Titles of the definite-article + gerund format, i.e. "The [verb]ing". And since it's about something happening, it's an Event Title sub-trope as well.
The use of this format for titling Horror Films is sometimes parodied, and is usually a good indicator that the film is very definitely a B-Grade one (despite the Trope Namer, The Shining, being anything but low-quality). It's also a very easy way to give your sequel a memorable subtitle.
Compare Verbing Nouny.
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The Listing
Anime & Manga
Film
- The Awakening
- The Bleeding
- The Burning
- The Conjuring
- The Crossing
- The Happening
- The Haunting (1963)
- Highlander II: The Quickening
- The Howling
- The Killing
- The Missing (2003)
- The Outing
- Piranha Part Two: The Spawning
- The Reaping
- The Reckoning (multiple movies with this title)
- The Shining
- The Shooting
- The Unearthling
- The Vanishing
- The Wailing
Fan Works
- Between the Lines (MrQuestionMark): "The Turning"
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- Evershade: In "Reforming", when picking what movie to watch, one call "The Shaping" is mentioned, and as this trope implies, it's a horror movie:
"Horror one. A story about an evil, possessed house?" I raised an eyebrow. "Sounds a bit cliche."
- Fanmade Chronicles of Darkness and Old World of Darkness lines:
Literature
- Bentley Little's novels The Summoning, The Walking, The Burning, The Vanishing
- The Gathering
- The Howling (1977) (the source material for The Film of the Book)
- The Shunning
Live-Action TV
- An in-universe example occurs on iCarly: Carly, Sam and Freddy help some friends make a trailer for a movie called... The Blowing.
- The Killing
Music
- Kate Bush: The Dreaming album and its Title Track.
- Tears for Fears: The Hurting album and its Title Track.
Tabletop Games
Video Games
- The Baconing, the third part of the DeathSpank saga.
- A cancelled title in the Castlevania series for the 32X would've gone by the name of Castlevania: The Bloodletting.
- Hunter: The Reckoning
- Hunter: The Reckoning: Wayward
- Hunter: The Reckoning: Redeemer
- Privateer 2: The Darkening
- The Reckoning
Webcomics
- The Becoming
- Final Fantasy VII: The Sevening
- El Goonish Shive has the storyline "Q&A 7 - The Requestioning"
- Parodied in the Irregular Webcomic! "Shakespeare" theme, when Will proposes a fantasy game called Noun: The Gerunding.
- The Croaking
Web Video
Western Animation
- Ruthlessly parodied in season 3 of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, with such episode titles as "The Shaving", "The Cubing", and of course, "The The".
- Dexter's Laboratory: "The Laughing" involves Dexter turning into a "were-clown".
- The Simpsons
- Parodied when Lenny gets a bit part in a movie called "The Redeadening".
- The episode "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" involves the kids wanting to see a movie called "The Bloodening" (a parody of Village of the Damned).
- A Treehouse of Horror segment is labeled "The Shinning," to parody The Shining.
- Invader Zim: "The Wettening" involves Dib tormenting Zim with water balloons when he discovers Earth's water is toxic to Irkens.
- Futurama: "The Honking" has Bender getting attacked by a "were-car".
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: The season 6 premiere consists of "The Crystalling, Part 1", and "The Crystalling, Part 2". The eponymous Crystalling is a form of christening ceremony for Shining Armor and Princess Cadance's new baby.
- The Amazing World of Gumball: Its Idiosyncratic Episode Naming makes all of its titles with "The", it's almost surprising that this doesn't happen more often. There are a handful examples, however:
