Basic Trope: The eye of a deceased or sleeping character (usually the villain) opens, often times to set up a potential sequel.
- Straight: Iris Syclop falls from a tall enough height to kill her, but her eye opens in The Stinger, indicating she's still alive.
- Exaggerated: The camera zooms in until Iris's closed eye fills the entire screen. Then it opens.
- Downplayed: It's unclear if Iris's eye opened because she's still alive or due to a muscle spasm.
- Justified: Iris is being kept in a morgue and doesn't want to draw attention to herself, biding her time until she can escape.
- Inverted: Iris's eyes close for the last time, ending the film on a somber note.
- Subverted: Iris's eye opens. Then the coroner's assistant manually closes it again with his hand—it was just a muscle spasm.
- Double Subverted: But then her eye opens again.
- Parodied: John makes sure Iris's eyes stay closed by taping them shut.
- Zig Zagged: Iris's eyes open a very small amount, then close again... only to open wider the next time. The film then cuts to credits, prompting speculation on whether or not she's still alive.
- Averted: Iris's fate is neither shown nor discussed after the film's climax.
- Enforced:
- Iris's actress likes close ups.
- Iris' actor popped her eyes open in response to an unexpected jolt of cold and the director decided to Throw It In!.
- Lampshaded: "Come on, I know your eye's gonna open!"
- Invoked: John sits beside Iris's waiting for her eye to open and confirm she's alive.
- Exploited: Iris doesn't open her eyes because it would indicate she's still alive. She just starts crawling toward the camera.
- Discussed: "Unless they get their heads blown off, bad guys always open their eyes."
- Conversed: "If she wakes up on you, watch out!"
- Implied: Iris's eyelid twitches imperceptibly, but her eye doesn't open on screen.
- Deconstructed: Iris is able to open her eyes, but the fall was still fatal. She dies moments later.
- Reconstructed: Iris is dead... but John still thinks she's alive and goes back to finish her off, resulting in enough time for her plan's dead man's switch to kick into gear.
- Played for Laughs: John pokes Iris's eyeball with his finger to prove she's dead.
- Played for Drama: Seeing Iris still alive after such a gruesome fall is enough to traumatize John for the rest of his life, resulting in Iris scoring one last victory.
"An-n-n-nd he goes back to the trope."
