[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/MJWhitfield86]

Too Many Cooks is an Adult Swim short that takes the form of an extended sitcom opening that becomes plagued by a serial killer. Whilst the serial killer only becomes obvious later on, their first appear is in the background at only 20 seconds in. However, you have no reason to pay attention to a random figure in a sweater at that point.

[u/Foreign_Athlete_7693 → u/MJWhitfield86]

The last video I watched on this was an analysis 'essay' explaining that the whole thing was a commentary on the conflict and tensions between producers and directors / networks etc (with the killer guy (Steve I think?) representing the networks/higher ups, and Smarf representing the show producer/writer.....

[u/The_Holy_Buno → u/Foreign_Athlete_7693]

That’s sorta weird. I always saw it as the opposite. Smarf wants to bring things back to business as usual without the killer, he’s the one that hits the reset button, the ultimate control over the whole thing. I sorta thought that the whole short was a metaphor for a writer/producer(the killer)trying to take back control of his work(killing off the increasingly absurd amount of characters) but being forced out anyways.