Andrew Brassleay with a selection of hidden details hanging out in the background of horror movies…
Did anyone else see that? Who needs a jump scare when some of the best of horror’s frightening footage can be found by the more eagle-eyed in the background of fear-inducing fears. Horror movies are filled with sinister Easter eggs and here are some of the genre’s best hidden horrors. Spoilers ahoy!
Midsommar: Face in the Bushes
Most of Ari Astor’s Scandanavian daytime cult scares are pretty upfront: bashed-in faces; flayed American tourists; being burned alive in a bear costume. It’s all in there. But there’s much to pick out behind the scenes, as Florence Pugh’s Dani grapples with her grief following her sister Terri’s suicide and parricide.
Terri makes a few blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearances during Dani’s time in rural and deadly Sweden, but her face imprinting in the bushes demonstrates the all-encompassing torment she feels following the tragedy, and hints at why she eventually turns to the embracing comfort of a murderous cult.
Hereditary: Peter Wakes Up
Another Ari Astor pick, halfway through Hereditary’s long, gruelling, scare-fest finale finds poor Peter Graham (Alex Wolffe) waking up from a trauma-induced deep sleep to the stuff of nightmares.
Presently unaware that dad’s burned corpse is downstairs and members of another of Astor’s morally problematic cult have circled his house (another hidden detail: you can seem them appear during the cut-scene from day to night) and shoved a couple of his family member’s severed heads on mannequin bodies in the treehouse, Peter calls out in the eerily dark night for his mum. Whose now-demonically possessed body is watching him from the corner of the ceiling. It’s in plain sight, but you might need to turn your brightness up for this one.
Ghostwatch: Pipes is Here
The BBC remains almost embarrassed by its greatest sleight of hand trick on its audiences: The 1992 drama-played-as-live-broadcast saw a paranormal investigation into a haunted North London house initial played out for laughs and with scepticism turn seemingly horribly real. And hasn’t been screened by the Beeb since.
Regular, trusted TV personalities helped the sell, but the regular fleeting appearances of resident spook Mr Pipes sealed the deal.
The best? The micro-second glance of Pipes’ reflection in the patio doors, red with blood, provided a lovely jump scare to those lucky kids who stayed up late that Halloween to watch.
SEE ALSO: Ghostwatch Pipeswatch: 30 Years of Spotting Raymond Tunstall
Cloverfield: The Falling Object
Not so much scary, more of an explainer as to why a 100ft monster is running amok in New York City. Rob and Beth’s home movie footage at the end of the movie, filmed during happier times, reveals an object falling from the sky and into NYC’s harbour area. A meteorite with alien matter on it? A satellite with hazardous creature-creating material on board? Who knows? But it’s certainly a sign of bad things to come.
Hell House LLC: The bartender
Stephen Cognetti’s flawed but effective found footage film about a scare house crew’s fight for their collective souls when they stage their show at a real haunted hotel is littered with hidden spooks and scares. There are plenty of people who shouldn’t be there appearing unremarked during the footage of the tragic opening night toward the end of movie, and during the documentary crew’s ill-advised tour for the finale, but it’s rewarding to re-watch the footage uploaded to YouTube that starts Hell House LLC. Who’s that sweary bartender with the pale-white eyes? What’s the guy with the axe doing there? It’s only then that the viewer realises that the footage shows there were several crew members working that night who weren’t on the payroll. Or alive.
Insidious: Facing the Wall
With an impressive jump-scare-per-minute ratio, James Wan’s Insidious also does a good number of hidden tricks and treats. Among them is an unscheduled appearance by the spooky dancing boy Rose Byrne’s Renai spots through a window. While roaming the house, he can also be spotted briefly as she passes him, his back turned, facing the wall.
It Follows: Falling into Steps
David Robert Mitchell’s paranoia-inducing feature calls for characters and audience to be on high alert, with a supernatural force that can take on any human form, relentlessly tracking down its cursed prey. Its final shot sees new couple Jay (Maika Monroe) and Paul (Keir Gilchrist) unaware of a figure slowly walking in step a few yards behind them – the pair having made peace that they’ll face the shadow that follows them together for the rest of their natural lives.
It Chapter One: The Librarian
You’d think a scene with a young boy reading a local history book to unravel the mystery of the sinister goings-on in his town, only to find each turn of the page uncovers increasingly close-up images of a child’s severed head up a tree would be frightening enough.
But no, we’ve also got a librarian grinning in the background at said young boy, before turning into a floating red balloon. Thanks for the nightmares.
It Chapter Two: Bev’s Old House
Like its predecessor, this is filled with hidden appearances from Pennywise the clown. And one of the best scares produced, despite its obviousness, is during Beverley Marsh’s (Jessica Chastain) return to her old family home. She’s met by the place’s latest resident, Mrs Kersh, who predictably is standing in for the demonic clown, and rejoices in several unnerving background appearances, including her naked shuffle across the hallway while Bev has her backed turned to her.
Lake Mungo: Alice’s Farewell
Lake Mungo’s hidden spirits are all pretty much revealed by the end of the movie; but they were all in plain sight throughout. Several photos, shown during the found-footage mockumentary depict doctored images of Alice Palmer’s ghost. But Alice’s true spirit is revealed to be contained elsewhere in the photo. And then there’s the Palmer family’s departing shot, of mum, dad and son, leaving the haunted home for good – it’s a photo shown right at the start of the movie, and its end, when the camera pans to Alice’s spectre, looking out, and saying its goodbyes forever.
SEE ALSO: 15 Years of Lake Mungo: Revisiting the Cult Found Footage Horror
What are your favourite hidden details in horror movies? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Andrew Brassleay
Originally published August 4, 2023. Updated December 16, 2023.
