Top 10 Background Details that Foreshadowed the Ending

In Ari Aster’s folk horror film “Midsommar,” murals and tapestries serve as vivid foreshadowing tools, practically spelling out forthcoming events with explicit imagery. Among these visual cues, perhaps the most intricate comes right at the start of the movie. “Midsommar” opens with a mural that essentially holds the audience’s hand and walks them through the entire storyline. Following it from left to right, the mural outlines Dani’s journey, beginning with the tragic deaths of her family, leading to her trip to the commune in Hårga, and culminating in her coronation as the May Queen. It’s only on screen for a couple of seconds, so if you’re not paying attention, chances are you’ll miss it.

The plot twist at the end of “The Usual Suspects” stands out as one of the most brilliantly executed in cinematic history. While the revelation of Verbal Kint’s true identity is shocking, the movie cleverly plants numerous hints, visible to the keenest observers. Throughout his interrogation, Verbal lifts names like “Redfoot” and the town of Skokie, Illinois from a bulletin board in the background, seamlessly weaving them into his fabricated story to convince Agent Kujan. Just like most of the audience, Kujan remains unaware of this deception until he scrutinizes the board closely and realizes the clues had been in plain sight all along. You know what they say, sometimes the best hiding place is right before your eyes.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s sprawling three-hour epic “Magnolia” concludes with a striking sight: frogs raining down from the sky. This event appears to allude to Exodus 8:2, a biblical passage warning about a plague of frogs upon Egypt. Anderson cleverly foreshadows the phenomenon throughout the film, embedding the numbers 8 and 2 in various scenes. These numbers show up at a bus stop, during a weather forecast, on an airplane, and as coiled rope on a building’s ledge. Heck, the entire Bible verse even appears on a sign held by an audience member in the game show scene. These subtle hints may elude many on their first viewing, making subsequent watches all the more intriguing.

On any list of movies with the most shocking plot twist endings, “The Sixth Sense” would always rank high. Audiences were left at their wit’s end by the revelation that Bruce Willis’ character Malcolm Crowe was dead the whole time. 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. In the opening scene, Malcolm is shot by his former patient while wearing a blue shirt and never appears without it. He merely layers the shirt with coats and other jackets that do a great job concealing it. It’s later unveiled that the shirt is stained with blood from his fatal injury.

Oscar-winning actress Dame Judi Dench made her first appearance as James Bond’s boss, M, in the 1995 film “GoldenEye.” She continued to appear in every film in the franchise until 2012’s “Skyfall,” where she tragically met her end in the climax. But what if we told you that this major event was hinted at very early on in the film? Specifically during the opening credits. In the dreamy sequence, accompanied by Adele’s Oscar-winning song, Dench’s credit appears against the backdrop of a cemetery, 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.

Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island” is filled with enough twists and turns to give anyone severe whiplash. Leonardo DiCaprio plays U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels who, alongside his partner Chuck, investigates the disappearance of a patient from a psychiatric institution. 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. This revelation was subtly alluded to earlier on during an interrogation scene. While the marshals question the patients, you can see an armed guard behind both Teddy and the patients, hinting at their shared status. Notably, there is no guard behind Chuck, who is not a patient but rather Teddy’s doctor.

A modern-day murder mystery classic, “Knives Out” follows the investigation into the death of acclaimed author Harlan Thrombey. 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. 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. Only the most attentive viewers would recall a subtle hint to this occurrence from earlier in the film. 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].”

From the get-go, this comedy horror flick lays bare its entire plot and the fate of its characters using a simple sequence of board games. 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. However, this innocent contest takes a sinister turn as the family aims to kill her before sunrise, or face their own demise. 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. Against all odds, Grace survives the hunt by dawn, causing the entire family to essentially disappear.

This 2006 psychological thriller begins with a simple yet profound question. “Are you watching closely?” If you were, the final twist may not have been that much of a surprise. “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. The film builds up to a big reveal at the end, which cleverly mirrors its opening shot. The numerous identical top hats symbolize Hugh Jackman’s character, Angier, who duplicates himself every time he performs the trick. This 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.

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. While it’s essential not to spoil the surprise, dropping subtle hints is crucial for any twist to feel satisfying. David Fincher expertly achieves this in “Fight Club.” The big reveal is quite well-known: Tyler and the Narrator are one and the same. Fincher skillfully plants clues throughout the film, with perhaps the most obscure one appearing early on. When the Narrator calls Tyler from a payphone, he initially doesn’t pick up but then promptly calls back. However, a tiny warning on the payphone states “no incoming calls allowed,” meaning it would’ve been impossible for Tyler to return the call.

Be honest, which of these pieces of foreshadowing did you catch on first viewing? Let us know in the comments below.