The Titling

Titles of the definite-article + gerund format, i.e. "The [verb]ing".

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. It's also a very easy way to give your sequel a memorable subtitle.

Compare Verbing Nouny. See also Stock Subtitle.

Film

• The Awakening
• The Burning
• The Changeling fits the regex but ends in a -ling suffix, not a gerund.
• The Happening
• The Haunting
• Highlander 2: The Quickening (also seen in the contemporary mocking fan-rename, Highlander 2: The Dweebing)
• The Howling
• The Killing
• The Reaping
• The Reckoning (multiple movies with this title)
• The Shining
• The Unearthling fits the regex but ends in a -ling suffix, not a gerund.

Literature

• Bentley Little's novels The Summoning, The Walking, The Burning, The Vanishing
• The Gathering
• 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

Tabletop Games

• Magic: The Gathering
• Changeling: The Dreaming
• Hunter: The Reckoning
• Mage: The Awakening

Video Games

• Privateer 2: The Darkening
• The Baconing, the third part of the Death Spank saga.
• A cancelled title in the Castlevania series for the 32X would've gone by the name of Castlevania: The Bloodletting.

Web Comics

• Final Fantasy VII: The Sevening

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".
• Also parodied in The Simpsons, when it is mentioned that Lenny had 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).
• Invader Zim: episode title "The Wettening".
• Futurama: episode title "The Honking".