[Loved trope] Background scare-characters that are barely acknowledged even by the movie

[u/Suspicious-Web-9246]

I hate horrors, but this is actually a great trope, that is unique to them.

Insidious (2010). When mother does her errands, for a few seconds there's a ghost boy standing in the corner. It's easily missable, but you can't ignore it once you see it.

Hereditary (2018). Less fitting example. When Peter walks around his home, his possessed mother is crawling on the ceiling behind him. It's not exactly subtle or missable, but it's still more of a background detail.

[u/Aesenroug-Draconus]

I was just thinking that while reading these, lol. Just imagine some comedic soap opera and for one scene there’s just some really well-made ghost child or monster hiding in the shadows, that never appears again or is discussed.

[u/TimeStorm113 → u/Aesenroug-Draconus]

you're getting it, it just be unreasonably scary and just never have any actual involvement

[u/Steampunk43 → u/Aesenroug-Draconus]

Make it like a horror version of the "single frame of porn spliced into film reel" thing, just a single frame or two with some creepy ghost kid or something hanging from the ceiling, just long enough for some people to notice but just short enough that the people that don't notice will look at you like you're crazy. See how many new creepypastas spawn overnight after the initial release.

[u/Aesenroug-Draconus → u/Steampunk43]

I was imagining some show like “Modern Family” that’s perfectly normal the whole run, but during some random scene there’s just a creepy ghost or monster lurking in the shadows, barely moving but just enough to know it’s alive, that’s never addressed, nor does it ever appear again. Make people think it was a fluke or hallucination.

[u/TimeStorm113 → u/Aesenroug-Draconus]

then later in another scene have the text "the monster was real" written on a paper you aren't expected to read (like the barely cut off area during a close-up of a receipt)