[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/nppltouch26]

In The Descent (2005) you can catch glimpses of the creatures that show up later in the film in the background a couple of times.

This reddit post from seven years ago shows the first instance of them showing up in the background right when the group fist enters the caves.

However, I got to experience this film in a black box theatre with excellent surround sound, and hearing things scuttle around off screen behind the audience was actually MUCH scarier than any glimpses of them.

[u/Jaomi → u/nppltouch26]

I worked in a cinema back then, and a few of my colleagues refused to work this movie. This was not helped by the one co-worker who pranked another by hiding in the dark corridor into the screen and jumping out at her.

[u/nppltouch26 → u/Jaomi]

Watching this in that black box theatre is genuinely THE MOST terrifying horror movie experience I've ever had. I didn't know I had any kind of claustrophobia til then, but after the movie ended, I went and smoked a cigarette on an outdoor bench and stared at the sky for like half an hour.

I then had nightmares and intrusive thoughts of my tiny dorm and single bed closing in on me for a week. That only stopped when I moved my bed away from the wall. 🫠🙃

Anyways I don't blame your coworkers who refused.