Halloween: H20 (1998)
The Foreshadowing: During a class on Frankenstein, one of Laurie Strode's students has this to say about Victor Frankenstein: "He had reached a point in his life where he had nothing left to lose. I mean, the monster saw to that by killing off everybody that he loved. It was about redemption. It was his fate."
How It Pays Off: Laurie finds herself confronting Michael Myers at the film's close, finally stopping running having seen her loved ones murdered.
Ghost Rider (2007)
The Foreshadowing: When Johnny wakes up, he finds that the Caretaker has left him exactly the right number of glasses of water to quench his prodigious thirst.
How It Pays Off: It emerges that the Caretaker is another Rider, thus explaining his unnatural understanding of the physical toll it takes on the human body.
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Foreshadowing: Harvey Dent outlines his worldview to Bruce Wayne, telling him, "you either a die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
How It Pays Off: Harvey ends up having it both ways, becoming the villainous Two-Face before Batman's cover-up paints him as a hero in death.
Total Recall (1990)
The Foreshadowing: When a staff member receives Quaid's memory package, he notes that it contains "blue skies on Mars".
How It Pays Off: The film ends with the skies of Mars turning blue, as its population revel in the newly breathable atmosphere.
Spiderman 2 (2004)
The Foreshadowing: Peter’s science teacher is a one-armed man named Curtis Connors, a moniker that should be familiar to all fans of the comic-books...
How It Pays Off: It doesn’t! In the comic-books, Connors becomes the Lizard through the course of his experiments in growing back his missing arm. Raimi left the franchise before bringing Connors' story full-circle, all though the character reappears in The Amazing Spider-Man , played by Rhys Ifans.
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
The Foreshadowing: Plenty O'Toole is thrown out of a window, only to find her luck is in when she lands in a nearby swimming pool. Phew.
How It Pays Off: Her luck runs out when Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd attach weights to her body and use a swimming pool to drown her. Sore losers...
Hot Fuzz (2007)
The Foreshadowing: At the village fete, Simon Skinner can be seen hustling a carnival game called Splat The Rat. The name is significant...
How It Pays Off: Minutes later, Tim Messenger tries to fill Sgt. Angel in on the town conspiracy, only to get a church spire through his head. The rat is duly splatted, courtesy of Simon Skinner.
Avatar (2009)
The Foreshadowing: When Grace remarks, "I'd die to get a sample" concerning the Tree Of Souls, you just know she's going to regret it.
How It Pays Off: Sure enough, when Grace is mortally wounded, she is carried to the tree. "I should get a sample," she comments, wryly.
Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (1989)
The Foreshadowing: When Donavan remarks that they're only a few steps away from locating the Grail, Indy replies with, "that's usually where the ground falls out from underneath your feet."
How It Pays Off: When the party eventually recovers the Grail, a terrible earthquake proves Indy's words to have been rather prescient.
Constantine (2005)
The Foreshadowing: Papa Midnite jokingly states that Constantine's is the only soul Satan himself would come personally to collect.
How It Pays Off: Sure enough, with Constantine's soul up for grabs, Satan makes a personal appearance in the film's final act.
