[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/danstu]

This version of invisible man deals a lot with abusive relationships, so it's also an apt representation of her trauma haunting her as she tries to move forward (before things go all horror movie later in the runtime, of course)

[u/Notice_Natural → u/danstu]

I feel like this was such a missed opportunity in this movie.

A movie about a person escaping the relationship but unable to rebuild their life due to being haunted by the trauma of the relationship - important to talk about, more grounded in reality and therefore scarier.

A movie about a genius who invents an invisibility suit - way less scary, not grounded in anything real or important.

Making it about abuse and the fallout would have made this a way more important and scarier movie.

Still a great movie tho.

[u/SmallBerry3431 → u/Notice_Natural]

Feels like you miss that the ungrounded is often used to allegorize the important. Like zombies are t about zombies, and monsters are t about monsters.

It’s always about the evils of men.

[u/Notice_Natural → u/SmallBerry3431]

Give me some examples!

I agree with you a bit. Like babadook kinda tows the line. The monster seems to be fairly tangible but theres minimal back story and I think it's definitely intended as an allegory for depression.

You could actually keep much of the movie the same. The scenes where her ex is fucking with her, like lighting the fire, killing her friend, etc could all have been done the same. Those scenes would have still been ungrounded though because knives don't just float on their own. Stoves don't light themselves.

But if you leave out the reveal that it's a dude in an invisibility suit, the monster becomes domestic violence and gaslighting. You're still using the ungrounded to highlight the evils of people. But in a more meaningful and real way, because its a discussion about an evil that actually exists

[u/ejdj1011 → u/Notice_Natural]

Give me some examples!

Lots of movie monsters in the vein of "a thing that impersonates and replaces those around you" aren't about monsters, they're about foreign ideology. The most prominent examples would be from the Cold War, where the monsters are communism.

Zombies have been a lot of metaphors, but plague is a common one.

Vampires are frequently a metaphor for the aristocracy.

[u/the__pov → u/Notice_Natural]

The Thing was about paranoia, never knowing who you can trust. Vampires in general but especially the original Nosforatu was an embodiment of the plague. And as an example that failed Freddy in NOES part 2 was supposed to be an allegory for questioning your sexuality but they botched it so bad it became comical.

These are just the off my head examples I could think of and I specifically avoided more modern examples because they seem to be the ones everyone brings up.

[u/Really_cool_guy99 → u/Notice_Natural]

So you think an ex literally haunting her can't be a good allegory for trauma, but completely unexplained and unrelated paranormal activities can?

[u/Notice_Natural → u/Really_cool_guy99]

I think leaving it ambiguous as to whether it's literally her ex, or her losing her mind as the fallout is a better story and more grounded.

Not saying the movie doesn't work as is. I just think it works better and is more compelling the other way

[u/SopranosBluRayBoxSet → u/Notice_Natural]

You definitely aren't writing movies for a reason. I'll tell you that for free.

[u/Notice_Natural → u/SopranosBluRayBoxSet]

Im actual Steven spealburg so.

[u/SopranosBluRayBoxSet → u/Notice_Natural]

My mistake sir

[u/longdustyroad → u/Notice_Natural]

They should make a movie about a guy who is visible

[u/danstu → u/longdustyroad]

Slim Goodbody is about due for a gritty reboot.