17 details you might've missed in popular horror movies
- Some details are so subtle in horror films that you may miss them.
- Hidden clues throughout "The Conjuring 2," "Hereditary," and "Us" foreshadow plot twists.
- Classic horror films like "The Exorcist," "Poltergeist," and "The Shining" also have hidden details.
In the remake of "The Invisible Man," there is a quick scene that references the original movie.
"The Invisible Man" originally premiered in 1933, but the movie was remade in 2020. It follows a woman, Cecilia, who claims her abusive boyfriend who recently died by suicide is now invisible and stalking her.
In the latest film, when Cecilia visits a hospital after she faints, the camera cuts to a person whose face is wrapped in bandages as he's wheeled out of a room. Some viewers may not have realized the moment references the original film, in which the lead character wrapped himself in cloth after making himself invisible.
The huge plot twist at the end of "Malignant" was hinted at throughout the film — even as early as the opening credits.
Warning: Spoilers.
"Malignant" premiered in 2021 and follows a woman, Madison, who sees visions of people being murdered and realizes they are actually being killed in real life.
It's later revealed that her conjoined twin brother lives inside her head, takes over her body, and kills people. That plot twist was hinted at in the opening scenes of the movie when documents are shown reading, "Birthed with two heads."
In an early scene, Madison says, "There's no one there. It's all in my head. It's all in my head. It's all in my head." All of this hints at the fact that the killer is actually living inside her head.
Throughout "Us," there are hints at the movie's big twist.
Warning: Spoilers.
In 2019, Jordan Peele made his second horror-thriller film, "Us." In it, a family comes under attack from a group of doppelgängers. It's later revealed these doppelgängers are clones and that the mother, Adelaide, is actually a clone, too.
That twist is foreshadowed throughout the movie. In one scene, Adelaide says she has a tough time talking — the clones do too. Also, when the doppelgängers show up to the house for the first time, small clues prove Adelaide already knows who they are. For example, when the 9-1-1 operator asks if they hurt anyone, Adelaide says, "No, they haven't. But I know they will."
Cult members are hiding in several scenes of "Hereditary."
Warning: Spoilers.
Ari Aster's 2018 masterpiece, "Hereditary," focuses on a family's trauma after losing their youngest daughter. It isn't until the last 20 minutes that viewers understand the whole movie is actually about a cult, but there were hints to the true premise hiding throughout the film.
For example, at the start of the film, when the son, Peter, is smoking, if you look closely, you can see a cult member hiding in the background. In another scene, several cult members are hiding in the dark outside the house, as pictured above.
In "A Quiet Place," bags of chips are the only items left on grocery store shelves for a very smart reason.
John Krasinski's 2018 horror film, "A Quiet Place," follows a family in a post-apocalyptic world. In it, no one can make a sound because any noises will attract killer monsters.
At the beginning of the movie, the family creeps into a grocery store. All of the shelves are empty, but if you look closely, you will see that the chip aisle is still fully stocked. The chips have been left untouched because crunching into one would create too much noise and attract the monsters.
Pennywise may have been posing as a librarian in "It."
In the 2017 remake of "It," Pennywise the clown takes many forms, but there's one scene that is really chilling. When one of the children is seen reading a book in a library, there's an older librarian behind him. She may look normal, but if you look closely, she's smiling creepily and staring directly at the child. Some say it's Pennywise.
If you examine one scene in "Get Out," you'll notice a metaphor for slavery.
In Jordan Peele's 2017 horror thriller, Chris, a Black man, meets his girlfriend's white parents for the first time.
In one scene, Chris is tied to a chair and is about to be hypnotized. But he pulls a piece of cotton out of the chair and stuffs his ears with it so he can't hear the hypnosis.
Some viewers may have missed the metaphor here: Chris was shackled and had to pick cotton, just like slaves had to do to stay alive.
In "The Conjuring 2," the name of the demon is hidden throughout the movie.
In the 2016 sequel to "The Conjuring," paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren help a single mother who says her house is haunted.
At the same time, Lorraine is being haunted by a demon, and to get rid of it, she must learn its name. It turns out, the name, Valak, is hidden in most scenes. For instance, "Valak" is etched into the walls of the kitchen, it's found on a friendship bracelet Lorraine's daughter is making, and it's spelled out on a bookshelf.
You may have missed that "It Follows" doesn't take place in any time period.
In 2014, "It Follows" left many audiences feeling uncomfortable. The movie follows a college student who is being hunted by an entity after contracting it during sex.
But the plot takes place in no particular decade. In some scenes, they are watching '50s cartoons, and then in other scenes, they stand in kitchens that are straight out of the '70s.
But perhaps most interestingly, the technology seems to be from a different world, so as to not point to a specific time period. In one scene, one of the characters is reading a book on what looks likes a toy clam or a makeup compact.
A sketchbook drawing in the first "Saw" movie revealed the killer early in the film.
Warning: Spoiler alert.
"Saw," which premiered in 2004, follows two men who wake up in a bathroom and are chained to pipes. In the middle of the bathroom, there is a dead body. The men learn they are part of a game orchestrated by a serial killer known as Jigsaw.
At one point in the movie, there is a flashback to a terminal cancer patient in a hospital bed. In front of him is a sketchbook with a drawing that shows a contraption used at the beginning of the film. If you looked closely at the drawing and realized what it showed, you would know that the patient, John Kramer, is the serial killer known as Jigsaw.
Circular shapes can be spotted throughout "The Ring."
In 2002's "The Ring," a journalist investigates a mysterious videotape after learning anyone who watches it dies seven days later.
Throughout the film, there is a running ring motif. At one point, for example, the camera zooms in on a coffee ring left behind by a mug. Even the DreamWorks logo, which is usually a crescent moon, transforms into a ring at the beginning of the movie.
A missing cross on the wall hints at the main character's backstory in "Signs."
The 2002 thriller "Signs" tells the story of a family facing an alien invasion.
The father, Graham Hess, is a former priest who left religion behind when his wife was killed. Before that fact is revealed, there's a scene where Graham is brushing his teeth. If you look closely, you can see a stain in the shape of a cross on the wall. A cross used to hang there, demonstrating Graham lost faith in religion.
The big twist at the end of "The Sixth Sense" is foreshadowed in the main character's clothing.
Warning: Spoilers.
"The Sixth Sense," which premiered in 1999, follows a psychologist, Dr. Malcolm Crowe, who starts working with a child who says he can see and communicate with ghosts. In one of the most famous movie twists of all time, viewers learn Malcolm has been dead the entire time.
If you look closely, he is always wearing some variation of the clothes he was wearing the night he was killed, which included an overcoat, a sweatshirt, and parts of a suit.
The location of the serial killer is hinted at early in "The Silence of the Lambs."
The classic 1992 horror "The Silence of the Lambs" follows Clarice, an FBI trainee, who is trying to track down a serial killer named Buffalo Bill. To do so, she meets with another serial killer named Dr. Hannibal Lecter and asks for his help.
During their first meeting, Clarice asks Hannibal if he made the drawings that are hanging in his cell.
He answers, "That is the Duomo seen from the Belvedere. You know Florence?"
Later in the film, it's revealed Buffalo Bill is located in Belvedere, Ohio.
In one scene from "Poltergeist," a picture of the youngest daughter is replaced with an image of a ghost.
In the 1982 horror classic "Poltergeist," a family is terrorized by ghosts in their house. It hits fever pitch when the youngest daughter, Carol Ann, goes missing.
Toward the end of the film, the mother is attacked by one of the ghosts. If you lean in closely at that moment, you can see one of the pictures of Carol Ann on a table is replaced with the image of a black-and-white ghost.
"The Shining" has several subtle references to the number 42.
Stephen King's novel "The Shining" was adapted into a horror film in 1980. In the story, a family moves into a seemingly haunted hotel to take care of it during the off-season. The family quickly descends into madness as the isolation becomes too much.
Throughout the film, viewers can spot the number 42. For instance, the son is wearing a shirt with the number on it. In another scene, he's watching a movie called "Summer of '42." Plus, the infamous room in the film is Room 237. If you multiply those numbers together, they equal 42.
Some people believe the repetitiveness of this number points to the fact that "The Shining" is about the Holocaust — Nazi leaders met to discuss and implement the "Final Solution" in 1942.
A banner in "The Exorcist" may look like nothing, but it has a deeper meaning.
"The Exorcist" premiered in 1973 and instantly became a classic, telling the story of a young girl, Regan, who is possessed by a demon.
In one scene, there is a banner hanging over the doorway in an office where Father Karras takes his tape recordings of Regan. In red letters, the sign reads, "tasukete," which is Japanese for "help me." Those same words appear on Regan's stomach during the movie.
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