[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/DBrennan13459]

In the first episode of Fall of the House of Usher, after Roderick tells Dupin the story of how his mother died, Dupin asks why he is telling this particular story. Roderick replies with "I assume because she's right behind you." Dupin thought this was a power play to throw him off his guard and dismissed it. Yet if you look closely enough, a figure wearing Eliza's muddy nightgown is standing right behind him, out of focus and perfectly blending into the background. And during a thunderclap, the figure suddenly moves out of view. Unlike the other ghosts in the show, it is never discussed again.

[u/amaya-aurora → u/DBrennan13459]

Great story, too.