Sneaky Clues Everyone Missed In Horror Movies

October brings many rewards, not the least of which is a slew of fantastic motion pictures to watch. I love a good horror movie, and the spooky season is the perfect time to bask in the morbid side of Hollywood and beyond. Whether you travel back in time to feast on Universal's classic monster series like "Frankenstein," "Dracula," and "Creature from the Black Lagoon" or indulge in modern fare such as "Hereditary," "Get Out," or "M3GAN," there's enough variety to please all but the pickiest of movie fans.

Moreover, most horror films require multiple viewings to fully appreciate, if only to catch all the sneaky Easter eggs and clues the filmmakers squeeze into every frame. Watch Jordan Peele's "Nope" again, and you'll pick up a hefty dose of not-so-subtle foreshadowing that'll make you respect the alien drama even more. Or take another look at any of M. Night Shyamalan's efforts and pay attention to the visual clues he uses to set up his twist endings.

Of course, if you're pressed for time, you can just read this list of the sneaky clues everyone missed in horror movies. I've already done all the legwork so you can spend the day wondering how you missed so many apparent details — and know what to look for next time you watch. Obviously, prepare for major spoilers about all these movies.

M. Night Shyamalan became a household name thanks to "The Sixth Sense." Following the equally enthralling "Unbreakable," he switched back into horror for "Signs," a delightfully eerie alien invasion story tucked inside a larger tale about faith. Mel Gibson stars as Graham Hess, a former minister who ditched the church following his wife's death. An alien invasion causes him to question God's plan further and ask whether everything we do on Earth is preordained or chance. Are there signs for us to follow, or are we lingering on this planet without guidance, improvising our decisions?

Tellingly, he doesn't arrive at any definitive conclusion but certainly has his eyes opened when a handful of "coincidences" overlap and save his family. We see clues throughout the picture, notably how his daughter Bo (Abigail Breslin) leaves glasses of water around the house. As it turns out, water hurts the aliens. So, when one of them attacks, Graham and his brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) smash the glasses with a baseball bat, causing water to spray on and wound the evil extraterrestrial.

Plenty of other "signs" prove vital in helping Graham and his family outlast the invasion and restore his faith in God, but Bo's strategically placed water glasses leave the most impact.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo star in Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island," a psychological drama in which a U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels embarks on a dark journey to uncover the secrets of an asylum on a remote island. Right off the bat, viewers can tell that something's amiss, between the odd behavior of the security personnel and Daniels' ever-growing paranoia. It quickly becomes clear that the pieces don't add up — with good reason.

Daniels is an inmate on the island, incarcerated for killing his manic-depressive wife in response to her murdering their children. The episode left Teddy — or rather, Andrew Laeddis, the man he used to be — racked with such guilt that he created an alternate personality and buried the truth deep inside his mind. The entire film is an elaborate ruse to get Teddy to remember his real identity. Ruffalo poses as his partner, but is in reality a psychiatrist trying to determine if Teddy/Andrew needs lobotomization.

Keen-eyed viewers will have little problem seeing the twist, as Scorsese peppers the film with plenty of hints. In an early scene, we see Ruffalo's character fumble with his gun, a clear sign that he's not a police officer. In another bit, if you watch his character closely, you can see him directing the entire façade behind Teddy's back, telling background characters when to leave or obey one of Teddy's commands. You might spot these fleeting moments on the first watch, but if you don't, they're reason enough to return for a second round.

I adore the "Conjuring" franchise. They're this generation's "Poltergeist," a ghost story scary enough to hold your attention but light enough to warrant multiple viewings. I've seen the entire series several times and continue to notice small tidbits with each viewing. More specifically, in "The Conjuring 2," director James Wan places the name of the demon Valak (Bonnie Aarons) for all to see ... provided you look hard enough.

Knowing the demon's name is essential to stopping it, and curiously, heroes Lorraine and Ed Warren (Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson) miss this obvious detail even when it's right there in broad daylight. In fact, the name can be spotted in three separate shots. First, after Ed reveals his painting of the Nun, he and his wife talk in the kitchen. Right behind Lorraine on the kitchen wall hangs a heart with a very pronounced "V." Underneath the heart, the letters "A-L-A-K" appear on a wood panel. In the same scene, we cut to Ed sitting in front of a window adorned with colorful decorations that — you guessed it — spell out the name Valak.

Later, Lorraine's daughter makes friendship bracelets that, upon closer inspection, likewise reveal the demon's name. Another shot shows the word spelled out on a bookshelf behind Lorraine. Imagine how much time the Warrens could have saved had they paid more attention to their surroundings!

Oh boy, "Psycho" stands as one of the greats, an exciting exercise in terror that influenced a generation of filmmakers. Even if you already know the legendary twist — that Norman Bates shares his mind with his long-deceased, murderous mother — there's still plenty to admire here. From Alfred Hitchcock's incredible direction to Bernard Herman's classic score and Anthony Perkins' star-making performance, everything about "Psycho" screams classic.

Now, Hitchcock was quite the mad genius, often packing his pictures with sly humor or dark details hinting at unseen elements lingering offscreen. With "Psycho," he teased unsuspecting audiences with carefully worded lines that point straight to the ending for those paying attention.

As revealed in the final, Norman's mother died years before the film's events. Her decaying corpse sits in front of a window overlooking the Bates Motel. Norman's personality shifts from a meek, humble man to a violent killer on the turn of a dime — neither knows what the other is doing. Norman and Mother are essentially two different people. During a conversation early in the movie with the doomed Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), Norman hints at his mother's current state, explaining, "She's harmless. She's as harmless as one of those stuffed birds." Indeed, his mother is dead, her corpse frozen like a stuffed animal — a very on-the-nose primer for the madness to come.

Count me among those who enjoy the "Final Destination" franchise. What started as a relatively low-budget slasher evolved into an entertaining, overtly morbid horror series featuring an abundance of death traps that are more clever than they had any right to be. The gist? In each film, a group of individuals evades death, thus angering the Grim Reaper, who subsequently creates elaborate scenarios to kill off the survivors.

"Final Destination 5" opens with Sam (Nicholas D'Agosto) and Molly (Emma Bell), among others, surviving a bridge catastrophe following a well-timed premonition. Death comes knockin' and executes the survivors one by one until only Sam and Molly remain. To celebrate, they board a plane to Paris and see Carter (Kerr Smith) and Alex (Devon Sawa) — two characters from the original "Final Destination" — arguing, realizing all too late that they're doomed to die in an explosion shortly after takeoff. So, the twist is that "Final Destination 5" is a prequel to the first film, something viewers might miss unless they're paying close attention.

See, the fifth film never explicitly states the date. Instead, small clues pop up here and there, notably that Sam wants to take a restaurant internship in Paris. You might also hear music from the early 2000s played over the radio and note the dated car models. There's even a brief shot of a gift certificate with a 2001 expiration date.

Wes Craven's love letter to the slasher genre, 1996's "Scream," still holds up despite its propensity for pop culture references and a never-ending assembly line of often bland sequels. The film follows Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) as she tries to solve a series of gruesome murders around her quaint little town. Expertly crafted set pieces poke fun at the genre while treading new ground. Ultimately, Sidney's boyfriend Billy (Skeet Ulrich) and his pal Stu (Matthew Lillard) are revealed to be behind the murders, their love of horror movies having fed Billy's desire for revenge against Sidney's mother for having an affair with his father. The shocking reveal only arrives after several twists, but in hindsight, the clues were there all along.

Early in the film, our main characters assemble outside their high school to discuss the murders. Eagle-eyed viewers will notice the thick, black, military-style boots worn by both Billy and Stu match those worn by Ghostface during his numerous blood-soaked escapades.

Costume designer Cynthia Bergstrom chose the boots for a specific reason. "We wanted the boots just to be really nondescript," she told Footwear News. "Could a woman wear these boots? I remember when I was seeking the boots, it was important that they also came in women's sizes." As for the scene where Billy and Stu wear the boots in plain sight, Bergstrom explained, "It was sort of like a red herring," meant to throw audiences off.