I’ve posted this one before in a thread about horror films: in *Insidious *(2010), Rose Byrne’s character is doing some housework and taking the kitchen trash outside when she sees a ghost dancing to “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” in her house – much spookiness ensues (that continues after that clip).
When I first saw the movie in the theater, I thought I saw something that really freaked me out. I went to see it again in a day or two, and my suspicions were confirmed:
Byrne’s character walks right by the ghost earlier in the scene, at about 35 seconds into that clip.
*Insidious *went wildly off the rails for me by the end, but I absolutely love the effectiveness of some of its parts.
At the very beginning of Pulp Fiction, you can see Vincent walking toward the coffee shop’s toilet over Yolanda’s shoulder. All that’s visible for a couple of seconds is the back of his head and the collar of his blue T-shirt, but it’s a definite continuity marker.
I swear, I must have seen that movie at least ten times before I noticed Vincent in the background. I see something new every time I watch it.
In Copycat, you meet the killer about halfway through the movie. He’s actually in two earlier scenes, (attending Sigourney Weaver’s lecture, and later just hanging out in the Police station for reasons never explained - Ed Harris even says hello to him), but since you don’t know who he is it’s only noticeable when you watch it again.
One example not mentioned yet (I think) – Boba Fett’s clothes-iron-shaped starship tumbling and drifting among the garbage released by Darth Vader’s ship in order to look for the Millennium Falcon in The Empire Strikes Back, dramatically revealed when it rights itself and takes off after Han Solo.
The introduction of Frazier Crane on “Cheers” was handled in a similar way. Diane is pleading with Sam to seek professional help for his drinking, and Sam spends a good 10 minutes mocking the idea. All the while, Frazier (at the time an unknown character played by a not-famous actor) is sitting there at the bar with the regulars.
Going back to “Aliens”, there are two things I noticed after numerous repeat viewings.
The infamous chest-burster scene: The oblivious crew are at ease, joking and relaxing in the mess hall when Cain starts coughing and gagging. Initially, none of the seem to realize anything very serious is wrong – except one: Ash (the evil robot). There is a quickee reaction shot showing him growing quietly alarmed before anyone else, apparently aware of what was happening. After the alien has burst out of Cain, Parker raises a knife as if to stab it, but Ash (who is secretly on a mission to bring the alien back to Earth) yells at him to back off. When you watch it for the first time, it appears that Ash is warning him Parker to stay away because he fears for Parker’s safety. Upon re-watching, it’s clear he is protecting the (possibly) vulnerable alien from Parker!
During the searching-the-interiors-of-the-ship sequence. The cat gets away and Harry Dean Stanton is walking around the refinery looking for it. There is an overhead shot showing the enormity of the refinery and several large chains swinging above him. The now-grown alien is clutching on of the chains and is clearly visible in the shot, but as in the scene the OP references, it just blends in so well with the mechanical background, you would never notice it (if you hadn’t watched this movie 100 times.)
The shot(s) you refer to don’t appear in the 1979 original theatrical release of Alien. They were added in 2003 for the Director’s Cut theater and DVD versions. Which explains how one could not notice it during the first 99 viewings.
If you count actors in heavy makeup in this category, then the winner has to be the List of Adrian Messenger, which features cameos by four famous actors who appear unrecognizable in makeup during the film, and aren’t identified until the end. Kirk Douglas, who appears in the film, also wears several heavy disguises.*
I don’t myself. If you’re heavily made up, you’re “in plain sight” Things like the James Bond substitution in Man with the Golden Gun, cited above, however, do count.
In that vein, the idea was used much earlier in the Sherlock Holmes story The Mazarin Stone, which started out as a stage play. It’s been adapted , at least in part, for the movies and TV, but I don’t think anyone retained this “hidden in plain sight” ploy.
*iMDB claims that three of the actors weren’t actually in the film in their cameos, but someone else took their place. This doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense. It can’t be because the actors refused to get made up – they had to be made up for the final “unmasking” scenes. The cameos look just like the unmasking scenes. It would make sense to film them both at the same time. Besides, if it wasn’t the famous faces hidden by the makeup, it obliterates the point.
In “The Shining”, as the various employees are prepping The Overlook Hotel for the winter months, Jack sees the REAL caretaker…wearing the burgundy top Jack starts wearing later on.
Saw Sleuth in the theater, long before it was a movie so very unspoiled. But since this is already spoiled here, I get to say that I thought it was so clever the way they listed the actor who played Inspector Doppler, complete with headshot and bio and a plug for the other plays he’s been in.
