Details You Missed in Popular Horror Movies

In the remake of “The Invisible Man,” there is a quick scene that references the original movie.

This man with bandages on his face is a reference to the 1933 film “The Invisible Man.”

Universal Pictures


“The Invisible Man” originally premiered in 1933, but the movie was remade in 2020. It follows a woman, Cecilia, who claims her abusive boyfriend who recently died by suicide is now invisible and stalking her. 

In the latest film, when Cecilia visits a hospital after she faints, the camera cuts to a person whose face is wrapped in bandages as he’s wheeled out of a room. Some viewers may not have realized the moment references the original film, in which the lead character wrapped himself in cloth after making himself invisible.

Throughout “Us,” there are hints at the movie’s big twist.

Adelaide in “Us” is a clone, too.

Universal Pictures


Warning: Spoilers.

In 2019, Jordan Peele made his second horror-thriller film, “Us.” In it, a family comes under attack from a group of doppelgängers. It’s later revealed these doppelgängers are clones and that the mother, Adelaide, is actually a clone, too. 

That twist is foreshadowed throughout the movie. In one scene, Adelaide says she has a tough time talking — the clones do too. Also, when the doppelgängers show up to the house for the first time, small clues prove Adelaide already knows who they are. For example, when the 9-1-1 operator asks if they hurt anyone, Adelaide says, “No, they haven’t. But I know they will.”

Cult members are hiding in several scenes of “Hereditary.”

Cult members hiding outside the house in “Hereditary.’

A24


Warning: Spoilers.

Ari Aster’s 2018 masterpiece, “Hereditary,” focuses on a family’s trauma after losing their youngest daughter. It isn’t until the last 20 minutes that viewers understand the whole movie is actually about a cult, but there were hints to the true premise hiding throughout the film. 

For example, at the start of the film, when the son, Peter, is smoking, if you look closely, you can see a cult member hiding in the background. In another scene, several cult members are hiding in the dark outside the house, as pictured above. 

In “A Quiet Place,” bags of chips are the only items left on grocery store shelves for a very smart reason.

Chips are the only thing left on the shelves in “A Quiet Place.”

Paramount Pictures


John Krasinski’s 2018 horror film, “A Quiet Place,” follows a family in a post-apocalyptic world. In it, no one can make a sound because any noises will attract killer monsters.

At the beginning of the movie, the family creeps into a grocery store. All of the shelves are empty, but if you look closely, you will see that the chip aisle is still fully stocked. The chips have been left untouched because crunching into one would create too much noise and attract the monsters.

Pennywise may have been posing as a librarian in “It.”

The librarian could’ve been Pennywise in “It.”

Warner Bros. Pictures


In the 2017 remake of “It,” Pennywise the clown takes many forms, but there’s one scene that is really chilling. When one of the children is seen reading a book in a library, there’s an older librarian behind him. She may look normal, but if you look closely, she’s smiling creepily and staring directly at the child. Some say it’s Pennywise

In “The Conjuring 2,” the name of the demon is hidden throughout the movie.

The bookshelf spells out “Valak” in “The Conjuring 2.”

Warner Bros. Pictures


In the 2016 sequel to “The Conjuring,” paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren help a single mother who says her house is haunted. 

At the same time, Lorraine is being haunted by a demon, and to get rid of it, she must learn its name. It turns out, the name, Valak, is hidden in most scenes. For instance, “Valak” is etched into the walls of the kitchen, it’s found on a friendship bracelet Lorraine’s daughter is making, and it’s spelled out on a bookshelf. 

A sketchbook drawing in the first “Saw” movie revealed the killer early in the film.

John Kramer with his sketchbook in “Saw.”

Lions Gate Films


Warning: Spoiler alert.

“Saw,” which premiered in 2004, follows two men who wake up in a bathroom and are chained to pipes. In the middle of the bathroom, there is a dead body. The men learn they are part of a game orchestrated by a serial killer known as Jigsaw. 

At one point in the movie, there is a flashback to a terminal cancer patient in a hospital bed. In front of him is a sketchbook with a drawing that shows a contraption used at the beginning of the film. If you looked closely at the drawing and realized what it showed, you would know that the patient, John Kramer, is the serial killer known as Jigsaw. 

Circular shapes can be spotted throughout “The Ring.”

The ring of a coffee cup is left behind in “The Ring.”

DreamWorks Pictures


In 2002’s “The Ring,” a journalist investigates a mysterious videotape after learning anyone who watches it dies seven days later. 

Throughout the film, there is a running ring motif. At one point, for example, the camera zooms in on a coffee ring left behind by a mug. Even the DreamWorks logo, which is usually a crescent moon, transforms into a ring at the beginning of the movie.

A missing cross on the wall hints at the main character’s backstory in “Signs.”

A missing cross can be seen on the wall in “Signs.”

Buena Vista Pictures


The 2002 thriller “Signs” tells the story of a family facing an alien invasion.

The father, Graham Hess, is a former priest who left religion behind when his wife was killed. Before that fact is revealed, there’s a scene where Graham is brushing his teeth. If you look closely, you can see a stain in the shape of a cross on the wall. A cross used to hang there, demonstrating Graham lost faith in religion.

The big twist at the end of “The Sixth Sense” is foreshadowed in the main character’s clothing.

He wears the same types of clothes in “The Sixth Sense.”

Buena Vista Pictures


Warning: Spoilers.

“The Sixth Sense,” which premiered in 1999, follows a psychologist, Dr. Malcolm Crowe, who starts working with a child who says he can see and communicate with ghosts. In one of the most famous movie twists of all time, viewers learn Malcolm has been dead the entire time. 

If you look closely, he is always wearing some variation of the clothes he was wearing the night he was killed, which included an overcoat, a sweatshirt, and parts of a suit.

The location of the serial killer is hinted at early in “The Silence of the Lambs.”

The drawing hinted at a clue in “The Silence of the Lambs.”

Orion Pictures


The classic 1992 horror “The Silence of the Lambs” follows Clarice, an FBI trainee, who is trying to track down a serial killer named Buffalo Bill. To do so, she meets with another serial killer named Dr. Hannibal Lecter and asks for his help.

During their first meeting, Clarice asks Hannibal if he made the drawings that are hanging in his cell.

He answers, “That is the Duomo seen from the Belvedere. You know Florence?”

Later in the film, it’s revealed Buffalo Bill is located in Belvedere, Ohio.

In one scene from “Poltergeist,” a picture of the youngest daughter is replaced with an image of a ghost.

There’s a picture of a ghost in “Poltergeist.”

MGM/UA Entertainment Co.


In the 1982 horror classic “Poltergeist,” a family is terrorized by ghosts in their house. It hits fever pitch when the youngest daughter, Carol Ann, goes missing.

Toward the end of the film, the mother is attacked by one of the ghosts. If you lean in closely at that moment, you can see one of the pictures of Carol Ann on a table is replaced with the image of a black-and-white ghost. 

“The Shining” has several subtle references to the number 42.

The number 42 appears a lot in “The Shining.”

Warner Bros.


Stephen King’s novel “The Shining” was adapted into a horror film in 1980. In the story, a family moves into a seemingly haunted hotel to take care of it during the off-season. The family quickly descends into madness as the isolation becomes too much. 

Throughout the film, viewers can spot the number 42. For instance, the son is wearing a shirt with the number on it. In another scene, he’s watching a movie called “Summer of ’42.” Plus, the infamous room in the film is Room 237. If you multiply those numbers together, they equal 42. 

Some people believe the repetitiveness of this number points to the fact that “The Shining” is about the Holocaust — Nazi leaders met to discuss and implement the “Final Solution” in 1942.

A banner in “The Exorcist” may look like nothing, but it has a deeper meaning.

The word “tasukete” appears in “The Exorcist.”

Warner Bros.


“The Exorcist” premiered in 1973 and instantly became a classic, telling the story of a young girl, Regan, who is possessed by a demon. 

In one scene, there is a banner hanging over the doorway in an office where Father Karras takes his tape recordings of Regan. In red letters, the sign reads, “tasukete,” which is Japanese for “help me.” Those same words appear on Regan’s stomach during the movie. 

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