Top 10 Background Details that Foreshadowed the Ending
It was hiding in plain sight. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most subtle clues tucked away in the background of movies that were actually significant indicators of what’s to come.
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00:00 Nobody knows that they saw it, but they did.
00:02 Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most subtle clues
00:07 tucked away in the background of movies that were actually significant indicators of what's to come.
00:12 You have to let me go.
00:14 I can't.
00:17 Number 10. Opening shot of a mural. Midsommar.
00:23 Can I take a photograph?
00:24 What?
00:27 Ah, photograph.
00:29 No, absolutely not.
00:31 Okay, sorry.
00:32 In Ari Aster's folk horror film Midsommar, murals and tapestries serve as vivid foreshadowing tools,
00:38 practically spelling out forthcoming events with explicit imagery.
00:42 What alphabet is that from?
00:43 Uh, the younger futhark, I think, or is that medieval?
00:49 Actually, that is the elder futhark.
00:51 Among these visual cues, perhaps the most intricate comes right at the start of the movie.
00:56 Midsommar opens with a mural that essentially holds the audience's hand and walks them through the entire storyline.
01:03 Following it from left to right, the mural outlines Dani's journey,
01:07 beginning with the tragic deaths of her family, leading to her trip to the commune in Horga,
01:12 and culminating in her first coronation as the May Queen.
01:15 What's happening?
01:16 You are our May Queen.
01:22 Me?
01:23 Yes!
01:24 Why?
01:25 You won!
01:26 What does that mean?
01:28 It's only on screen for a couple of seconds, so if you're not paying attention, chances are you'll miss it.
01:34 Number 9. Bulletin Board of Clues - The Usual Suspects
01:38 I'm telling you it's Kaiser Sozi!
01:41 The plot twist at the end of The Usual Suspects stands out as one of the most brilliantly executed in cinematic history.
01:49 While the revelation of Verbal Kint's true identity is shocking,
01:52 the movie clearly plants numerous hints visible to the keenest observers.
01:56 It must be Keaton.
01:57 Redfoot, Dean Keaton, Todd Hockney, and Verbal Kint.
02:03 Verbal, the man with the plan, huh?
02:05 Throughout his interrogation, Verbal lifts names like Redfoot and the town of Skokie, Illinois,
02:10 from a bulletin board in the background, seamlessly weaving them into his fabricated story to convince agent Koo Yan.
02:17 What lawyer?
02:18 What lawyer, Verbal?
02:21 You know, back when I was in that barbershop quartet in Skokie, Illinois...
02:24 You don't think I know you held out on the DA?
02:26 Just like most of the audience, Koo Yan remains unaware of this deception until he scrutinizes the board closely
02:33 and realizes the clues have been in plain sight all along.
02:36 You know what they say, sometimes the best hiding place is right before your eyes.
02:41 Convince me, and tell me you're realistic.
02:43 You know, back when I was in that barbershop quartet in Skokie, Illinois...
02:46 Where's your head, Agent Koo Yan?
02:47 Number 8. The Number 82 - Magnolia
02:50 And if he's worth being hurt, he's worth being painted.
02:53 When the sunshine don't work, the good Lord be in the rainin'.
02:56 Paul Thomas Anderson's sprawling three-hour epic Magnolia concludes with a striking sight - frogs raining down from the sky.
03:05 This event appears to allude to Exodus 8-2, a biblical passage warning about a plague of frogs upon Egypt.
03:12 Anderson cleverly foreshadows the phenomenon throughout the film, embedding the numbers 8 and 2 in various scenes.
03:18 All I need is a 2.
03:20 All you need is a deuce.
03:21 All right. That is an 8.
03:24 These numbers show up at a bus stop, during a weather forecast, on an aeroplane, and as coiled rope on a building's ledge.
03:31 Heck, the entire Bible verse even appears on a sign held by an audience member in the game show scene.
03:37 These subtle hints may allude many on their first viewing, making subsequent watches all the more intriguing.
03:43 "If this happens, is this something that happens?"
03:48 Number 7. The Same Blue Shirt - The Sixth Sense
03:51 "How does the story end?"
03:53 "I don't know."
03:57 On any list of movies with the most shocking plot twist endings, The Sixth Sense would always rank high.
04:03 Audiences were left at their wits' end by the revelation that Bruce Willis' character, Malcolm Crowe, was dead the whole time.
04:09 "They only see what they want to see."
04:12 "They don't know they're dead."
04:16 The film is littered with subtle clues about Malcolm's true state, but one particularly striking detail that many missed on first watch is his consistent attire.
04:25 In the opening scene, Malcolm is shot by his former patient while wearing a blue shirt, and never appears without it.
04:32 "Hey."
04:33 "Wanna sit?"
04:40 He merely layers the shirt with coats and other jackets that do a great job concealing it.
04:45 It's later unveiled that the shirt is stained with blood from his fatal injury.
04:50 Number 6. Cemetery Name Drop - Skyfall
04:53 "Agent down."
04:55 Oscar-winning actress Dame Judi Dench made her first appearance as James Bond's M in the 1995 film GoldenEye.
05:06 She continued to appear in every film in the franchise until 2012's Skyfall, where she tragically met her end in the climax.
05:13 "Whoever's behind this, whoever's doing it, he knows us. He's one of us. He comes from the same place as Bond. The place you say doesn't exist. The shadows."
05:24 But what if we told you that this major event was hinted at very early on in the film, specifically during the opening credits?
05:31 In the dreamy sequence, accompanied by Adele's Oscar-winning song, Dench's credit appears against the backdrop of a cemetery.
05:38 A subtle hint at the fate awaiting her character, it's foreshadowing at its finest, preparing the viewers, albeit subconsciously, for M's ultimate demise.
05:47 "I suppose it's too late to make a run for it."
05:52 Number 5. Armed Guards - Shutter Island
05:55 "You know, this place makes me wonder."
05:58 "Yeah, what's that, boss?"
06:00 "Which would be worse? To live as a monster, or to die as a good man?"
06:09 Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island is filled with enough twists and turns to give anyone severe whiplash.
06:15 Leonardo DiCaprio plays U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels, who, alongside his partner Chuck, investigates the disappearance of a patient from a psychiatric institution.
06:24 "So this female prisoner."
06:26 "Patient."
06:27 "Excuse me, patient."
06:29 However, the story takes a jaw-dropping turn when it is revealed that Teddy is actually a patient at the hospital, and the entire investigation is an elaborate scheme to address his mental instability.
06:40 This revelation was subtly alluded to earlier on during an interrogation scene.
06:45 While the marshals question the patients, you can see an armed guard behind both Teddy and the patients, hinting at their shared status.
06:52 "Stop that! Please, stop!"
06:56 "You call a patient named Andrew latest? Do you?"
06:58 Notably, there is no guard behind Chuck, who is not a patient, but rather, Teddy's doctor.
07:04 Number 4. The prop knife, Knives Out.
07:07 "That's right. Fran's dead. And you just confessed to her murder."
07:17 A modern-day murder mystery classic, Knives Out follows the investigation into the death of acclaimed author Harlan Thrombey.
07:25 Eventually, it is revealed that Harlan's killer is his sheltered grandson, Ransom, who tried to frame his nurse, Marta, by tampering with his meds.
07:34 "Poor Fran. She witnessed you tampering with Harlan's medication in the medical bag. She did not know what you were doing, but she knew you were up to no good."
07:45 After this not-so-shocking revelation, Ransom attacks Marta with a knife from his grandfather's collection, which, to everyone's surprise, turns out to be a retractable prop.
07:55 Only the most attentive viewers would recall a subtle hint to this occurrence from earlier in the film.
08:00 While playing a game with Marta, Harlan drew parallels between his life and Ransom's, expressing his inability to "tell the difference between a stage prop and a real knife."
08:10 "Until you can't tell the difference between a stage prop and a real knife."
08:18 Number 3. A sequence of board games. Ready or not.
08:22 "So there's no way for me to win, right?"
08:25 "Well, you could. I mean, stay hidden till dawn."
08:30 From the get-go, this comedy horror flick lays bare its entire plot at the fate of its characters using a simple sequence of board games.
08:38 In Ready or Not, Grace, a former foster child, marries into the wealthy Le Domas family and is thrust into a seemingly ordinary game of hide-and-seek, a long-standing family tradition.
08:49 "So, it says hide and seek? Are we really going to play that?"
08:57 However, this innocent contest takes a sinister turn as the family aims to kill her before sunrise or face their own demise.
09:05 True to the outline of the board games – Family Ritual, Secret Council, Le Bail's Gambit, Sunrise, and Abracadabra – the events unfold precisely as predicted.
09:15 Against all odds, Grace survives the hunt by dawn, causing the entire family to disappear.
09:21 "It is lost. Forgive us."
09:26 Number 2. Top Hats and Canaries. The Prestige.
09:30 This 2006 psychological thriller begins with a simple yet profound question.
09:35 "Are you watching closely?"
09:37 If you were, the final twist may not have been that much of a surprise.
09:40 The Prestige follows two rival magicians locked in a constant battle to outshine each other, all in pursuit of the ultimate illusion – the transported man.
09:49 The film builds up to a big reveal at the end, which cleverly mirrors its opening shot.
09:54 "But if you could fall, even for a second, then you could make no wonder. And then you, then you got to say something very special."
10:10 The numerous identical top hats symbolize Hugh Jackman's character, Angier, who duplicates himself every time he performs the trick.
10:18 The shot then cuts to a pair of identical canaries in separate cages, hinting at Christian Bale's Borden, who relies on his identical twin to accomplish the illusion.
10:27 "Never show anyone. They'll beg you and they'll flatter you for the secret, but as soon as you give it up, you'll be nothing to them."
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10:50 Number 1. The Payphone – Fight Club
10:54 "The first rule of Fight Club is, you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is, you do not talk about Fight Club."
11:04 The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club, but the same cannot be said about executing a great plot twist.
11:12 While it's essential not to spoil the surprise, dropping subtle hints is crucial for any twist to feel satisfying.
11:18 David Fincher expertly achieves this in Fight Club. The big reveal is quite well known – Tyler and the narrator are one and the same.
11:26 "Why do people think that I'm you?"
11:28 "I think you know."
11:30 "No, I don't."
11:32 "Yes, you do."
11:33 Fincher skillfully plants clues throughout the film, with perhaps the most obscure one appearing early on.
11:38 When the narrator calls Tyler from a payphone, he initially doesn't pick up, but then promptly calls back.
11:44 "Hello?"
11:45 "Who's this?"
11:46 "Tyler?"
11:49 "Who is this?"
11:51 "We met on the airplane."
11:53 However, a tiny warning on the payphone states, "No incoming calls allowed," meaning it would have been impossible for Tyler to return the call.
12:01 Be honest, which of these pieces of foreshadowing did you catch on the first viewing? Let us know in the comments below.
12:07 "Nuh-uh, I don't tip."
12:08 "You don't tip?"
12:10 "Nah, I don't believe in it."
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12:20 [outro music]