# Hiding in Plain Sight in the Movies
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 19, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971 "2017-05-19T00:20:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/1 "2017-05-19T00:20:58Z")
[Spoiler for \*Alien\*, a movie that’s nearly 40 year old (yikes)]
Independent Film Channel (IFC) is showing the \*Alien \*movies tonight, presumably in anticipation of _Alien: Covenant_ opening tomorrow. During the final scene of the first \*Alien \*(1979), there’s a really cool shot that’s intended to shock and it works spectacularly: after Ripley shoots away from the _Nostromo_, puts Jones in a stasis pod and gets into her skivvies, she makes preparations to get into a stasis pod herself. She’s flipping a couple of switches, and suddenly realizes that the xenomorph has made onto the _Narcissus_.
Here’s the thing: the xenomorph is in full view prior to Ripley flipping those switches in a shot prior to her going over to the wall, but she doesn’t see it – and, presumably, neither does the audience (at least on first view) because it’s sunk itself into some of the ship’s ductwork – but the alien is absolutely in view, especially its head, as long as you know where to look. It’s a great effect that really puts you into the primary character’s position.
What are some other instances of that – in which a character reveals him/her/itself, but only after being on the screen at least briefly (as long as you know where to look)?
I’ve got a couple more examples, but I’ll keep them to myself in order to not make this a super-short thread.
Also, shout-out to \*Alien \*and \*Aliens \*-- which are just fantastic movies.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2017, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/2 "2017-05-19T01:39:13Z")
Near the end of “Carrie” (1976), she is walking upstairs to wash off the blood and as she passes into the bathroom and turns on the light, her mother is standing just behind the door.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2017, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/3 "2017-05-19T01:55:50Z")
The end of _Harry and the Hendersons_ had a scene like this. The family has brought Harry back to the Pacific Northwest, and they drop him off in a perfectly nondescript piece of forest. And then all of the other bigfeet who were standing right there step out of hiding to welcome him back.
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2017, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/4 "2017-05-19T02:23:14Z")
Throughout the scene in _The Goonies_ where the Goonies find the skeletal body of Chester Copperpot, you can clearly see rest of the boulder traps suspended from the ceiling of the cave. The camera never lingers or focuses on them, but certain shots are designed so they’re in the background, just out of focus.
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### Author:  [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2017, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/5 "2017-05-19T02:46:42Z")
Good examples, everyone, and thanks (and I have yet to see _The Goonies_, which is really surprising to me).
Here’s another one I was thinking of: near the end of _Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows_ (2011), Watson is typing in his office to finish his memoirs of working with the late Holmes, who didn’t survive his confrontation with Moriarty, when he receives a package. The package’s contents lead him to believe that Holmes did, in fact, survive the confrontation. Watson leaves his office, and the camera shows us that Holmes has been in the office all along.
(See at about 1:15 in [this clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlOwLUwAbbQ) – I’d code it to go to the moment of revealing Holmes, but it works better in context.)
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### Author:  [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)
#### Post date: [May 19, 2017, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/6 "2017-05-19T02:54:06Z")
During the opening scenes of _Fight Club,_ there are a few instances of Tyler Durden appearing in a single frame (literally blink-and-you-miss-it), as well as a brief shot on the escalator, before the character is introduced.
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### Author:  [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2017, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/7 "2017-05-20T01:43:35Z")
In memento (2001 – has it been that long?), there is the scenes depicting Sammy Jankis in the mental ward. At one point, a nurse passes in front of the camera and where Sammy was sitting is now Leonard – for maybe 1 or 2 frames – and then it’s gone.
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### Author:  [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2017, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/8 "2017-05-20T17:52:33Z")
The scene in E.T. where he’s hiding amidst the plush animals has become a meme.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2017, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/9 "2017-05-20T18:57:35Z")
The Predator is always detectable in _Predator_ if you know for what you’re looking.
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### Author:  [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2017, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/10 "2017-05-20T19:28:13Z")
Always attack a floating eye from behind.
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### Author:  [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2017, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/11 "2017-05-20T20:07:17Z")
Pris goes motionless and becomes just another mannequin in Sebastian’s apartment in Blade Runner.
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2017, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/12 "2017-05-20T20:46:44Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#):
>
> Pris goes motionless and becomes just another mannequin in Sebastian’s apartment in Blade Runner.
Apparently there’s something about all the replicants’ appearances. Holden had to do the Voight-Kampff test on Leon and Deckard had to go thru a charade with Zhora rather than retire her immediately. Despite having photos and other data on them.
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### Author:  [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2017, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/13 "2017-05-20T20:50:30Z")
It would have been easier to spot them if they had bright orange skin or something, too. But then there’d be no movie.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2017, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/14 "2017-05-20T20:50:32Z")
There’s a scene like this in _Sex and Lucia_. It’s a beach scene and Lucia is getting undressed to go swimming. The scene is framed so she’s in the distance. Then a man who’s been lying in the foreground of the scene the whole time sits up and calls her name. Granted the man had rolled around in the mud so he blended in with the beach he was lying on. (And Paz Vega taking off her clothes draws the eye.) But it’s still an amazing shot because he takes up about a quarter of the screen but you don’t notice him lying there until he moves and speaks.
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### Author:  [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2017, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/15 "2017-05-20T21:14:39Z")
My memory might be a bit hazy on this one, but is there not a scene in _Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels_ where a girl almost morphs out of an armchair and starts blasting people with a Bren gun?
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/16 "2017-05-20T22:20:50Z")
> [@Quartz](#):
>
> The Predator is always detectable in _Predator_ if you know for what you’re looking.
“He’s using ze _trees_!” :dubious: :smack:
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### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2017, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/17 "2017-05-20T22:49:06Z")
This seems like a common trope among slasher horror films, but I’m having trouble remembering a good example right now.
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### Author:  [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/18 "2017-05-20T23:16:38Z")
> [@RobDog](#):
>
> My memory might be a bit hazy on this one, but is there not a scene in _Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels_ where a girl almost morphs out of an armchair and starts blasting people with a Bren gun?
Something like that. She was always stoned/zoned out on the couch that everyone ignored her, then she got a gun and…
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/19 "2017-05-20T23:17:50Z")
In the 2007 Robert Zemeckis _Beowulf_, Grendel’s mom is visible in several of the (animated) shots before she comes down off the cave’s ceiling.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2017, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-in-plain-sight-in-the-movies/786971/20 "2017-05-20T23:29:17Z")
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
They did a great makeup job hiding one of the tribal cannibals in the jungle. He’s blended into the surroundings with his make-up and you can only see him when he moves out. However, he is there and going back on the DVD reveals him if you know where to look.
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