A well-written film is always a hit with the audience, especially if it has certain plot twists that leave them mesmerized. From horror to thrillers, it has become a tradition for film directors to enjoy dropping subtle hints among the scenes that foreshadow later events. Each minor detail in the frame can carry an important message for the audience.
One of the finest examples would be from the Marvel TV series: Loki. The show begins with the last moments of The Avengers (2012) when Hulk accidentally bumps Iron Man, who has the Tesseract. Loki takes this chance to escape to another world. This was foreshadowing for Loki’s upcoming series. Similarly, here are some of the shocking pros that were used to hint at the ending.
10 The Doctor's Shirt - Back To The Future Part II (1989)
Directed by Robert Zemeckis, Back to the Future Part II is about Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Emmett “Doc” Brown (Christopher Lloyd) time travel using the DeLorean, a time machine. In one of the scenes, Doc wears a blue and yellow shirt, bearing a train motif, chased by two horses. In Back to the Future III, Marty and Doc travel to the year 1885, in which the train plays a major role. Therefore, his shirt in the second film hints at the theme in the next one. In the third film, Doc also wears the same shirt design in the form of a bandana.
9 The Orange Balloon - Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Directed by Quentin Tarantino, Reservoir Dogs is about six diamond thieves hired by a crime boss for a robbery at a jewelry store. When it goes awry, and the police arrive, a shootout kills two of the robbers. The rest of the thieves become suspicious of one another, assuming that one of them is an undercover police officer. The crime boss assigns each robber a color name in order to maintain anonymity. In a scene, an orange balloon appears behind Nice Guy Eddie's (Sean Penn) car, only later to be revealed that Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) was the undercover police officer.
8 Malcolm's Shirt and The Wedding Ring - The Sixth Sense (1999)
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense is about a child, Cole Sear (played by Haley Joel Osment), who is extremely troubled by his ability to see ghosts. A child psychologist, Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis), has a difficult marriage with his wife Anna (Olivia Williams). While Anna is distant in their relationship, she never takes off her wedding ring. Malcolm does not wear his own except in the first scene where he is shot. He is a ghost, and Anna wears the ring to honor his death. Malcolm is always seen in the same blue shirt he wore in the first scene as well.
7 The Belt Buckles - Jurassic Park (1993)
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Directed by Steven Spielberg, Jurassic Park is about scientists discovering they can clone dinosaur DNA to recreate the gigantic beasts. Dr. John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) creates a theme park where dinosaurs are the main attraction. Utter chaos ensues later. The imminent disaster is hinted at in the beginning when Dr. Alan Grant’s (Sam Neill) seat has two female ends and is unable to buckle them, knotting both ends before the flight takes off.
Later, we learn the gender of the dinosaurs was manipulated through their DNA so all of them were female and breeding was impossible even if they escaped. Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), said ‘Life finds a way’, which is what happens. As the DNA of the dinosaurs was unstable, some dinosaurs ended up swapping genders, becoming male, just like knotting the seatbelt when the buckles weren’t working.
6 The Stuffed Birds - Psycho (1960)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho is about a secretary, Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) stealing $40,000 from clients of her employers and heads west to start a new life. Tired from the drive, she stops at the Bates Motel for a night where she meets Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) who lives with his difficult mother.
Bates’ hobby is taxidermy, and one can see stuffed birds decorating the motel. Every time he mentions his mother, Norma, the camera pans toward a stuffed owl in one corner of the room. When Crane implies that Norman’s mother might be a menace, he tells her that “She is harmless as one of those stuffed birds.” This dialogue hints at Norman’s perception of women, and the impending doom that is about to befall Crane.
5 The Incinerated Locker - The Breakfast Club (1985)
Directed by John Hughes, The Breakfast Club is about five teenagers different from one another, attending detention on Saturday at their high school, only to realize how much more they have in common than they initially felt. In the first scene, the camera shows a row of lockers, where one has been burned. Later, it is revealed that Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall) went to detention for toting a flare gun around the school premises. The gun had been intended to be used to commit suicide after he had received an F in a course.
4 The Dagger Next to Harlan - Knives Out (2019)
Directed by Rian Johnson, Knives Out is about an 85-year-old crime author, Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) found murdered at his own house. Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), a detective, interrogates the novelist’s family and house staff, to uncover the mystery behind the murder. In the opening scene, there is a knife in front of Thrombey while he talks to his nurse, Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas). Before killing himself, he mentions his grandson, Ransom (Chris Evans) saying that he can’t tell the difference between a stage prop and a real knife.” Following this dialogue, Ransom grabs a knife in a later scene to stab Marta, learning that it is a prop to his own shock.
3 Strange Doll in The Hallway - The Shining (1980)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick, The Shining is about Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), suffering from a writer’s block, who takes his family on vacation to an isolated hotel in Colorado. After getting a tour around the compound, he maintains the grounds of the creepy building, till he begins to lose his mind. In the beginning, Torrance plays with a tennis ball in one of the hallways at the hotel. A doll lies on the floor in the spot where we see the body of Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers) later in the film.
2 Bullets Seen in The Chandelier - Clue (1985)
Directed by Johnathan Lynn, Clue is based on the board game bearing the same name. It is the story of six individuals invited to a mystery mansion to dine in, where the host is murdered. The guests use their investigative skills to decipher who is behind the crime. The film provides multiple conclusions. According to the first ending, the butler, Wadsworth (Tim Curry) says that there are two bullet holes in a chandelier within the mansion. Only one is visible, until Wadsworth accidentally fires a gun that ricochets into the chandelier, making the second hole.
1 The Texts - Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
Also directed by Rian Johnson, Glass Onion is a mystery film, in which Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) goes to Greece where a murder mystery-themed party with a real murderer is being held. At the beginning of the film, Duke Cody (Dave Bautista) talks about the texts he receives about the news he is interested in. Later, an alert informs him of the death of Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe), before anybody else. This leads to the revelation that Helen Brand (Janelle Monáe) has replaced her dead sister, disguised as the dead twin.