Easter eggs hidden in plain sight: background props foreshadowing twists, costumes echoing character arcs, set designs whispering subtext. These insights reveal cinema as layered art—where every frame is a puzzle box waiting for observant eyes to unlock its secrets long after the credits roll.
1
"In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Pam is seen wearing a bracelet as Leatherface, whose arms are bare, kills her. When you see her in the freezer later on, the bracelet is gone, and when Leatherface reappears you can see him wearing it, all the way up until the ending."
2
"In "Weapons" (2025), the principal and his husband's lunch is a tribute to Trevor Moore from him skit "Hot Dog Timmy". Trevor Moore was a friend of Weapons director Zach Creggar who passed away."
3
"In Big Fish (2003), during Edward's deployment in the Korean war, the language switches between Korean, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Tagalog. This further establishes Edward as an unreliable narrator. You can even see Edward reading an "Asian to English" dictionary before his jump."
4
"In “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” (1991), the first battle begins, and the last battle ends, with “Get down.”
5
"In "The Ninth Gate" 1999, there's a scene on a train where the witch's eyes change color after the main character gives her a false name, Green Eyes"
6
"Club exterior from Bedazzled (2000) still had remnants of the Lou’s Tavern sign as seen in Fight Club (1999)."
7
"Weapons (2025), Zach Cregger pays homage to and mirrors certain shots from The Shining (1980) during various scenes. The 17 children run away from their homes at 2:17am, which is a reference to Room 217 in The Shining. The parents trying to get through the bathroom door is an obvious one."
8
"In the movie King Kong (2005), A big, fat man from the audience can be seen laughing out loud at Ann Darrow's comedic tumble. This foreshadows the event that happens later, when Kong bursts out laughing after Ann falls while attempting to amuse him."
9
"Paul Dano's Riddler in The Batman (2022) has the same glasses as Jim Carrey's Riddler from Batman Forever (1995) "
10
"In Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) an orthopedic store named “Liefeld’s” is named after Deadpool comic creator Rob Liefeld. Liefeld has been criticized for not being able to draw feet properly in his comics."
11
"In Monsters Inc (2001) we could briefly see that Boos real name is Mary."
12
"In All Quiet on the Western Front (2022), German soldiers are seen wearing their wedding rings on their right hands, while the French soldiers wear them on their left, which is how they are traditionally worn."
13
"In American Psycho (2000), when Paul mistakenly calls Patrick as Marcus Halberstram at the Christmas party, you can see the real Marcus looking around in the background reacting to his name called."
14
"In Lilo & Stitch (2002), Stitch knows how to build a model of San Francisco because he saw postcards of it earlier in the movie."
15
"In Deadpool and Wolverine (2024) the burned out car from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987) can be seen in The Void making Del Griffith and Neal Page official characters in the MU."
16
"At the start of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Indiana's father is sketching in his grail diary and asks: "May he who illuminated this, illuminate me.". At the end of the movie. Indiana asks him: "What did you find, Dad?" and his father replies: "Illumination."
17
"Forrest gump (1994), writing on Bubba's helmet says "I'd rather be shrimping"
18
"In The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies 2014, the director and his wife were the inspiration for these paintings."