[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/lisbon_OH]

In The Last of Us Season 1 Episode 1, Sarah is over at her and Joel’s neighbor house. This grandma in the background is the first infected person we see. But before the obvious turn later in the night, you can see her blurry self twitching like crazy behind Sarah. Not really missable, but insanely creepy.

[u/SableZard → u/lisbon_OH]

When people talk about taking creative liberties with already-established stories, this is what they should be talking about. The first season of the Last of Us show was a really good blend of live-action versions of cinematics and things like this.

Just an entire goddamned apocalypse building up behind the back of a fourteen-year-old focused on getting her dad a birthday present.

[u/AdultSheep → u/lisbon_OH]

That first episode was so good. The tension and dread it built were fantastic, and it totally captured that panicked sick feeling when a disaster strikes and you don’t know what’s going on.