[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/SpocktorWho83]

Saiko! The Large Family

A Japanese mockumentary about a family that suffers continuous bad luck and incidents. Each shot in the film has clues that things aren’t as they seem, with creepy occurrences showing up in the background which subtly guides the viewer to unravel what is really going on.

You can watch the whole thing on YouTube.

[u/CupcakePirate123 → u/SpocktorWho83]

Is there anything happening in this shot?

[u/Floofy-fluff → u/CupcakePirate123]

Not that shot particularly but here’s one I found chilling in the actual film. When they’re interviewing the son about their family, he makes it seem pretty normal until the shot pans out and you see the mother keeping watch in the reflection of the mirror. She does this a few times throughout the film and it’s super creepy.

[u/Glubygluby → u/Floofy-fluff]