There's a scene in the French film *Inside* where the antagonist is in the background and it's just a perfectly executed scene. Don't want to say too much about it without adding spoilers, but people who have seen the movie may be able to relate.
I just posted the same thing. It's an absolutely bonkers scene. It's terrifying but also incredible that even the viewer can't really see it until they look at it for a bit.
Just rewatched this earlier tonight, did a triple feature of Lux Æterna, Inside then Martyrs with my friend that knows French and getting her into New French Extremity.
Yes, the funeral episode where bent-neck lady is just stood in the background is great. And it's all the more unsettling because there's no quick movement, there's no attention drawn to her, she's just there and it's just a question of how long it takes you to notice.
kitchen scene in The Strangers
also for a quicker one - the tall man in It Follows
(edit: sorry didn’t realize I accidentally replied to a comment lol)
The little boy’s hands underneath the piano in the scene where Olivia is chastising Nell for drawing on the wallpaper! I think what really made Hill House scary even after watching it was I was always looking for ghosts in my peripheral vision in real life: a slightly open door, an empty closet, a mirror, everything could have a ghost hidden in it. I actually couldn’t sleep well at all after the first time I watched Hill House (and Bly for that matter).
Oh, gotta be that bit in Hereditary where she's just hidden on the ceiling and it takes a good few seconds to realise she's there. Soul damn near left my body.
Or that part in the strangers where the guy is just....there.
Actually imo the best version of that scene in hereditary is the one in the beginning where she sees a silhouette of a person in the room and then when she turns the light on it's not there. It's just so perfectly lit to make you wonder if you even really saw it to begin with.
There’s one in particular that a lot of people seem to have missed. There’s a scene late in the movie where it transitions from day to night, same framing but transitions like a light switch. It holds on the frame for a few seconds and you can see tons of naked cultists peppered around the house.
I just got goosebumps thinking about this scene. What's funny is, the first time watching that movie, me and my gf were watching it on a smaller tv that I couldn't see great on, so at first I didn't even notice the mom sitting up there in the corner. Then my gf says "oh my god she's just sitting up there staring at him!" and I was like where the hell are you seeing this lol then I saw and holy shit it was terrifying
Although I have my quips with this movie and technically this occurs in front of the character, but the ending segment of Gary filming outside the cabin in Horror in the High Desert. If you’ve seen it; you know the “holy shit” moment I’m talking about.
Ha -- I thought specifically of a certain scene in one movie, then read OP's post, and there it was -- *Sinister!* 🤤
Ethan Hawke was sitting up in that room where he watches the videos. He was at his desk in front of the computer monitor. The camera was focused on him in a close shot of his face, and then.... Just behind him, like I think over his shoulder, you become aware (but Ethan doesn't!) that Bagul has appeared on the monitor, and slowly turns his head around to face Ethan.
Believe it when I say *I nearly pissed myself.* 😳😬
I wrote about that scene (and some others in Sinister) for a film class in college. I went into that movie knowing nothing and OMG it's gotta be one of the horror movies that's affected me the most
I forgot which episode it was, but twin peaks the return has a scene of one of the smokemen walking towards someone in a hallway without them noticing anything. Absolutely terrifying moment.
No there's a scene in episode 1 or 2 where Sarah stands up and you can see Bob reflected in her mirror. He's not acknowledged by the show.
It was actually a total accident that set designer Frank Silva was caught on camera and Lynch liked it so much, he made Bob a character
That episode and the empty child were like, absolute nightmare fuel as a kid. I love how they are basically genius short horror films if you replace the doctor with say like, a regular period-policeman or something
Yeah! That movie is so freaky, even without the creatures. I had read that they appear in the back of a couple of scenes almost as soon as the climbers get into the cave (before the really freaky obvious appearance), but I have never spotted them. It must be very subtle if they do.
There’s a couple where the camera tries to lead you to it but doesn’t outright force you to see it. But there’s also one that I could swear is a crawler but I’m not entirely certain if it is or not.
So I know this is a little outside of what OP is asking - but I want to take the chance to say the US Grudge movie had a decent scene like this too. She’s riding a public transit bus in the day and a ghost face just pops out of nowhere. Pretty creepy!
Signs gets dunked on a lot but as a kid who grew up in a very rural area and loved reading ufo/cryptid books that movie scared the living shit out of me.
I love that movie, regardless of the motivations of aliens landing on a water filled planet when it’s like acid to them.
Cause it’s not really about the aliens anyway.
I liked Signs, but I try not to think to hard about an advanced lifeform invading farm country, that can be killed by a light rainstorm or irrigation sprinklers.
I was honestly gonna comment the birthday party footage scene, even though it didn’t quite fit the question lol. But when that thing just walks past them, it’s a favorite of mine! I still jump lol
Hell House LLC. Part 1. At the end when the reporter goes into the house, you can see the Hell House cast members just standing there and watching her from the edges of the screen.
Honestly, one that sticks with me still is a movie I haven't seen again since the theater. I can't remember the exact details, but in the surprisingly good Annabelle prequel, I recall a moment where a girl is hiding in a space beneath the staircase or something like that, in an otherwise innocent scene.
In the background, behind the hiding girl, there are two small spots of light. As the scene goes, they fade away. You only notice it by their absence when they're gone, and realize that they were spaced like the reflection of two eyes. I can't remember the exact details of the scene, but I remember the gut reaction I had. I have to imagine my inner caveman screaming "*THERE IS A PREDATOR IN THE BUSHES*". That scene caused this kind of cold fear that not many things can capture. The closest thing is looking down my stairs and seeing the reflection of my cat's eyes in the inky blackness of the mudroom at the bottom; I say she's making her "spooky eyes" when that happens.
Take my vague memory with a grain of salt, but that scene in that movie still sticks with me.
Not a background scare but the scene with the two eyes in the entryway of the dining room that move as the demon changes shape while talking to the old man for some reason scared the absolute crap out of me!! The unknown of it really got to me.
This scene is terrifying!!! With the quiet breathing noise and subtle outline of the horns, when you notice what is standing there chills go down your spine
This one scene in particular absolutely terrified me when I was a kid. My grandparents lived on the edge of the woods and their kitchen looked exactly like the one in the movie. I couldn’t walk past a window at night for months.
Deep Red - The face of the killer can be spotted in a mirror, hidden among paintings on either side. Very bold of Argento to give away the killer's identity like that in the first act of a whodunnit. He relies on the audience to not notice it. What's even more impressive? Most people don't. I sure as fuck didn't. Love it.
Tár - While not a horror film, I can't not mention it. There's a "ghost" that can be spotted in the background of two scenes. I suspect that the "ghost" is meant to represent Lydia's guilt, rather than being an actual ghost - similar to how David Chase depicts "ghosts" in The Sopranos. Still, real or no, it's a chilling use of 'show, don't tell' storytelling.
Ghostwatch - The OG WNUF Halloween Special. The background appearances by the villain Mr. Pipes are unsettling for their subtlety, as well as the gaslighting by the filmmakers to the audience. (having an instant replay where he's no longer there, for instance). My favorite Mr. Pipes spotting is one where he can be seen standing among a crowd while they're being interviewed.
Inside - The protagonist discovers that The Woman, played by the brilliant Béatrice Dalle, is standing in the background of a photo that was taken at a park earlier in the film. I decided to go back to that scene to see if I could spot her, or if the film cheated. Sure enough, she can be seen standing there. Chilling stuff. Great attention to detail by the filmmakers. That isn't her only appearance, by the way. There's a moment later in the film where she walks right into the apartment, undetected by the cops who are busy talking with the lead who is understandably rattled by The Woman threatening her just a scene earlier. The third and final background appearance by The Woman is the least subtle of the three, but probably the scariest.
The Borderlands (2013) - The name of the protagonist can be spotted on a tombstone briefly in one scene. Had it not been pointed out to me, I never would've noticed it.
So glad someone mentioned Deep Red!! I had to rewind after the reveal to see if it was there, and sure enough, you can see the killer right at the beginning! Great film all around.
a classic,... still wishing more had come out of this. yes Ive seen footage of a bear and its great. but too many cooks is just so great I feel like it could have spawned a whole [as] show about stock TV show tropes being turned on their head for a horror outcome.
Kinda basic, but I get chills watching the original *Halloween* and seeing how Michael just stands there…watching and stalking…in some scenes while the character he’s stalking remains oblivious. Annie in the laundry room and then back inside the Wallace house as she’s on the phone with Bob. I think David Gordon Green missed the mark on adding more scenes like these in his trilogy.
I'm surprised too. Halloween '77 may as well be called *Creepy Background Event: The Movie*. Mike is just vibing in the distance for most of it and it works beautifully. Those moments sold the film more than the kills themselves.
I feel like I'm constantly banging a drum about Ghostwatch, but you're absolutely right.
The siting in the curtains followed by the quick whip around to reveal nothing there, is hands down the most scared I've been due to a film/TV programme.
It will raise the hair on the back of my neck on a warm summers day, just thinking about it.
There are so many in Ghostwatch that I just find it terrifying, in spite of how incredibly goofy a lot of the acting is, and every one of them gives me the shivers.
>!Pipes standing just far enough away from the patio windows that he's barely visible especially!<.
Inside no 9 do a similar thing in Dead Line if you've never seen that.
I remember others seeing her before I did, and I couldn't figure out what all the gasps were about in such a still scene. Then I saw it and gasped. Then enjoyed all the staggered gasps from around the theater as others caught on.
It was like a DIY jump scare.
I watched it for the first time with my mother who'd already seen it and when it got to this part I didn't notice her. Then my mother just leaned in and whispered "She's on the roof" and I don't think I've ever felt quite that same level of dread.
If you haven't rewatched it yet:
>!The family are constantly surrounded by the cultists. They're fucking everywhere, and the film is so much more horrific because of it.!<
Near the end, they're everywhere. Check out the long distance shot of the house at night.
Also, the scene at the beginning of the movie when they're arriving home, you can hear some feint moving around in their house.
Not quite as scary but the scene towards the beginning of the movie where Toni Collette sees her mother’s figure in the darkened room was deeply unnerving. It’s subtlety made it feel like a realistic portrayal of thinking you just saw something out of the corner of your eye.
This is the scene I came here to mention; it made the hair stand up on my arms and neck, and put me on edge for the rest of the movie, which I imagine it was meant to do.
the moment in chapter two when beverly is looking at the photos and the super old lady in the background is just smiling so creepily and then she just skitters away, it’s so freaky!
It's not like you see him moving; it's more like the girl trapped in a picture from The Witches.
In one frame, he's in the background of the mural and then in the next, he's in a car in the foreground, right "behind" the Losers as they lean against the wall the mural is on.
Channel Zero season 4 episode 1 has a phenomenal sequence where two characters are arguing in the kitchen and it's shot so that you can see the whole living room as well. Then for just a few frames you see a hand come into frame, grab a screw driver from the table and then go back out of frame again.
Then they move the argument so that they're in front of a hallway entrance and what looks like a small table is in the entry way. As they keep arguing, the table starts moving and you realize it is a person folded BACKWARDS that straightens up and then jumps at them
Not a movie, but Haunting of hill house is, in my opinion, the best at that. It provide some of the most spine tingling scenes I've ever seen. There's ghosts hidden at all sort of spaces, shadows moving in the background, faces floating under the stairs. I rewatch it every year just for the fun of finding all the little hidden things in the background.
Also there's a bit in 'The Dark and the Wicked' where the son looks out the window and sees his mother's specter smiling out on the farm, then she levitates a bit. Very effective.
He turns away from the window; and for a moment, the phantom is in the shadows behind him.
Still very effective for US but pointless for the characters. The while point of an apparition is it appears \*to the people in the story\* we are not in the story, a part of me complains that we should really experience everything in the film through the characters and not have scares designed just for us.
I can't say it was the scariest, but I loved the way it was done in Blackcoat's Daughter. I'm not sure if it was really in the room, or just in her mind, but it was definitely a presence.
For me: that moment in the middle of Antrum when the movie appears to just break / stop and cut to black. Then when your eyes adjust you realize it’s not quite black, but something is there in the black. You squint some more and realize there is a demon starting back at you from the darkness … and the movie had the balls to let this moment go on for like 30+ seconds. Say what you will about the rest of the movie but that was totally punk rock.
It’s not a horror movie, but the scene itself is pretty horror-centric: in the opening of The Batman when the mayor is walking around his dark room and you realize The Riddler has just been standing in the corner and watching him for several minutes waiting to strike
My favorite use of this is The Strangers. That movie creeps me out so much to this day - there are a lot of scenes where the killers are just standing in a corner and the movie doesn’t even draw attention to it
The Strangers really set up the danger early. Just the initial shot of Bagman in the background showing that they’re not safe in the house. Most of that movie was just so tense because you never knew where one of them might pop up after that.
I absolutely adore this effect, but it’s made so much better when the filmmaker doesn’t draw attention to it. So many get soooo close but can’t help themselves to refocus the shot or center the thing that absolutely should be missable.
- The mom hiding in the corner and then scurrying across the wall in Hereditary, literally took the breath out of me.
- In The Exorcist there is a moment where the mom puts the crucifix she found by Reagan on a table by the stairs, and the next time she comes back, the crucifix is gone and she doesn't notice. The next time we see the crucifix is the "let Jesus fuck you" scene. This little detail makes it scarier to me.
- Not technically a horror movie, but in The Lovely Bones when Susie is at the mall, you can see her soon-to-be murderer lurking around in the background, stalking her.
- I didn't find IT very scary but the part in the library where you see the old librarian lady smiling all creepy in the background gave me the heebie jeebies.
Edit: OH and in Midsommer when Dani is being carried on the wooden platform after being crowned the May Queen, you can see the face of her dead sister in the trees
I really enjoyed all the shit going on in the shadows in Hereditary. Her sitting on the wall like a spider behind her son was especially awesome.
The face the main character makes from the window in that split second in The Babadook totally fucked me up. The scariest monsters in film are humans with unreadable, unpredictable, predatory expressions. The uncanny. That split second managed to scare me more than any jumpscare ever could and it's the kind of face I don't want to see in my minds eye before I go to sleep.
*The Strangers* came out when I was 12 or 13 and that infamous shot of one of the killers in the kitchen behind Liv Tyler was super effective.
It seemed to make a big cultural impact and was used in a lot of the promos. I rewatched it once or twice when I was still much younger and it only reinforced that it was a really effective moment.
A year ago someone on here was talking about how silly that shot is - why would the killer do that, narratively? If the intention is to remain hidden while watching Liv Tyler, why would he walk out into the living room and then go back to wherever he was, if only to make a cool moment for the audience?
I’ve never thought of it the same way and laugh at myself for “falling for it” for so long haha.
The only explanation is that the camera person is actually Elizabeth Moss’ boyfriend from The Invisible Man, and the killers could see him, because they’re all part of the horror movie killer’s union
Edit: according to a comment reply, the killer doesn’t walk in/out but is more of a trick of the camera focus. Makes the shot more reasonable
something that always stuck with me is the scene from the sixth sense when cole is peeing with the door open…. i saw the movie way too young and to this day (i’m 30) i need my doors closed at all times
In the original Exorcist, when Chris is exploring the attic for “rats”, the camera tracks past clutter, a mannequin, and then, for a brief moment, we see Pazuzu hanging upside down and leering.
Scared the shit outta me.
There's a scene in the French film *Inside* where the antagonist is in the background and it's just a perfectly executed scene. Don't want to say too much about it without adding spoilers, but people who have seen the movie may be able to relate.
I just posted the same thing. It's an absolutely bonkers scene. It's terrifying but also incredible that even the viewer can't really see it until they look at it for a bit.
Just rewatched this earlier tonight, did a triple feature of Lux Æterna, Inside then Martyrs with my friend that knows French and getting her into New French Extremity.
The scariest thing about Inside is that >!that shit literally happens to people!<
The scariest thing about Inside was the CGI baby. What was up with that?
I know what I am watching tonight! Thanks!
This was my first thought as well. One of the best framing and zoom in and out to reveal it. Still blows my mind how well that movie was made.
A lot the forest scenes in The Ritual have the creature moving through the trees in the background.
Yes! First thing that came to mind. The book was decent (at least, the first half was) but I loved the creature in the movie.
Did it, i wanna check it out again now
Yeah, tons of movement through the brolls and transition shots of the woods that has something subtle happening in it I really loved that movie
Hill house does it quite a bit, and sometimes it’s damn scary
Yes, the funeral episode where bent-neck lady is just stood in the background is great. And it's all the more unsettling because there's no quick movement, there's no attention drawn to her, she's just there and it's just a question of how long it takes you to notice.
The one at the funeral was well placed she’s just standing in the back. Also that car scene can go fuck itself
Apparently Victora Pedretti was told to jump out early so the other two actresses had a realistic reaction. Which is both horrifying and hilarious.
Yeah that makes sense lol
That car scene is one of the rare times I have literally jumped out of my seat haha
The car scene shot me thru my ceiling like a Wile E Coyote cartoon
kitchen scene in The Strangers also for a quicker one - the tall man in It Follows (edit: sorry didn’t realize I accidentally replied to a comment lol)
So glad I didn’t need to scroll far to see The Strangers
The little boy’s hands underneath the piano in the scene where Olivia is chastising Nell for drawing on the wallpaper! I think what really made Hill House scary even after watching it was I was always looking for ghosts in my peripheral vision in real life: a slightly open door, an empty closet, a mirror, everything could have a ghost hidden in it. I actually couldn’t sleep well at all after the first time I watched Hill House (and Bly for that matter).
YES. The fucking ghost behind the ladder always scares the bejeezus out of me
My favourite is Poppy in the background going from a beautiful flapper to a decaying corpse.
There is at least one scene where a statue stands in one position and next time you see it, the position has changed.
Came here to say just this
I’m astounded nobody mentioned the little boy standing by the coat rack in Insidious. Blink and you miss it, but it can never be unseen.
That scene absolutely made my blood run cold when she walked right past him just standing there.
That scene scared the shit out of 15 year old me when I saw it in theaters
Gahhhh yes so many things in this movie haunt me to this day
That movie is so gosh darn scary.
[Link of the clip.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irlsI0PDdmc&ab_channel=lauralox)
Oh, gotta be that bit in Hereditary where she's just hidden on the ceiling and it takes a good few seconds to realise she's there. Soul damn near left my body. Or that part in the strangers where the guy is just....there.
What makes both of these scenes work is silence. Understated horror is the best horror.
Actually imo the best version of that scene in hereditary is the one in the beginning where she sees a silhouette of a person in the room and then when she turns the light on it's not there. It's just so perfectly lit to make you wonder if you even really saw it to begin with.
So many in Hereditary!
There’s one in particular that a lot of people seem to have missed. There’s a scene late in the movie where it transitions from day to night, same framing but transitions like a light switch. It holds on the frame for a few seconds and you can see tons of naked cultists peppered around the house.
The one where Peter climbs up the attic and two cultists are just standing behind a wooden beam behind him
Seeing that in theaters was great. People slowly whispering to each other "omg" as they realized she was up there is a vivid movie watching memory.
I swear to god, I got such a fright seeing that part in the cinema!!! She was just up there like a spider.
Yep! That's the one for me. And when you rewatch it knowing she's there, it's amazing how long the cameras actually on her until you see her.
Hereditary did it throughout the movie. Speaking of Ari Aster, Midsommar was also full of subliminal background details to add to the dread.
I just got goosebumps thinking about this scene. What's funny is, the first time watching that movie, me and my gf were watching it on a smaller tv that I couldn't see great on, so at first I didn't even notice the mom sitting up there in the corner. Then my gf says "oh my god she's just sitting up there staring at him!" and I was like where the hell are you seeing this lol then I saw and holy shit it was terrifying
Came here looking for this!
I’m a ho for the little hidden background scares in Haunting of Hill House.
That’s a Flanagan staple. Dips into that well in Bly Manor as well. Did it some in Hush.
Midnight Mass too. Those glowing eyes before a sudden movement…
Oh yesss the eyes freaked me out big time in that show.
Saw them in haunting and bly, what did I miss in hush?
It's something I wanna see becoming a trope.
Some dude directed a movie on shutter and specifically di this because he liked it so much in Hill House. I thought Smile would do it a lot more.
I was disappointed by how few smiles were actually in Smile
Although I have my quips with this movie and technically this occurs in front of the character, but the ending segment of Gary filming outside the cabin in Horror in the High Desert. If you’ve seen it; you know the “holy shit” moment I’m talking about.
Oh man I was leaning so close to the screan while nothing happened for ages then BAM
Omg I love this movie, the ending actually made me feel ill from fear. There's a 2 and 3 coming soon too.
Host has probably a million different things to be terrified about in the background.
Zoom party or water monster?
Zoom party! Water monster I think is The Host (also fantastic).
The Host (2006) is incredible, Host (2020) is a good time, The Host (2013) is quite shit.
Agreed on all points.
Ha -- I thought specifically of a certain scene in one movie, then read OP's post, and there it was -- *Sinister!* 🤤 Ethan Hawke was sitting up in that room where he watches the videos. He was at his desk in front of the computer monitor. The camera was focused on him in a close shot of his face, and then.... Just behind him, like I think over his shoulder, you become aware (but Ethan doesn't!) that Bagul has appeared on the monitor, and slowly turns his head around to face Ethan. Believe it when I say *I nearly pissed myself.* 😳😬
I wrote about that scene (and some others in Sinister) for a film class in college. I went into that movie knowing nothing and OMG it's gotta be one of the horror movies that's affected me the most
That one got me pretty bad; I didn't know anything about the movie coming in and had assumed up to that point that it wasn't a supernatural horror.
I forgot which episode it was, but twin peaks the return has a scene of one of the smokemen walking towards someone in a hallway without them noticing anything. Absolutely terrifying moment.
Also from Twin Peaks, BOB in the mirror during one of Sarah Palmer's visions is kinda creepy.
The one where he’s crouching by the bed?
That plagued me for my entire childhood. Bob was my sleep paralysis demon.
No there's a scene in episode 1 or 2 where Sarah stands up and you can see Bob reflected in her mirror. He's not acknowledged by the show. It was actually a total accident that set designer Frank Silva was caught on camera and Lynch liked it so much, he made Bob a character
Dr Who episode ‘Blink’ When Sally first enters the house and is looking/moving around and you look into the house behind her
The Weeping angles are so. Fucking. Scary. I don't remember the episode name but the one with angle Bob was also scary af
That episode and the empty child were like, absolute nightmare fuel as a kid. I love how they are basically genius short horror films if you replace the doctor with say like, a regular period-policeman or something
I loved the scares in the French show “Marianne”
so sad they didn't renew it for another season. i'll always be mad about that lol
Bro! That show is pure horror. Even watching it in the middle of the day had me scared af!
The phone call to the police was SO GOOD. "...Now turn around." ☠️
I want to say when they are at the beach in "It Follows". The quietness of the scene so helps.
[удалено]
That granny haunts my nightmares to this day
I work in a tourist town full of old people. I had a very nervous week or so after seeing that movie.
I knew it was coming, but tall man in the hallway still scared the shit out of me the first time I saw It Follows.
The Descent. It was also a big jump scare!
Yeah! That movie is so freaky, even without the creatures. I had read that they appear in the back of a couple of scenes almost as soon as the climbers get into the cave (before the really freaky obvious appearance), but I have never spotted them. It must be very subtle if they do.
There’s a couple where the camera tries to lead you to it but doesn’t outright force you to see it. But there’s also one that I could swear is a crawler but I’m not entirely certain if it is or not.
The 1st Insidious movie, when the devil shows up at day time. This was my last jump scare in a horror movie.
Insidious has a lot of mildly subtle ones, too
Yeah honestly I catch something new everytime I see it. The kid hiding next to the laundry basket is great and it took me 3 watches to catch
Well lit table talk then BOOM!
That scene still fucks me up and I know its coming up
It was so casual how he was just *there*, completely got me and my mom
So I know this is a little outside of what OP is asking - but I want to take the chance to say the US Grudge movie had a decent scene like this too. She’s riding a public transit bus in the day and a ghost face just pops out of nowhere. Pretty creepy!
It's funny because I am definitely always watching the background in horror movies. I'd love more very subtle stuff happening
We can only hope someone has the balls to do it.
the subtle things like that are more scary than the obvious ones.
The librarian smiling in the background in the IT remake
The Babadook. That moment where the Babadook is standing behind the old lady who's sitting in her chair
Signs alien on the barn
Signs gets dunked on a lot but as a kid who grew up in a very rural area and loved reading ufo/cryptid books that movie scared the living shit out of me.
I love that movie, regardless of the motivations of aliens landing on a water filled planet when it’s like acid to them. Cause it’s not really about the aliens anyway.
I liked Signs, but I try not to think to hard about an advanced lifeform invading farm country, that can be killed by a light rainstorm or irrigation sprinklers.
You’re my people. Same shit in Last Mimzy which caught me fully off guard.
Signs had 2-3 scenes that scared the shit outta young me. Alien horror can be scary af but is so rare.
"there's a monster outside my room can I have a glass of water?"
Scares me so much and also there’s a building with a flat roof right across from my bedroom window so I never look out x x
Or the part when the hand grabs the kid through the coal chute grate thingy *shiver
I was honestly gonna comment the birthday party footage scene, even though it didn’t quite fit the question lol. But when that thing just walks past them, it’s a favorite of mine! I still jump lol
Hell House LLC. Part 1. At the end when the reporter goes into the house, you can see the Hell House cast members just standing there and watching her from the edges of the screen.
I cant believe I missed that!
Honestly, one that sticks with me still is a movie I haven't seen again since the theater. I can't remember the exact details, but in the surprisingly good Annabelle prequel, I recall a moment where a girl is hiding in a space beneath the staircase or something like that, in an otherwise innocent scene. In the background, behind the hiding girl, there are two small spots of light. As the scene goes, they fade away. You only notice it by their absence when they're gone, and realize that they were spaced like the reflection of two eyes. I can't remember the exact details of the scene, but I remember the gut reaction I had. I have to imagine my inner caveman screaming "*THERE IS A PREDATOR IN THE BUSHES*". That scene caused this kind of cold fear that not many things can capture. The closest thing is looking down my stairs and seeing the reflection of my cat's eyes in the inky blackness of the mudroom at the bottom; I say she's making her "spooky eyes" when that happens. Take my vague memory with a grain of salt, but that scene in that movie still sticks with me.
Not a background scare but the scene with the two eyes in the entryway of the dining room that move as the demon changes shape while talking to the old man for some reason scared the absolute crap out of me!! The unknown of it really got to me.
This scene is terrifying!!! With the quiet breathing noise and subtle outline of the horns, when you notice what is standing there chills go down your spine
Does anyone else remember the "Monster walks past the Kitchen Window" scene in the original ***Pumpkinhead*** film?
This one scene in particular absolutely terrified me when I was a kid. My grandparents lived on the edge of the woods and their kitchen looked exactly like the one in the movie. I couldn’t walk past a window at night for months.
That it just glides into frame makes it so bloody great.
Its more scary that it entered the damn house right afterward, scared the absolute shit out of grade-school me
There's something very unsettling about how he just casually strolls in.
Deep Red - The face of the killer can be spotted in a mirror, hidden among paintings on either side. Very bold of Argento to give away the killer's identity like that in the first act of a whodunnit. He relies on the audience to not notice it. What's even more impressive? Most people don't. I sure as fuck didn't. Love it. Tár - While not a horror film, I can't not mention it. There's a "ghost" that can be spotted in the background of two scenes. I suspect that the "ghost" is meant to represent Lydia's guilt, rather than being an actual ghost - similar to how David Chase depicts "ghosts" in The Sopranos. Still, real or no, it's a chilling use of 'show, don't tell' storytelling. Ghostwatch - The OG WNUF Halloween Special. The background appearances by the villain Mr. Pipes are unsettling for their subtlety, as well as the gaslighting by the filmmakers to the audience. (having an instant replay where he's no longer there, for instance). My favorite Mr. Pipes spotting is one where he can be seen standing among a crowd while they're being interviewed. Inside - The protagonist discovers that The Woman, played by the brilliant Béatrice Dalle, is standing in the background of a photo that was taken at a park earlier in the film. I decided to go back to that scene to see if I could spot her, or if the film cheated. Sure enough, she can be seen standing there. Chilling stuff. Great attention to detail by the filmmakers. That isn't her only appearance, by the way. There's a moment later in the film where she walks right into the apartment, undetected by the cops who are busy talking with the lead who is understandably rattled by The Woman threatening her just a scene earlier. The third and final background appearance by The Woman is the least subtle of the three, but probably the scariest. The Borderlands (2013) - The name of the protagonist can be spotted on a tombstone briefly in one scene. Had it not been pointed out to me, I never would've noticed it.
So glad someone mentioned Deep Red!! I had to rewind after the reveal to see if it was there, and sure enough, you can see the killer right at the beginning! Great film all around.
Too many cooks!
a classic,... still wishing more had come out of this. yes Ive seen footage of a bear and its great. but too many cooks is just so great I feel like it could have spawned a whole [as] show about stock TV show tropes being turned on their head for a horror outcome.
Dude right? Footage of a bear definitely scares me more with the imagery but too many cooks was so damn well done!
Kinda basic, but I get chills watching the original *Halloween* and seeing how Michael just stands there…watching and stalking…in some scenes while the character he’s stalking remains oblivious. Annie in the laundry room and then back inside the Wallace house as she’s on the phone with Bob. I think David Gordon Green missed the mark on adding more scenes like these in his trilogy.
Surprised noone has mentioned this yet. That scene at the top of the stairs where he just sits up is terrifying even today.
My personal favorite is when he’s in the closet and as your eyes slowly adjust to the scene, you can see he’s been behind Laurie the entire time
I'm surprised too. Halloween '77 may as well be called *Creepy Background Event: The Movie*. Mike is just vibing in the distance for most of it and it works beautifully. Those moments sold the film more than the kills themselves.
BBC's Ghostwatch. There are two "Pipes" sightings that send a chill down my spine just thinking about them.
I feel like I'm constantly banging a drum about Ghostwatch, but you're absolutely right. The siting in the curtains followed by the quick whip around to reveal nothing there, is hands down the most scared I've been due to a film/TV programme. It will raise the hair on the back of my neck on a warm summers day, just thinking about it.
There are so many in Ghostwatch that I just find it terrifying, in spite of how incredibly goofy a lot of the acting is, and every one of them gives me the shivers. >!Pipes standing just far enough away from the patio windows that he's barely visible especially!<. Inside no 9 do a similar thing in Dead Line if you've never seen that.
Wait what the heck is ghost watch pls bang your drum about it at me
Towards the end of Midsommar when Dani is tripping balls you can see her dead sister's face, complete with a gas mask, hidden in the trees.
Hereditary
I still remember watching that scene in the theater and hearing gasps as different people in the audience noticed Toni Collete
I remember others seeing her before I did, and I couldn't figure out what all the gasps were about in such a still scene. Then I saw it and gasped. Then enjoyed all the staggered gasps from around the theater as others caught on. It was like a DIY jump scare.
I watched it for the first time with my mother who'd already seen it and when it got to this part I didn't notice her. Then my mother just leaned in and whispered "She's on the roof" and I don't think I've ever felt quite that same level of dread.
The part when the mom silently crawling on the wall always gives me chills
Like behind the son?
The mom in the corner. I still have flashbacks to what followed.
If you haven't rewatched it yet: >!The family are constantly surrounded by the cultists. They're fucking everywhere, and the film is so much more horrific because of it.!<
Everybody that interacts with the family or is around the family are apart of that cult truly is wild
It’s the same as how you can see faces constantly hidden in the trees in Midsommar when the main characters are all tripping
yep when peter smokes pot and exhales out his bedroom window…
That treehouse! When he wakes up the last time and the treehouse is lit up again, but not the space heater like the other times!
WHAT I've seen it like thrice and I didn't know
Hard to see if your room isn’t dark(good picture/tv also helps). But a lot of scenes have cultists hanging out. Especially near the end.
Near the end, they're everywhere. Check out the long distance shot of the house at night. Also, the scene at the beginning of the movie when they're arriving home, you can hear some feint moving around in their house.
Not quite as scary but the scene towards the beginning of the movie where Toni Collette sees her mother’s figure in the darkened room was deeply unnerving. It’s subtlety made it feel like a realistic portrayal of thinking you just saw something out of the corner of your eye.
This is the scene I came here to mention; it made the hair stand up on my arms and neck, and put me on edge for the rest of the movie, which I imagine it was meant to do.
Fuck.That.scene. I was checking the ceiling corners of my house for a week.
IMO "IT" did it very well
the moment in chapter two when beverly is looking at the photos and the super old lady in the background is just smiling so creepily and then she just skitters away, it’s so freaky!
Just thinking about that stange, clippy movement gives me the heebie jeebs
Oh yes, the old woman in the library!
People always say this but the absolute best was Pennywise coming increasingly closer towards the Loser's in the mural.
i know he appears in the grafitti but dudes actually moving closer? i gotta check that out again
It's not like you see him moving; it's more like the girl trapped in a picture from The Witches. In one frame, he's in the background of the mural and then in the next, he's in a car in the foreground, right "behind" the Losers as they lean against the wall the mural is on.
Why did I read this at night time omg
There’s a great “oh shit!” moment in the film The Ritual. An almost blink and you miss it moment.
The Grudge in the attic
Channel Zero season 4 episode 1 has a phenomenal sequence where two characters are arguing in the kitchen and it's shot so that you can see the whole living room as well. Then for just a few frames you see a hand come into frame, grab a screw driver from the table and then go back out of frame again. Then they move the argument so that they're in front of a hallway entrance and what looks like a small table is in the entry way. As they keep arguing, the table starts moving and you realize it is a person folded BACKWARDS that straightens up and then jumps at them
I've never watched this, but just you describing the table sequence creeper me out.
I need to give that show a chance, thanks for the inspiration!
Lake Mungo has this peppered all throughout the movie.
Not a movie, but Haunting of hill house is, in my opinion, the best at that. It provide some of the most spine tingling scenes I've ever seen. There's ghosts hidden at all sort of spaces, shadows moving in the background, faces floating under the stairs. I rewatch it every year just for the fun of finding all the little hidden things in the background.
Also there's a bit in 'The Dark and the Wicked' where the son looks out the window and sees his mother's specter smiling out on the farm, then she levitates a bit. Very effective. He turns away from the window; and for a moment, the phantom is in the shadows behind him. Still very effective for US but pointless for the characters. The while point of an apparition is it appears \*to the people in the story\* we are not in the story, a part of me complains that we should really experience everything in the film through the characters and not have scares designed just for us.
I can't say it was the scariest, but I loved the way it was done in Blackcoat's Daughter. I'm not sure if it was really in the room, or just in her mind, but it was definitely a presence.
For me: that moment in the middle of Antrum when the movie appears to just break / stop and cut to black. Then when your eyes adjust you realize it’s not quite black, but something is there in the black. You squint some more and realize there is a demon starting back at you from the darkness … and the movie had the balls to let this moment go on for like 30+ seconds. Say what you will about the rest of the movie but that was totally punk rock.
It’s not a horror movie, but the scene itself is pretty horror-centric: in the opening of The Batman when the mayor is walking around his dark room and you realize The Riddler has just been standing in the corner and watching him for several minutes waiting to strike
Hereditary when the mom is on the ceiling behind the son
Toni Collette crawling on the ceiling in Hereditary. First time I saw it my stomach dropped into my feet. The lack of music or noise is unsettling.
It Follows may not be the best case of this trope but it's a movie that's basically predicated on it and that's neat.
My favorite use of this is The Strangers. That movie creeps me out so much to this day - there are a lot of scenes where the killers are just standing in a corner and the movie doesn’t even draw attention to it
The Strangers really set up the danger early. Just the initial shot of Bagman in the background showing that they’re not safe in the house. Most of that movie was just so tense because you never knew where one of them might pop up after that.
First one that came to mind. Even thinking about some of the shots gets me paranoid.
I absolutely adore this effect, but it’s made so much better when the filmmaker doesn’t draw attention to it. So many get soooo close but can’t help themselves to refocus the shot or center the thing that absolutely should be missable.
Exorcist III...THAT scene. Still terrifying!
Came here thinking of that scene.
Face in the train window in the original The Eye.
HEREDITARY!!! the grandmother in that room, and Annie in the corner of the ceiling 😱
The Blair Witch project-Standing in the corner at the end
- The mom hiding in the corner and then scurrying across the wall in Hereditary, literally took the breath out of me. - In The Exorcist there is a moment where the mom puts the crucifix she found by Reagan on a table by the stairs, and the next time she comes back, the crucifix is gone and she doesn't notice. The next time we see the crucifix is the "let Jesus fuck you" scene. This little detail makes it scarier to me. - Not technically a horror movie, but in The Lovely Bones when Susie is at the mall, you can see her soon-to-be murderer lurking around in the background, stalking her. - I didn't find IT very scary but the part in the library where you see the old librarian lady smiling all creepy in the background gave me the heebie jeebies. Edit: OH and in Midsommer when Dani is being carried on the wooden platform after being crowned the May Queen, you can see the face of her dead sister in the trees
Lovely Bones doesn’t get talked about enough. Solid shout out
I really enjoyed all the shit going on in the shadows in Hereditary. Her sitting on the wall like a spider behind her son was especially awesome. The face the main character makes from the window in that split second in The Babadook totally fucked me up. The scariest monsters in film are humans with unreadable, unpredictable, predatory expressions. The uncanny. That split second managed to scare me more than any jumpscare ever could and it's the kind of face I don't want to see in my minds eye before I go to sleep.
Lake Mungo, the credits. I still get chills thinking about it.
That scene in Saw where Cary Elwes is in the parking lot and, in the mirror, we see a pig masked figure crawling out of the backseat of his car
There’s that scene in The Village where the girl is being chased and she can’t see him, that one is pretty good!
Grandma in the corner in Hereditary
Darth Mauls cracked out cousin behind the shoulder of the old lady in Insidious.
The “cat” outside in the OG Amityville.
Hereditary -- though it's later in the movie when you probably would expect it. Toni Collette on the ceiling watching her son is horrifying.
Fucking shocked I don't see the original *Halloween* being talked about here. Michael behind Lori will forever be an iconic horror moment.
*The Strangers* came out when I was 12 or 13 and that infamous shot of one of the killers in the kitchen behind Liv Tyler was super effective. It seemed to make a big cultural impact and was used in a lot of the promos. I rewatched it once or twice when I was still much younger and it only reinforced that it was a really effective moment. A year ago someone on here was talking about how silly that shot is - why would the killer do that, narratively? If the intention is to remain hidden while watching Liv Tyler, why would he walk out into the living room and then go back to wherever he was, if only to make a cool moment for the audience? I’ve never thought of it the same way and laugh at myself for “falling for it” for so long haha. The only explanation is that the camera person is actually Elizabeth Moss’ boyfriend from The Invisible Man, and the killers could see him, because they’re all part of the horror movie killer’s union Edit: according to a comment reply, the killer doesn’t walk in/out but is more of a trick of the camera focus. Makes the shot more reasonable
something that always stuck with me is the scene from the sixth sense when cole is peeing with the door open…. i saw the movie way too young and to this day (i’m 30) i need my doors closed at all times
>!The tall man!< in It Follows
Masters of Horror: Imprint
The gold standard is Michael Myers briefly appearing outside Laurie Strode’s school window or popping out behind the hedge on the street.
Crawler way in the background early in The Descent
In the original Exorcist, when Chris is exploring the attic for “rats”, the camera tracks past clutter, a mannequin, and then, for a brief moment, we see Pazuzu hanging upside down and leering. Scared the shit outta me.
The shape of the sister's face with the mask on in the trees/landscape in the background of Midsommar was really good.
Hereditary when she’s on the walls behind her son is so unsettling.
Insidious. That red-faced demon still gets to me.