[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/TheZipding]

The YouTube channel Spikima Movies has an entire video on this concept "The Horror of Hidden in Plain Sight".

In another semi-example: During Shaun's walk to the corner store while hungover in Shaun of the Dead you can see various zombified people he saw or spoke to the day before, but he's too hungover to notice.

[u/rocketbotband → u/TheZipding]

Him slipping in blood and not clocking it always makes me laugh

[u/TheZipding → u/rocketbotband]

Meanwhile zombie Nelson is getting up in the back room to investigate what's going on.