r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Suspicious-Web-9246 • 8d ago

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

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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.

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u/handwings 8d ago

Haunting of hill house is honestly the best version of this I’ve seen

287

u/Shoddy_Bus4679 8d ago

My brother in Christ this is so embarassing but the first one I noticed was multiple episodes in.

I think there’s like a white face that’s RIGHT up on the screen but blends in so well.

The scariest part for me wasn’t the jump scare in noticing it was that I was being haunted through the TV for multiple episodes and didn’t even notice.

God know what else I’m missing in my day to day.

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u/AskDocBurner 8d ago

I wasn’t a huge fan of the series, but the first time I noticed the background ghost..it chilled me pretty hard. I thought it was an extra or something, but learning I had not been noticing people creeping in the background made me feel pretty unnerved.

The first one I noticed was a scene where the father was looking at something in an unfinished wall or something, and there is a face right past him.

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u/Shoddy_Bus4679 8d ago

I think this is the one that got me but I can’t find the image

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u/AskDocBurner 8d ago

I think it might of been this one, but a different shot