8 Hidden Secrets In Horror Movies That Will Blow Your Mind

Because horror is far more fun when you know where to look for it.

Midsommar Florence Pugh
A24

There's nothing quite as scary as something right in front of you that you don't initially see. Horror movies know this well, and truly thrive when they toy with unseen entities, often incorporating creatures or imagery that can quietly inhabit the same spaces as characters without drawing any unnecessary attention. Even better are those that manage to hide in plain sight from even an eagle-eyed audience, lurking in the back of shots waiting to be discovered and offer a whole new reading of whatever film they're haunting.

Directors as a whole love to spice up their work with a little artistic paprika that makes rewatching movies a joy, but it never feels quite as spine-stiffening as when you spot them in a horror film. Perhaps it's the tension of these movies that makes us miss the little touches, or perhaps its a fear of looking too closely and finding something disturbing looking right back - but there's plenty of weird, magnificent, and stress-inducing secrets to be found if you know precisely where to go looking for them.

In that case then, consider this the cheat's walkthrough to horror's very own scavenger hunt...

8. Pennywise Watches From The Mural - It Chapter One & Two

Midsommar Florence Pugh
Warner Bros.

Pennywise's whole schtick is being as creepy as possible in the efforts of getting himself a wholesome demonic meal, using fear as a seasoning before feasting on his unfortunate victims. So rightly, we get loads of terrifying moments peppered throughout Andy Muschietti's IT movies, with the dancing clown cropping up in all sorts of spooky places as he slowly toys with the Loser's Club.

In fact, there's so many we've chucked them all into another article here, but one of the most impressive recurring iterations of the clown is on a wall mural of the Bradley shooting. Throughout both films, Pennywise routinely crops up underneath the wheel arch of a car. What makes this so good is that he's not always there, appearing in scenes such as when the gang treat Ben's wounds, but disappearing when he's off doing other scary antics as when Mike is being terrorised by the burning hands just next door.

Even more subtly, Pennywise also changes his eye colour to earn trust from those he's following. When he attempts to get Georgie in the sewer for example, he mimics Georgie's own blue eyes from the darkness - replacing his yellow, cat-like, predatory glare with one that would appeal to the young boy for his nasty trick.

In this post: 
Midsommar
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Horror film junkie, burrito connoisseur, and serial cat stroker. WhatCulture's least favourite ginger.