Brad Rosenberg

In 1957, the first messages encouraging moviegoers to buy Coca-Cola and popcorn were spliced into movie theater film strips, and audiences did just that. The age of subliminal messaging in entertainment was born, and has been used as a running gag in movies like Fight Club, or as a genuine attempt to influence audiences without them realizing it. Here are Screen Rant’s Shocking Subliminal Messages Hidden In Popular Movies. 1. CLOVERFIELD Screenrant Did you know that Cloverfield contains a King Kong cameo? Matt Reeves’ found footage monster movie is well known for its shaky, stuttering handheld camcorder, and in between cuts and flickers the director inserted single frames from classic monster movies like King Kong, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and Them! Whether they were put there to disturb the audience without them realizing it, or just as an homage to the kind of movies that inspired Cloverfield, these flashes are a fun subliminal secret that can only be seen if you slow the scenes down. 2. THE RING Screenrant Gore Verbinski’s remake of this Japanese horror film takes the idea that watching movies affects us, and stretches it to a terrifying extreme. The meta concept is reinforced when single frames from the haunted videotape flash up during other scenes in the movie. Again, not all copies of the film feature the same frames. But fans can all catch a flash of The Ring at the very start of the movie, where it meshes with the crescent moon in the DreamWorks logo. These hidden frames are worth re-watching the movie all on their own – just don’t answer the phone when you’re finished. 3. IRREVERSIBLE Screenrant Subliminal messaging isn’t always about advertising. Some filmmakers use it to try and create a certain emotional effect on their audience, without them consciously knowing why they felt that way. The first thirty minutes of Gaspar Noé’s film Irreversible contains an extremely low-frequency background noise that is virtually inaudible to humans, but capable of causing uneasiness and nausea. Noé deliberately inserted the noise into his soundtrack to make people feel sensations of disgust while watching his movie. But trust us – it’s far from the only disturbing part of the movie. What famous horror film is next? Click "Next" to find out. 4. THE EXORCIST Screenrant William Friedkin’s tale of demonic possession is widely recognized as one of the most terrifying horror movies ever made, and its use of subliminal imagery only makes The Exorcist more unsettling. The demon Pazuzu – nicknamed ‘Captain Howdy’ by Regan – can be seen in a few frames scattered throughout the movie, but its appearances go by so fast that some audience members may never even be aware that they saw them. For those who did manage to spot the pale-faced Pazuzu, the fact that the demon’s horrifying face is only visible for a fraction of a second is far more frightening than a drawn-out close-up. 5. THE RESCUERS Screenrant There have been countless examples of people finding sexual imagery hidden in the frames of Disney movies, and not every one of them is convincing. But one film that definitely has a sexy subliminal secret is 1977’s The Rescuers. The animated adventure about two mice on a quest to find a kidnapped girl has a not-so-innocent image inserted during a sequence where Bianca and Bernard are flying on the back of Orville the albatross. A topless woman was superimposed onto two of the windows flying past during the movie’s post-production. This discovery of the image in 1999 led to Disney issuing a recall of 3.4 million home release copies of The Rescuers – but thanks to the internet, it’s still easy to find the clip. 6. PSYCHO Screenrant The first of two entries from Alfred Hitchcock on this list, Psycho is full of smaller details that make it worth watching the movie over and over again – including a brief cameo from Hitchcock himself. During one of the final shots of the movie, as Norman Bates is sat in the police station after being arrested, Hitchcock subtly superimposed the image of Mrs Bates’ mummified skull onto actor Anthony Perkins’ face. To make things even creepier, not all of the theatrical prints of the movie included this detail, so audiences in the 1960s could spot the skull in one screening and then find it gone in another – leaving them to wonder if they’d ever really seen it at all… What famous Arnold Schwartzenager film is next? Click "Next" to find out. 7. TERMINATOR 2 Youtube When James Cameron's sci-fi sequel hit the theatres in 1991, it had a theme song:You Could be Mine By Guns N’ Roses. Cameron never admitted that he had the band in mind, but left some obvious clues. John Connor's friend is wearing an LA Guns T-shirt, one of the two bands that later made GNR, and when the terminator finally arrives to take down the villain, he pulls out his gun from guess what? A box of roses! 8. JURASSIC PARK Yahoo Before the scientists of Jurassic Park had learnt the dangers of growing dinosaurs, they had come up with a unique way of controlling breeding. Ian Malcom warned that growing only female dinosaurs wasn't going to work forever, but Alan Grant had already worked a theory to audiences. Only if we had looked closer! During the group's ride to the island, Alan struggles with his seat belt. Why? He tries to connect two female ends, rather than swapping buckles or giving up, he fashions his own solution by tying them up. Just as mother nature would later in the movie, Alan too "finds a way." 9. KING KONG Comicvine While watching a movie, we hardly think twice about a Morse code. That's where the makers of King Kong got us. Just before reaching Skull Island, SS Venture's captain Englehom intercepts a coded message calling for the arrest of Carl Denham. Yet the audio said nothing about the arrest, and instead, reads "show me the monkey." A campy hidden message in honor of the film's famous ape. What famous '80s sci-fi action thriller is next? Click "Next" to find out, 10. ROBOCOP Cracked.com With the plot revolving around a character who is half man, half machine, it is difficult to point the references from the Bible, but the events of the movie is a clear match. Alex Murphy, the hero of a corrupt city is killed, resurrected and then emerges as a robotic saviour. Later, director Paul Verhoeven confirmed that this biblical allegory was his idea of an American Jesus, but meant to be concealed from the audiences. He even inserted a scene where Murphy was made to walk on water! 11. THE LION KING Complex When Simba flops down on a cliff side, a cloud of dust is pushed into the air and three controversial letters appear - SEX. For years, filmmakers scrutinized that this message was meant to promote sexuality to children, though Disney special effects people claim that it was meant to be SFX. 12. THE SHINING Yahoo There are no mistakes in Stanley Kubrick’s movies, or at least that’s what his obsessives would have you believe. Take the case of 'The Shining’ and the Overlook Hotel, a damn creepy place to stay even before you consider the building’s impossible floor-plan. Track Danny on his trike and you eventually realize his route round the corridors makes no sense. Follow Jack into Ullman’s office and you see a window where the should absolutely not be a window because it faces the inside of the building. If you trust that Kubrick knew every inch of his set – and history gives us no reason to believe otherwise – then he created the layout of the Overlook Hotel to purposely confuse and unsettle us. It worked. Source: (Screen Rant, Yahoo, Scoop Whoop) Share your comments below. If you LIKE this story, please SHARE this story.