Horror films can terrify moviegoers, but their subliminal messages, in blink-and-you-miss-it moments, can leave watchers unsettled without really knowing why.
Subliminal messages are hidden words or images that are presented below conscious awareness, and instead register deeper on a subconscious level.
They can also be highly effective, especially in Midsommar – a 2019 film that lets viewers know death surrounds the protagonists everywhere they go.
The film stars Florence Pugh as Dani, who is from the murder-suicide her sister planned that also killed her parents. She follows her distant boyfriend to a midsummer festival in rural Sweden that turns deadly.
Midsommar, which features camouflaged depictions of Dani’s sister Terry, features possibly the creepiest instances of subliminal messages in our list of 10 memorable movies that utilize hidden images.
Subliminal messages are words or images that are presented below conscious awareness
Midsommar (2019)
Florence Pugh portrayed a character grieving the death of her parents and sister. She participates in a dangerous ritual, surrounded by death
The critically acclaimed horror film follows an estranged couple on a retreat that turns into an aggressive ritual at the hands of a cult.
Throughout the movie, audiences can see Terri’s face, which at one point appears in the trees as Dani is declared the may queen.
Though Terri is a minor character already dead by the beginning of the film, she maintains a disturbing presence, reminding film viewers that death is inevitable and everywhere around the main characters, who one by one get picked off.
‘There were a lot of f***ed up looking corpses, sometimes I couldn’t tell whose fate was who’s,’ a Reddit user wrote.
Terri’s face isn’t the only hidden image woven into the film’s background, as the images of other doomed characters appear in the background of several shots.
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Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Gaston is the main antagonist from Beauty and the Beast. Gaston died after falling off a cliff. Writers confirmed his death through skulls in his eyes
A Walt Disney film about a French bibliophile named Belle and her love for a beast includes the story’s antagonistic character who meets an unfortunate fate – Gaston.
Gaston is an arrogant hunter with unrequited feelings for Belle and would do anything to win her over.
After stabbing the beast, Gaston loses his balance, and while falling to his untimely death, skulls appear in his eyes.
In a split second, they disappear, along with the character.
Black Swan (2010)
Natalie Portman portrayed Nina – an unstable but talented ballerina. Nina became the prima ballerina in Swan Lake, but her mental health declined in the process
This psychological horror film tells the story of a passionate but unstable ballerina named Nina (Natalie Portman).
Her dark side begins to emerge while competing for a chance to become the prima ballerina in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.
She also forms an abnormal friendship with Lily (Mila Kunis), and the two ballerinas have a wild night out at a nightclub.
Every frame in the nightclub scene shows an image of what’s about to happen in the film, while a confused and unwell Nina is standing in the middle of the dancefloor.
Reddit users have called this scene out-of-the-ordinary scene from Black Swan ‘creepy but cool.’
Nina’s unstableness may have helped her become a better ballerina, but it also cost the dancer her mental health and proper state of mind. Without spoiling anything, the ending’s twist is set up by the hidden images in the film.
Psycho (1960)
Anthony Perkins portrayed Norman Bates, who is a motel proprietor and serial killer. Norman has a disturbing love for his mom, whom he killed years before the events of Psycho
This 1960 legendary horror film stars Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates – a shy motel proprietor by day, disturbing serial killer by night.
Near the end of the movie, audiences find out that Norman killed his abusive mother, Norma, years before the events from Psycho took place.
Norman, who recreated his mother as an alternate personality, took an unsettling mugshot at the end of the movie, and if one looks closely, one can catch a look at Norma’s skeletal face.
Despite Norma’s treatment toward Norman, he appears to love her too much to let her go, eventually leading to the ‘mother’ personality taking control of him.
Se7en (1995)
Brad Pitt portrayed Detective David Mills, who hunts down a serial killer. He shoots John after finding out his wife and unborn child were murdered
Academy Award winner Brad Pitt portrayed David Mills, a detective who works with William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) after they attempt to solve several connected brutal murders.
They eventually discover the killings were committed by serial killer John Doe (Kevin Spacey), who would also murder David’s wife, Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow), and their unborn child.
William discovered Tracy’s head in a box right before David killed John out of anger.
A single frame of the movie also shows a heartbreaking shot of Tracy smiling before meeting her untimely demise, representing David’s happier times.
The Ring (2002)
Characters in The Ring who watched a gruesome videotape were given seven days to live, unless they gave the tape to someone else
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The box-office success focuses on a cursed videotape, and the unlucky few who watch the tape as they die in seven days unless it’s copied and shown to another person.
The tape features horrifying video clips and images, the first being the illuminated shape of a ring.
Speaking of which, the Dreamworks logo seen in the movie’s opening credits briefly flashes to the shape of the ring, hinting at the creepiness to come.
Movie watchers have had multiple opinions about the symbolism of the ring, whether it’s meant to literally convey the shape of the well the otherworldly antagonist was sealed inside – or a representation of the cycle of death for those who watch the VHS and pass it on to more victims.
Whatever the rings could truly represent in the film series, all characters are still forced to choose between saving others, or saving themselves.
Antichrist (2009)
Willem DaFoe portrayed a psychologist known as ‘he’ in Antichrist. At one point in the film, during a train ride, a hidden image of a screaming woman appears in the blur outside
Antichrist, a film and box office bomb starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, left viewers extremely horrified regardless of the presence of subliminal messages.
Dafoe and Gainsbourg portray an unidentified married couple with a strained relationship after their infant son dies after falling out a window.
Dafoe’s character, a psychiatrist, attempts to treat his wife after she was hospitalized for atypical grief.
At one point in the film, during a train ride, a hidden image of a screaming woman appears in the blur outside.
Cruising (1980)
Al Pacino portrays the role of an undercover officer named Steve Burns. At the end of the movie, Burns was hinted to be the murderer he was asked to find
Cruising was not identified as a horror film, but it was a movie with scenes that could help it pass as one.
The film is about Officer Steve Burns (Al Pacino), whose boss orders him to go undercover after a psychopath began killing gay men they encountered at New York City clubs.
The crime film is mysterious and gruesome and features frames of gay porn during one of the brutal murders.
While this could make viewers compare gay sex with violence, it’s the film’s ending that supplies one of the biggest messages.
At the end of the movie, Steve was hinted to be involved in all of the murders.
Anyone can be a murderer, and it could even be someone that others feel would keep them safe.
Spellbound (1945)
Near the end of Spellbound, Dr. Murchison picks up a handgun, and fires it at the camera. It was not clear who the victim was until the main protagonist entered the room
Spellbound is a black-and-white Alfred Hitchcock film about Dr. Constance Peterson (Ingrid Bergman) who falls in love with fellow doctor Anthony Edwardes (Gregory peck), who claims he’s actually an impostor and killed the real physician bearing his name.
Unconvinced, Constance treats him for amnesia and attempts to get to the bottom of his repressed memories.
In one of the scenes, a gun fires, and two red frames appear, fast enough to leave the viewer unsure of exactly what they saw.
Another section of the film, artistically designed by surreal painter Salvador Dali, presents a subconscious dream-scape that hints at what happened to Edwardes.
Spellbound proved not everything is what it seems, and occasionally, some things could remain a mystery.
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Dawn of the Dead is about a group of individuals who survived a zombie-producing plague. The post-credits scene features a quick shot of two women making out
Dawn of the Dead was a box-office success about a group of individuals who survived a plague that produced zombies.
After some of the characters making it out alive, the movie’s ending credit scene shows footage taken on a camcorder owned by a character killed in the film.
From yacht parties to zombie attacks, the footage depicts fun and joy – two things that would may never see again.
‘Their careers, their churches, their jobs, their families are stripped away. They’re gone,’ James Gunn told IGN in 2004.
‘They start at nothing, and they have to become who they really are in the face of all that, and some of the people are redeemed and end up becoming good people, and some of them are not redeemed.’
He added that characters were also required to ‘work as a community who wouldn’t otherwise work together.’
‘It’s a group coming together to work as a community who wouldn’t otherwise work together. So there is that foundation of love, that basic message,’ he said.
The footage also features a quick shot of two women making out – a random moment that somehow (or deliberately) made the final cut.