGraw's Disease
Movie illness in which the only symptom is that the sufferer grows more beautiful as death approaches. (This disease claimed many screen victims, often including Greta Garbo.)
